Prez - First Teen President of the U.S.A. - Origin Issue #1 from 1973

A few months back, I saw a comic book titled Prez on the web. I don't remember where exactly - probably ebay. But, that's not important anyway. On the cover, Just above the title is some text that says, "First Teen President of the U.S.A.". I immediately thought that it was probably a ridiculously stupid comic book. But, it caught my attention and I remembered it. Ridiculous comic books can be fun. Anyway, a few weeks ago, I saw that same comic in a local comic shop and bought a copy. I figured that if the story is as stupid as I initially expected, it's still a unique first issue nostalgic comic worthy of having in my collection. Plus, it only cost me a buck.

The story starts out in the town of Steadfast, a small and quaint town, where all the clocks in town are off and don't match. There's no way of knowing the correct time in Steadfast. Prez Richard, head of the local stock car club and star of the book, decides that he's going to do something about it...

Prez fixes all of the clocks in Steadfast

Prez works on the clocks for weeks and finally fixes them all. Now, everyone in Steadfast will know when it's election day. Hooray!!!

Meanwhile, in the slum-ridden and politically corrupt Central City, the youth protest the decay that's saturated every grain of the metropolis...

The youth protest the decay that's saturated every grain of the metropolis

Nearby, Boss Smiley's crew watches the protest from a building above. Violence suddenly erupts as police attempt to clear the area. Annoyed by the young "punk" protesters, Boss Smiley's crew thoroughly enjoys the violent madness that's occurring in the street below. But, who is Boss Smiley?

Smiley arrives just in time to see the madness below...

Boss Smiley arrives to witness the madness in the streets below

Seriously, a smiley face for a head. That's great. But, don't let that fool ya. There's more to that smile than meets the eye.

As Mayor of Central City, Boss Smiley needs the youth vote to remain in power. The youth are very organized and have serious voting power. In fact, they even passed an amendment that permits the kids to run for Congress. Smiley explains to his crew that they need to get the youth movement on their side somehow. Smiley comes up with a plan...

He then decides to get help from his cousin Misery Marko, the advertising genius. Misery helped Boss Smiley get into office. So, Misery will surely know what to do. Smiley and his crew take a chopper over to Pollution Cove, Misery's private harbor, to meet with Misery.

When they arrive, Smiley explains to Misery what he needs...

Boss Smiley explains to Misery that he needs a young candidate for Senator that will attract the youth vote

Misery explains that in order to achieve that end, they'll need a candidate with a gimmick. Misery points out that all of the truly powerful world leaders in history did great things and they'll need a candidate that did something great. One of Smiley's crew blurts out, "These punk kids never did nuthin'!" Misery responds...

Prez Richard on the front page of the newspaper

A short time later, Smiley and his crew head to the town of Steadfast to convince Prez Richard to be their candidate for Senator. When Smiley's entourage arrives at Prez's home, Smiley immediately expresses his wishes to Prez. Shocked, Prez responds, "You want me to run for Senator? What do I know about politics?" Smiley convincingly explains that they'll take care of everything. Smiley then asks Prez how he got his name. Prez replies...

Excited about the prospect of being a Senator of the United States of America, Prez finally agrees.

Smiley and his crew head back towards Central City. On the way there, Smiley expresses concern with Prez's idealistic character. Smiley believes that it may get in the way of their master plan. Still, Smiley is certain that they can manage him. Smiley then tosses a lit cigar out of the vehicle...

Smiley tosses a lit cigar out of the vehicle

The burning cigar ignites the brush as Smiley and his crew drive off towards Central City. A Native American looking man suddenly appears to put out the small brush fire. The Native looking man then stands with his animal friends and watches Smiley and his crew drive off into the distance...

Native looking man stands with his animal friends watching Smiley and his crew drive off

That Native looking guy couldn't be more right. Back in Smiley's car, Smiley reveals his plan to use public money to build a super highway from Central City to Steadfast - right through the nature preserve that they're currently driving through. And, the company awarded the contract to build it would be Smiley's, of course. One of Smiley's crew asks Smiley why anyone would want to go to Steadfast. Smiley replies, "It's the home of the next President of the United States."

