Through the ages, comic books have always tapped in to the “real world” to find stories and direction and a certain level of pertinence. Sometimes these are rather amusing and satirical, at other times they remain poignant and a harsh reminder of what awaits us beyond the escapism of the comic book pages we hold.
With Election day here, I wanted to take a look at some times over the years when Presidents from our Earth have crossed over to Earth Prime or 616 to affect both worlds. Most presidents have found their way in to the pages of books via cameos or speeches to the Justice League or the Avengers or some other type of incursion on freedom and American sovereignty. So we’ll try to focus on just covers here. We will also take a look at a couple of comic book characters who have ran for president themselves.
Let’s start with our main party candidates. First up, Hillary R. Clinton:
While I could not find a cover, aside from commissioned sketches, that depicted Mr. Donald Trump, there is this, a soft cover OGN entitled ‘ Lex Luthor: An Unauthorized Biography‘. The cover is a swipe of Donald Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal”. The DC comics OGN came out in 1989 with a cover by Eric Peterson.
We will continue our journey with the most recent of Presidents the 44th, Barack H Obama. Believe it or not, Obama has appeared in more than one issue and courtesy of more than one publisher. On this first one, Obama is seen posing with Savage Dragon who himself ran for president:
We all know of Richard Nixon’s exploits in the Watergate Hotel and through his term in office, but did you know he’s also graced the cover or more than one comic book? He’s not a crook but he’s on a book:
John F. Kennedy is next. This first book is a comic book that was distributed to US Embassies and was issued in 1961, 2 years prior to the assassination:
Dwight D. Eisenhower, loosely masked as Izen-hower is seen here:
This one is pre-presidential but there he his nevertheless
Now let’s explore Abraham Lincoln’s cover appearances:
Honest Abe is seen here with Franklin D. Roosevelt:
and now, George Washington:
Ronald Reagan has appeared over 80 times in the pages of comic books but mainly as a cameo or by reference. He did, however, have his own team called “Reagan’s Raiders”:
Gerald Ford:
Jimmy Carter is seen in print form on this cover of Howard the Duck who, himself, ran for president:
The X-Presidents is a parody book via Random House and featured multiple presidents on a super team. This is a graphic novel adaptation of an SNL animation of Ford, Carter, Bush and Reagan.
Finally, we can not forget this iconic cover of DC Comics 1978 one-shot Superman vs Muhammad Ali. Among all the DC staff, the Osmonds, John Wayne (with a mustache), The Jackson 5, The Beatles, you will find 2 presidents: Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.
So there you have it, folks! Some of the greatest political figures of our universe to have graced the hallowed pages of comic book-dom over the years. Leave some more in the comments below!
As a bonus, here is the cover to “Vote Loki” #1, a recent book from Marvel Comics
