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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