Publisher DC Comics | Alter ego Prez Rickard | |
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Created by Joe Simon, Jerry Grandenetti First appearance First Teen President #1 (August–September 1973, Prez) Creators Joe Simon, Jerry Grandenetti Similar Omega Men, Bat‑Mite, Midnighter, Infinity‑Man, Doctor Fate | ||
"Prez" is the name of fictional characters appearing in comics published by DC Comics. The original was Prez Rickard, the first teenage president of the United States of America, who appeared in a short-lived comic series by writer Joe Simon and artist Jerry Grandenetti in 1973 and 1974. Similar characters have appeared since then, revisiting the concept or paying homage to the original character. In 2015 DC launched a limited series under the title Prez about a teenage girl named Beth Ross who is elected president via Twitter in the year 2036.
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Prez Rickard
Prez: First Teen President followed the adventures of a teenage boy whose election had been made possible by a Constitutional amendment lowering the age of eligibility to accommodate the then-influential youth culture of the baby boom. The nickname 'Prez' is bestowed by his mother Martha, in the hope of his election to presidency. Having synchronized the clocks of his town of Steadfast, Prez was hired as a front for shady businessman Boss Smiley (a political boss with a smiley face) to run for United States Senator; but did so in a position against that of Smiley. With 45% of voters under 30, Congress lowered the eligibility age for the presidency and Senator Rickard was elected president; whereupon he appointed his mother Vice President and made his sister his secretary. Prez was aided by Eagle Free, a young Native American amateur naturalist, whom Prez appointed director of the FBI, and who trained Prez in multiple fighting techniques (this was never shown, but cited at their use). As President, Prez fought legless vampires, a right-wing militia led by the great-great-great-great-great-grandnephew of George Washington, "Boss Smiley", and evil chess players. He was attacked for his stance on gun control, and survived an assassination attempt during that controversy.
After four issues, the series was abruptly cancelled. Several years later, Issue #5 was included in Cancelled Comic Cavalcade #2 (though Prez itself predated the DC Implosion which prompted the production of that book). Prez also appeared in Supergirl #10 (Sept.-Oct. 1974). Although the first issue Prez specified that the series was an imaginary (non-continuity) story, this story by Cary Bates implies that Prez is the President in Earth-One of the DC Universe. In the story, Supergirl, known as Linda Lee Danvers, saves Prez from two hoaxed assassination attempts to be entrapped into a third by a politician working with a witch called Hepzibah (resembling Eve), who stabs the head of a doll of Supergirl's likeness to make her drop him; but Supergirl flies Prez to the Fortress of Solitude, then drops a plastic dummy dressed as Prez into the East River to trick the conspirators. In this story, Prez's repair of clocks is made a personal hobby of his.
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