Popular Culture Review Vol. 18, No. 1, Winter 2007 | Page 100

96 Popular Culture Review the President is depicted as using the status of being an American symbol to blind the nation’s citizens to their country’s unpleasant realities. When he is portrayed, the President is either dressed in clothing that matches the stars and stripes of the American flag or his very presence is substituted by the flag itself As he wraps himself in the flag, the President dispenses folksy advice and assures the American people that everything is fine. Although Miller’s President, at first glance, appears to an out of touch politician who wishes to cling to bygone days, a deeper reading indicates that he is in fact using his unsophisticated persona to lull the American people into political complacency. When addressing the nation about an impeding war in the nation of Corto Maltese this Reaganesque character is shown to say: American Tr—Excuse me. . . heroic American troops are now engaged in direct combat with Soviet forces.. . now there’s been a lot of loose talk these days about nuclear w ar.. . Well, let me tell you nobody’s running off half-cocked, no sir. . . . But we sure shooting aren’t running away, either. We’ve got to secure our—Ahem—Stand up for the cause of freedom. . . . and those cute little Corto Maltese people, they want us there, just ask them. Meanwhile, don’t you fret. . . we’ve got God on our side. . .or the next best thing, anyway. . . Heh.. . (Miller 119). The god that the President is referring to in this quotation is Supemian and it is made clear throughout the text that the Man of Steel has become a puppet of the U.S. government and the President in particular. In 1963 President Kennedy is Superman’s trustworthy ally but 1986’s Reagan-like President only wishes to use Superman for his political advantage. In Frank Miller’s America the President is still a powerful figure and the office itself garners respect and that leads to abuses. Much like unworthy Presidents in the various versions of Prez, the President in The Dark Knight does not deserve the office; Miller breaks new ground by showing the trouble a bad leader can create. A nuclear war and a society that has lost touch with reality are two of the consequences of a substandard President. Undeserving Presidents in past comic books caused few major problems, but Miller shows the cost of poor leadership in the new era. President Superman While Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight continued a perceivable pattern of a darkening view of the President that mirrored many American’s sentiments about Vietnam, Watergate, and the Cold War, some 1990’s stories provided a return to a more likable and tmstworthy President. Most notable is 1991’s Action Comics Annual #3 in which a possible future Superman becomes President of the United States. In the story after Superman becomes President, he single-handedly solves most of the nation’s and the world’s problems. Little fear is shown that Superman might be too powerful for the office and eventually