That’s Not Really How It Works!: Civics And The Fictional Presidency

We all know the story about the timing of the issue that featured this panel, right?

I greatly enjoy DC Comics’ Showcase Presents series of black and white reprints.  Sometimes they feature obscure characters, or just stories that would be far too expensive to hunt down the original comics in order to read, and at the price of below $15 each, the 500+ pages are generally worth it.  Besides, sometimes there’s some outright screwiness going on.  Take the original appearance of longtime foe of the Aton the Floronic Man, Jason Woodroe.  At the end of the issue, there’s a quick courtroom scene where a judge states that he is going to be handling certain procedures before Woodroe can be hauled off to a federal court for the crime of attempting to take over the world.

This tickles me for the very implications of what that panel suggests, namely that in that universe, the United States Congress proposed, debated, voted on, and passed a bill outlawing attempted world conquest.  Said law was then signed by a president.  I am sure for the juvenile readers of the original stories, this doesn’t seem too wild, but really, that’s the sort of thing that really catches my attention.

That said, let’s look at some fictional presidents.

The Entertainment Industry To Nitpickers: Historical Accuracy Is For Chumps!

Awards season.  A prominent director releases a movie that garners some Oscar nominations.  Controversy arises among some, though.  The movie is based on the life of a man many Americans think of as a hero, but who in his own time has proven to be somewhat controversial.  It seems some have found the movie has taken a few liberties with past events, and since said past events are based on real, living people, this is a cause for concern among some people.

I am speaking, of course, of Steven Spielberg’s 2012 movie Lincoln.