Open Mike Night - Prez (2015) #1

Open Mike Night by Mike Maillaro and Mike Weaver

Prez #1

Written by: Mark Russell
Penciled by: Ben Caldwell
Inked by: Mark Morales
Colored by: Jeremy Lawson
Lettered by: Travis Lanham
Cover by: Ben Caldwell

Published by: DC
Cover Price: $2.99

Maillaro: I believe a Taco Drone can solve all the world’s problems.  From pretty much page one, you are immediately thrown into a pretty clever little political commentary.  I will admit when I read the Preview, I wasn’t quite sure this comic was going to reach my expectations, but the reality was far better than the preview!

So what’s Prez all about?  In 2036, the current President, the Pectsecutioner decides that he will no longer be seeking reelection.  A powerful group of Senators calling themselves The Colonels gets together to select his successor.  Meanwhile, in a little Corndog shop in Eugene, Oregon, a young women named Beth Ross ends up trending on social media because she ends up deep frying her hair while shooting a training video.   Beth’s dad is dying of a rare form of the flu, and Beth is desperate to raise the money needed to treat him.

In order to raise voter turnout, people are now allowed to vote on Twitter which results in the candidates pandering by showing up on internet celebrities really crappy Youtube shows.  All of the candidates seem like losers, so hackers start a campaign to get “Corndog Girl” elected.  This ensures no candidate wins the number of electoral votes needed.   The heads of powerful corporations get together to figure out what to do next.  And the comic suddenly ends right there.

AND THAT IS MY ONLY REAL ISSUE WITH THIS COMIC!  It’s pretty much all setup, and ends with no satisfying resolution.  

Weaver: Well, the “ending”, as it were, is given away by the cover.  You know Corndog Girl is going to become the president.  I think this comic gets you to a place where you can see that about to happen, but you want to read the next issue just to see how it does.  I see that as a positive.

This was a pretty interesting read.  A lot of the panels were really busy, but intentionally so, since it’s commenting on the internet-ization of society and how everything is now organized to “ferret on cocaine” levels of attention span.  There’s just a lot to digest here...one of the parts that really spoke to me was the fact that even with voting possible on Twitter, a record low turnout was expected.  It suggests that it isn’t that voting requires effort that keeps turnout low, it’s that people just don’t seem to care.  I don’t want to believe that, but I’m afraid it’s true.

I wonder if Richard Nixon (who always comes into these columns somehow) appearing on Laugh In was approximately equal at the time to the scene in here with the presidential candidate allowing himself to get spanked while stumping on a crappy internet show.  That’s maybe the most interesting part of this comic to me...it’s set in the future, sure, but just about everything in it is just an exaggerated version of what actually happens.  Beth’s dad is trying to get funding on something called “Sickstarter” in order to cure his flu, and honestly...I’ve seen a lot of people who have horrible diseases and can’t afford to be treated use similar sites.  With similarly poor results.

Maillaro: Yeah, and more modernly, President Obama appeared on both Colbert and Daily Show (along with a bunch of other shows).  And Clinton famously appeared on Arsenio Hall just to play the saxophone.   And Bernie Sanders more or less made his presidential candidacy announcement on The Nightly Show.   I don’t think it’s a far stretch of the imagination to imagine we’ll see a presidential candidate trying to get a rub off of a Youtube celebrity.  My sister talks about that all the time.  Many of her students aren’t fans of actors or athletes...the people they look to model themselves after are people on Youtube with popular channels and shows.  

I thought this comic really did a nice job tapping some real  topics that were ripe for social commentary.  I really was worried that this was just going to be a pale imitation of the original, but there was a lot to love about this comic.  Great satire, real sharp and fun dialogue.  

Weaver: If anything, it’s better than the original, although the original is kind of tough to judge.

When Youtube shows first started becoming a thing, I thought, “Who wants to waste time watching some dude in his parents’ basement rant about this or that?” Being fair, some Youtube shows now actually have some production value, but the dude ranting in his parents’ basement type still gets plenty of viewers.  And it’s exactly that type of person that they parody here.  Thankfully, my kids aren’t as into Youtube ranters as they are into Exemplary Role Model Taylor Swift.

Maillaro: My kids are.  Especially, my four year old daughter.  When she has TV time, it’s “I want to watch people make things out of Play-Doh or kids doing candy reviews or Disney Toy Collector showing off the newest toys.  Or video game walkthroughs, Oddly enough, she never asks for the toys she sees in the video, she just likes watching the videos.

