PREZ #4
March 1974 - DC Comics
Writer: Joe Simon
Penciller: Jerry Grandenetti
Inker: Creig Flessel
Inker: Creig Flessel
Letterer: Joe Rosen
SYNOPSIS:
After returning from a state trip to the European nation of Moravia, where Prez's administration has helped build a billion-dollar canal for irrigation, Prez and Eagle Free (head of the CIA) remark on the Moravians' strange custom of wearing garlic wreaths. That night, a bat-shaped helicopter unexpectedly visits the White House, carrying the Transylvanian Ambassador, the Wolfman. The Moravian canal has drained the lakes of Transylvania. Prez refuses to destroy the project, and the Wolfman delivers a formal declaration of war on behalf of his country's leader, Count Dracula. Wolfman storms out, with no one realizing that he has left his coffin-shaped briefcase behind.
Prez calls a cabinet meeting only to be frustrated by a lack of intelligence on the area other than the superstitions of legend. The next night sees Wolfman's briefcase open to reveal a vampire with no legs strapped to a small cart for mobility, wearing blocks on his hands to ease his propulsion. Dracula's attempt to turn the sleeping Prez into one of the living dead is thwarted by Eagle Free, who fights off the vampire with an Indian hooked cross resembling a swastika.
The Monrovian Ambassador reveals that Dracula plans to release thousands of rabid bats over America. Prez goes before Congress for a declaration of War against Transylvania, but Congress doesn't believe him and launches an investigation. Eagle Free concocts a final solution against the Transylvanian plane (their only plane), using birds on a suicide mission to dive into the plane's jet engines and cause it to crash, apparently killing Wolfman and Dracula, who were at the controls of the jet.
REVIEW:
This comic is just goofy fun. For the time it exists, it's wacky enough to make the various elements work in the genre of the story. As a reader, you cannot take this comic seriously. The absolute best part of this particular issue is its timelessness. If a young cartoonist produced something like this today, without DC having already done Prez, we'd all be talking about it. The fact that this was written by one of the co-creators of Captain America is a testament to the talent behind that creation and the range that is possible in comics, even with just one creator.
The art conveys the story very well, and for its weaknesses, it's still strong enough to add to the story's bizarre nature without distracting from it. Nothing about this comic goes into an overly wacky area that would be so easy with this issue. The creators play it completely straight.
This series should be on the reading list for alternative comic creators. It reads like something that could have been published by any independent publisher or even self-published.
FINAL RATING: 8 (out of a possible 10)
NOTES:
This issue was part of 2016's collection Prez: The First Teen President. Finding a copy of the individual issue may prove tricky, given that demand escalated after the character's appearance in Sandman. Now everybody that wants a copy most likely has one. You won't find a Near-Mint condition copy in any dollar bins, but you should be able to get a reading copy for not much more than the price of a new comic today. Graded copies in high condition can cost hundreds of dollars.
Digitally, it is available on DC Universe Unlimited. It's included in the initial subscription price as of this writing. The entire series is there, as well as Supergirl #10, which features Supergirl helping Prez.