Weeks later, Prez's campaign for Senator brings him to the ground breaking ceremony for Boss Smiley's super highway from Central City to Steadfast. Prez gets the honor of setting off the first explosion. Speaking amongst themselves, Smiley and his crew discuss the potential of a dam burst when the explosives go off. Smiley welcomes the dam burst as his dam construction company can re-build it at a profit.

Later, the construction is underway and explosions cause the dam to burst. The flood waters threaten to destroy the lives and homes of the Native American looking man and his animal friends. Suddenly...

A Noah's ark like thing suddenly appears

Sure enough. It's the Native looking man and all of his animal friends riding the flood waters on a huge wooden boat. The man and the animals lunge from the boat and destroy the construction equipment. Furious, Smiley orders somebody to stop them. Prez decides that he'll chase them down. The Native guy and the animals find that their home was untouched by the flood waters and go inside. Prez didn't know where they went. One minute they were there, the next they were gone. Dumbfounded, Prez prepares to give up the chase. But, all of a sudden, he feels a draft of cool air and realizes that there's a cave and that they're probably hiding inside.

Prez puts a beating on the Native looking guy

The animals separate Prez from the Native looking guy. The Native guy explains...

Eagle Free goes on to explain that he's studied the animals and acquired their senses. And, he chooses to live among them. Prez notices a bunch of books on subjects such as chemistry and biology and asks Eagle Free how he acquired them. Eagle free explains that he lived in the white man's world and studied at universities. But, he chose to come back to nature and live amongst the animals. Eagle Free detests the white man's world and accuses Prez of having an impure heart and being a representative of the white man's world. Prez is shocked....

Eagle Free reveals Smiley's corruption to Prez

Eagle Free asks Prez to stay at the cave for a few days so that he can prove that Smiley is corrupt and provide "some of the secrets that [he] will need for such a dangerous mission". Prez agrees to stay.

While there, Prez learns the ways of nature. His senses are refined and he begins to truly understand the way of nature. After some time, Prez begins to "think and maneuver as the creatures of Eagle Free's Nature Nation." Eagle Free is pleased and informs Prez that he's ready...

Eagle Free and Prez head to Central City and break into Smiley's office to find documents that can prove that Smiley is corrupt. Smiley's crew hears the commotion and confronts Prez and Eagle Free. After a short scuffle, Smiley arrives and isn't really that surprised by Prez's idealistic actions. Prez informs Smiley that he's not going along with Smiley's corrupt plan and threatens to reveal Smiley when he becomes Senator. Smiley strikes back by saying that he plans to publicly renounce Prez and get a new candidate. But, as it turns out, Smiley doesn't have enough time for that . The clock strikes midnight and Prez says, "too late Smiley... it's election day."

Prez won the election and became Senator. Shortly, thereafter, young people gained a majority in congress and an amendment to the Constitution was passed which "lowered the required age of the president from thirty-five to eighteen."

Prez soon becomes President of the United States...

Prez becomes the first teenage President of the United States

Prez makes Eagle Free the F.B.I Chief and a mystery person the Vice President...

The identity of the new Vice President is not revealed until the next issue of Prez.

So, that's how Prez Richard became the first teenage President of the United States. The concept of a comic book about a teenage president seems sort of stupid. But, this was actually not that bad - definitely not as bad as I initially thought it would be. The story had good guys and bad guys and adventure. It also made the reader aware of the many social and moral issues of the time. Some of the characters in the story were a bit bizarre - Boss Smiley with his smiley face head and Eagle Free and his Nature Nation. But, it definitely made for a good read. DC Comics only pubished 4 issues of the Prez title. So, I might complete the run and see how the story turns out. Or, maybe not. I dunno.

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