Courtesy Marvel Comics
Comics, particularly Marvel comics, have been known to take influences from the real world. Captain America got his start punching Adolf Hitler in the mouth and then later dealt with communism and Watergate. Today, the two titans of the comics industry, Marvel and DC, both have comics that are politically-themed.
Marvel Comics has two political comics, Vote Loki and Captain America: Sam Wilson. Vote Loki is a four issue miniseries that deals with Loki, well-known as the villain from the first Avengers movie, running for President as a third party candidate. Loki is an unconventional candidate who promises to lie to the American people and there is almost nothing that can damage his strong poll numbers as any potential controversy is spun away. Loki at one point also shifts genders in the hope that being a female will help him win more votes. The book, however, focuses on the media as much as the election. A reporter is the protagonist in the series and she inadvertently helps lead to Loki’s rise when her headline is changed from being against Loki to favorable towards him. The content of the story remains, but few read beyond the headline. There is one issue remaining in the Vote Loki series.
Marvel’s other political book is Captain America: Sam Wilson. Nick Spencer, the writer of both Captain America series, described the Sam Wilson comics as the “topical, ripped-from-the-headlines approach.”
Repeated efforts to get comment from Marvel were unsuccessful.
DC Comics has also gotten into the fun with its limited run series, PREZ. PREZ is the story of a nineteen year old girl, Beth Ross, who wins the Presidency in 2036 thanks to a Twitter poll. The series was supposed to have twelve issues, but six have been released and the last one was released in December of 2015. However, writer Mark Russell says that the series will return in October of this year to finish its storyline.
Catwoman is also getting involved with local politics as DC is releasing a one-shot, a comics term for a single, standalone story, that features Catwoman getting involved with the mayoral election in Gotham. Ross will also be included in the comic that will be released four days before the real-life Election Day.
A DC spokesman also pointed out that DC Entertainment owns MAD Magazine and the satirical magazine has taken repeated shots at Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.