Weaver: Anyway, I also wanted to touch on the game show parody they stick in here, where they basically dare someone to do something insane in order to get a billion dollars.  Try to jump at a huge bag of money from a hundred feet up with no net.  Shoot themselves anywhere but the hand or foot.  I actually don’t see this as being remarkably far from where we are...maybe in the (pun unintended) execution, but the premise of people making foolish sacrifices in a vain effort to make it big. When someone actually succeeds, the show producers seem pretty shocked, as that was never the intent.

Maillaro: Well, the system has always been unbalanced to screw the poor over, so that doesn’t surprise me.  Look at game shows now, you can make the big money...but the chances are infinitesimal.   It was all the little details like that which made me enjoy this book.  

The other thing I loved was the whole deal about the plans to enfranchise the poor by using them as billboards for a taco company.  Which would also provide them with the ability to monitor and track the poor.  I couldn’t help but think of Taco Tuesdays.   You know what the real sad part is...I actually know quite a few people who have adopted Taco Tuesdays after seeing The Lego Movie...which suggests to me that movie went right over their head.

Weaver: Taco Tuesday could be done as a parody reference...of a parody reference...never mind.  What I also liked about that as commentary is how it was all phrased as “Wouldn’t the poor rather have crappy fast food tacos rather than government cheese?” while simultaneously decrying people who “cheat” on food stamps to get what they want rather than what they need.  And they’ll be so appreciative that they’ll be pleased to be walking billboards!

I didn’t expect a lot here.  But what I got was great.  Also, Pharmaduke.  That word alone is comedy gold.

Maillaro: For me it was the Pectsecutioner.  I was pretty much sold on this book from that picture of that dude as our president.  

Weaver: Theoretically...and I say theoretically...the Pectsecutioner pic is the scandal that bumps him from reelection possibilities, probably as a dating site profile a la, say, Rex Ryan.  Which was also nice, the rundown of how social media allows people to just casually commit career suicide without really thinking about it.

Maillaro: DON’T RUIN THIS FOR ME.  But yeah, you are probably right.  Actually that was another thing I loved.  When showing the candidates for president, a few of them had ridiculously embarrassing pictures.  It’s like the media has given up trying to give presidential candidates any respect.  Another thing that has changed a lot in recent years.

So scores?

Weaver: Look, I’m going to give the writing a 5.  There’s your reward for Pharmaduke and the Pectsecutioner, which sounds like an awesome buddy cop story.  But saying that is just being pithy, the writing deserved every bit of a 5 with or without the clever nicknames (although clever nicknames help).  The art is a tougher sell for me.  It did a good job of looking a bit too busy.  Scratch that, entirely too busy.  But it was busy for a reason.  I’m going to give it a 4 because while I appreciate that was the vibe they were going for, it was still obnoxious to me.

Maillaro: I am going to go a little higher on the art with a 4.5.  I don’t disagree with you that it was obnoxious at times, but since that was clearly the artist’s intention, it definitely worked.  It’s like when a heel in wrestling gets you to boo for him.  The dude did his job, so it would be unfair to make him lose points for it.  And the writing a 4.5 too.  I really enjoyed the comic, BUT I still think the abrupt end was a problem for me.  I hate decompressed comic stories.  I know this is a 12 issue mini series...but that doesn’t mean we need to use more than 1 of those to get the story rolling.

Weaver: What does the magic eight ball tell us for next week?

Maillaro: If we want to continue the DCyou trend, Superman 41 sets up the new status quo...Superman is weak, and his identity is public.  Ignore the fact that Action and Superman/Batman were set AFTER this issue, but came out weeks before.  And Flash debuts Zoom this week…  

Weaver: Sounds great, let’s do it!

Maillaro: Let’s go with the Superman one then.  I haven’t really reviewed a Superman book in forever.  Think you’re up for a classic Superman story too?

Weaver: Yes.  Do you have one in mind?

Maillaro: I am a huge fan of Jurgens-era Superman, and there are a few stories thematically that I think would work well.  Let me find a specific issue and I’ll let you know later in the week.  Or I can go with the FAR better suggestion you texted me.  RED SON!!  Yes!  never read it and I’ve been dying to since I liked the Convergence issues so much.  

Final Scores