The concept of DC’s Prez miniseries is intended to be absurd. But with 15-year-old Brady C. Olson making headlines as the satirical presidential candidate “Deez Nuts,” the real-world election cycle is becoming just as ridiculous as this comic about a 19-year-old girl who becomes the next president of the United States thanks to Twitter voting, viral celebrity, and dysfunctional politics in the electoral college. Writer Mark Russell and the art team of penciler Ben Caldwell, inker Mark Morales, and colorist Jeremy Lawson have done remarkable work reinterpreting the classic Prez concept for modern times with the rise of President Beth Ross, a.k.a. “Corndog Girl,” named after a viral video showing her accidentally dropping her hair in a vat of fry oil at her day job. The miniseries uses Beth’s experience to explore contemporary issues the way the original, short-lived Prez series addressed the issues of the ’70s.
Prez has become a standout title of DC YOU with its sharp political commentary, bold sense of humor, and intricate world building in both the writing and art. This preview of this week’s Prez #3 highlights all those strengths as it shows how Beth’s election impacts different people, from the older woman that sends Beth a “Sexy Frog” gift through her interactive television to the worker that gets injured on the job when a stack of “Sexy Frogs” falls on him to Beth herself, who is being courted by shady figures that want to exchange money for influence. Morales’ clean inks and Lawson’s vibrant color palette combine with Caldwell’s rich, expressive pencils to give the book a cartoonish aesthetic that creates a fascinating contrast with the darker story elements, and the animated visuals bring a freshness to the story that reflects the vitality the young new president is bringing to her office.