The race to the White House has never seemed so surreal. Former reality TV business magnates are brandishing Mexican walls and Twitter feuds, while no-BS democratic candidates are ready to usher the United States into functional socialism. These are things that are happening! No matter whether you ride the elephant, donkey or alternative political animal, it’s a weird, loud time to tune into the state of the union. This commotion made the Paste Comics Team reflect on some of our favorite political figures to grace comics. Some may turn into coin-flipping noir villains and others may actually be delusional emperors, but their antics are getting less and less sensational with each passing day. Let us know your favorite sequential art politicos in the comment section.
Emperor Norton The Sandman #31 by Neil Gaiman and Shawn McManus
Suffice to say, real-life historical figure Joshua Abraham Norton was never the Emperor of the United States, despite 21 years of press campaign and assertions otherwise. That said, he did spend much of the late 19th-century parading around the streets of San Francisco in a beaver hat, issuing his own currency, proclaiming edicts and holding town meetings to “remedy the evil complained of.” As one of the most surreal footnotes of yesteryear, Neil Gaiman adopted this tale into his postmodern Sandman mythos. In the issue “Three Septembers and a January,” the character Despair (who is actually the personification of sorrow) challenges her brother Morpheus (the dream king responsible for the all the times you’ve retaken your calculus finals with alligator hands while your mom sings Cindi Lauper karaoke) to save a man from her buzzkill realm after his business implodes. That man, Joshua Abraham Norton, then followed a dream that salvaged his life and delighted those around him—30,000 mourned his passing. Norton may not have been an elected politician, but Gaiman and artist Shawn McManus portrayed a charismatic, inspirational figure whose legacy surpasses that of most presidents. An emperor indeed. Sean Edgar
As a character that lives and dies based on the idea of vigilante justice, it’s no surprise that one of Batman’s most enduring foes is politician Harvey Dent. The Gotham District Attorney is a manifestation of voters’ worst nightmares: an elected official who, quite literally, exposes a completely different side of himself once in office. Often, within Batman tales, Dent’s politics are supposed to serve as the counter to Bruce Wayne’s home-brewed justice; he’s a beacon of hope that one day, a rich dude in tights won’t have to pummel clowns, crocodiles and scarecrows. Of course, as with any Dent tale, the fall is inevitable and fast as a flask of acid to the face—and further warning to keep an eye on public officials deemed trustworthy. Tyler R. Kane
Kenneth Yamaoka Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President by Kaiji Kawaguchi
Five meticulous volumes of addictive political subterfuge, Eagle: The Making of an Asian-American President dissects the ingrained realities of race and how it might affect a POC pursuing the White House. Kenneth Yamaoka did his homework in the series: his alternate history 2000 presidential campaign isn’t exactly subtle (hello, Billy Clayton and Al Nore), but it is dense and obsessive. Is Democratic candidate Kenneth Yamaoka the embodiment of the American Dream? Is he a hardworking example product of the land of opportunities, smacking down gun groups? Or is he kind of a sketch ball who abandoned his son, journalist Takashi Jo. The real answer is that Yamaoka is both and so much more. In other words, he’s a politician. Sean Edgar
Depending on which side you’re on politically, each ideology has its own Lex Luthor counterpart. But DC comics made a pretty bold statement in 2000 by appointing the chrome-dome menace in the POTUS position. The Triumph Over Tragedy storyline told the tale of how Luthor came to power—his platform, unsurprisingly, is based on progressing in the tech sphere—and led to a too-good-to-be-true tale about re-integrating Gotham into the United States. Turns out, he might have had a part in Gotham’s initial problem. But, more importantly, who thought this was a good idea to begin with, AMERICA? Tyler R. Kane
Mayor Mitchell Hundred Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris
He saved one of the towers on 9-11, knew an obscene amounts about Central Park’s statues and instituted taxing policies that would make Bernie Sanders blush. The first elected independent NYC mayor since Vincent R. Impellitteri in 1953, former superhero Mitchell Hundred had had to deal with way more than the occasional smear campaign or approval numbers, though. As an wunderkind with the power to communicate with machines, Hundred also had to prevent a trans-dimensional invasion from hellish monsters who don’t care much for the shared pursuit of happiness. Writer Brian K. Vaughan uses Mitchell and Ex Machina as a platform to reflect politics on an issue by issue basis, showing a fascinating middle ground and elaborate history often overshadowed by two-party antagonism. Even if Hundred shed more flesh-and-blood than the average politician, he did reap his reward as Vice President in an alternate history where John McCain takes the POTUS title. Sean Edgar
Beth Ross Prez by Mark Russell and Ben Caldwell
Mark Russell and Ben Caldwell’s Prez reinvent a failed ‘70s concept, an avalanche of colors and satire that’s equally bleak, inspirational and funny. The comic, whose fourth issue hit this week, revolves around a corndog fast food employee who gains the presidency by a fluke upset. Betty Ross represents the gleaming new ideas that incoming generations can introduce to tired tbureaucracy and institutionalized nepotism. She invites Neil deGrasse Tyson into her cabinet and has Anonymous watch her back. Even more important? She’s a teenager who actually knows who the Allman Brothers are. She gets our vote. Sean Edgar
Representative Jennifer Brown Y: The Last Man by Brian. K Vaughan, Pia Guerra & Others
When a plague of unknown origins wipes out every living creature with a Y chromosome, aside from a man named Yorick and his disobedient monkey, quite a few political positions suddenly pop open—and by “quite a few,” we mean “nearly all.” Yorick’s mother Jennifer Brown is a first-term member of the House of Representatives when the men kick it, paving a quick path for her to ascend to Secretary of the Interior (after squaring off against a pack of angry Republican senators’ wives packing heat). As a staunchly pro-life Democrat who’s quick to sell out to foreign military for a personal favor, Representative Brown would… probably do exceedingly well in the real-world American political scene. Steve Foxe
Ronald Reagan The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
In Frank Miller’s Dark Knight Returns, the same guy responsible for Reaganomics also pitted the Dark Knight and Clark Kent against each other for their biggest kerfuffle. The seminal graphic novel explores Bat-themes that are present to this day, notably in Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo’s current Jim Gordon-led Bat-title: Does Batman have a place in a government-regulated superhero world? While Batman’s return is met with open arms for some of Gotham’s residents, higher-ups (per usual) have a beef with the unregulated crime fighting. Reagan sees this as an opportunity to bring in Superman, seen here as a pious all-American, and the hero’s used as incentive to put Batman back into retirement. And while Snyder and Capullo are in the middle of their meditation on the subject, Miller made his stance perfectly clear in the late-’80s Gotham. This self-correcting, ghastly-looking version of Reagan (really, the guy looks like he’s falling apart on the page) is one of the many iconic touches in Miller’s DKR that gets lost among Joker showdowns and that epic, conclusive battle scene with Superman. Tyler R. Kane
Senator Robert Kelly X-Men
Now that S.H.I.E.L.D. is pretty much the only important arm of the world government in the Marvel U., plain old white dude human politicians like former Avengers liaison Henry Peter Gyrich and dearly-departed Senator Robert Kelly don’t merit much attention. Senator Kelly made his mark in nearly every medium, playing key roles in X-Men: The Animated Series and Bryan Singer’s first X-Men film, in which Mystique injected him with a serum that turned him into a melting mutant (there’s a reason these movies were rebooted). Like any good politician, Kelly did a complete 180 during his time in office, reversing his bigoted anti-mutant stance to campaign for human/mutant peace—right until he was felled by an assassin’s bullet. Steve Foxe
