Comic books and presidents

By Sharon Eberson / Tuesday, Nov. 4

If you haven't read the graphic novel "Watchmen" - don't you dare scrunch up your nose at "graphic" novel; Time Magazine named it one of our 100 best novels, period - these days of transition in government might be a good time.

It's about as dark as it gets, including a comic book within the novel that is as horrific as anything in literature, and speaks of a time when the brilliant Alan Moore - perhaps through the conflicted Dr. Manhattan - was searching for a glimmer of hope amid mankind's penchant for madness in both love and war.

Writer Moore's ideas of presidents and politics in his 1986 work were colored by an abiding disdain for Richard Nixon and his alarm at the Vietnam War and the Soviet Union's invasion of Aghanistan in 1979.

"Captain Comics" - a k a Andrew A. Smith of the Memphis Commercial Appeal - listed his top presidential moments of the comics of yesteryear, among them this mention of "Watchmen":

"Nixon's the One: One of the subtle storylines in Alan Moore's classic "Watchmen" is how the advent of Dr. Manhattan - the first superhero with actual superpowers - changed everything in the Watchmen world. Blimps seem to be a primary venue for air travel, cars work on some sort of non-fossil fuel (as seen by power plugs at street corners instead of gas stations) and Tricky Dick is still president in 1986. That's because Dr. Manhattan won the Vietnam War almost single-handedly, journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were mysteriously murdered and the 22nd Amendment was repealed. That's something to watch for in the movie, slated to premiere March 9, 2009."

Smith's No. 1 POTUS moment, by the way, came in "Action Comics" No. 309 in the early 1960s.

"Superman had a dilemma. The Man of Steel had been shanghaied into a "This Is Your Life" kind of TV show - and Clark Kent was supposed to appear. Would his secret ID be revealed on national TV? The suspense built as one by one the traditional methods Supes used as cover were eliminated. ... But at the climax of the show (and the story), in walked Clark Kent! How could this be? Well, it was President Kennedy in disguise, covering for his good friend Superman.

"What made this story amazingly poignant, though, was that it shipped sometime in December 1963 - a little after JFK's assassination, but too late for DC to pull the book back. And that's why I've never forgotten it."

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A publication from Comic-Con International came this week, and the folks that put on that ginormous show felt an obligation to answer complaints of "where have all the comic books gone?" at the San Diego comic-book convention.

They did a good job, explaining the hundreds of hours of panels and dozens of talented people that are solidly from the comic-book world, even if Hollywood -- with movies and TV series often based on comic books -- seems to always have center stage.

I make that point as a way of explaining the Sept. 3, 2008 Associated Press photo that shows Robert Downey Jr. standing near a life-size "Iron Man" during a news conference for the premiere of the film in Tokyo. Strong box office for the movie helped boost Marvel Entertainment Inc.'s third-quarter earnings by 39 percent, and the licensing and comic-book publishing company on Tuesday, Nov. 4, also raised its 2008 forecast. 

So if you think Hollywood and the comics aren't a dynamic duo, think again.