X-Presidents

Rating:
Summary: It's just like SNL, only a lot funnier!
Review: A very clever and extremely fun read. This graphic-novel is a MUST-HAVE for all SNL's 'TV FUN-HOUSE' fans. It has all the elements that we have come to love and expect from 'TV FUN-HOUSE' plus more great stuff that SNL cannot broadcast over network television!

Rating:
Summary: You'll laugh untill you turn blue in the face
Review: Based on a popular Saturday Night Live skit, this book (for those few who have not seen the segments) chronicles the adventures of what might happen if our former presidents had superpowers and an international mandate to save the world from a vaugley identified evil.

Granted, the animation style screams cheap 70's cartoon, but this is precisely the point of the animated sketches. The humor is subtle enough for adults and others to grasp it, and the undeniably cheesy and fun sketches will keep you rolling on the floor with laughter and guffaws.

Out of all the things Saturday Night Live has transformed into a skit post Wayne's World, the X Presidents is surely most deserving of this tribute, as well as an entire movie of their very own. You don't have to be a political freak or even like the particular presidents featured to know that sometimes something this silly is needed.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Hilarious!
Review: Even though I'm not a big comic book fan, I instantly knew that I had to buy "X-Presidents" when I heard that my four "favorite" American heroes had set out to conquer an alien race that was being hostile to the U.S. of A. Needless to say, I immediately fell in love with this comic and finished it in one sitting, laughing from front to back cover. Complete with political jokes and sexual innuendoes, this one has a little something in it for everyone, much like the show where it originated, Saturday Night Live.

I highly recommend this comic to anyone, especially people who enjoy shows like SNL. The laughter and enjoyment that abounds from it is definitely worth the money!!

Rating:
Summary: Added Relevance in a post-Sept. 11th World
Review: Taken by itself, this book is a masterpiece of sophisticated humor *and* political relevance masked as a "Super Friends"-like cartoon book knock off. There are obscure references to famous utterances associated with each of the ex-Presidents that I hadn't thought of in 25 years or more. To see Jimmy Carter taking on a villian with the line "I have lust in my heart...to kick your ass." Man, that's funny stuff.

But now, after the terrorist attacks on NYC and the Pentagon, there it is right on Page 1 of the New York Times: "Bush Appeals to Ex-Presidents for Coalition-Building Efforts." Life imitates art to a 'T'. Absolutely amazing.

Rating:
Summary: Added Relevance in a post-Sept. 11th World
Review: Taken by itself, this book is a masterpiece of sophisticated humor *and* political relevance masked as a "Super Friends"-like cartoon book knock off. There are obscure references to famous utterances associated with each of the ex-Presidents that I hadn't thought of in 25 years or more. To see Jimmy Carter taking on a villian with the line "I have lust in my heart...to kick your ass." Man, that's funny stuff.

But now, after the terrorist attacks on NYC and the Pentagon, there it is right on Page 1 of the New York Times: "Bush Appeals to Ex-Presidents for Coalition-Building Efforts." Life imitates art to a 'T'. Absolutely amazing.

Rating:
Summary: Great Artwork
Review: This book was hysterical; but the best part was the artwork, done by the celebrated animators David Wachtenheim and Robert Marianetti who animate the SNL cartoon. It was worth every penny!

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This is completely hysterical. I was a fan of the show on SNL, and when I saw the book, I had to snatch it. It has lots of little references that only political junkies like me would get.

Rating:
Summary: We loved the X-Presidents Comic!
Review: We love the cartoon on SNL and couldn't wait to snap this one up! It was a birthday present for my husband but the whole family can't wait to read it!

Rating:
Summary: As Funny as any book I've ever read
Review: When I first saw the cartoon on Saturday night live I laughed until I fell out of the chair. The same thing happened when I read this book. From the giant tornado hitting an axe factory to our former presidents smoking crack and then singing an American Bandstand-syle song about it (9 out of 10 times it's just plain wrong) this book rocks. Even the little legal disclaimers (a direct parody of real comic book legalese) on the first page are twistedly funny. Buy this Book!

Rating:
Summary: Mostly funny, but some uncomfortable moments.
Review: X-Presidents is a strange, screwy parody which mixes bad 1970s Saturday-morning cartoons, Marvel comic books, and politics into a pastiche of weirdness like none other published to date.

There's a fine line between parody and parroting the liberal party line; unfortunately, while X-Presidents hits the mark most of the time, the authors can't help but devolve into Bush- and Reagan-bashing from time to time. For example, the "From the X-Presidents' Mailbag" section consists of nothing but cheap shots against the three Republican X-es -- and in predictable ways, too: Reagan, Iran-Contra and firing the air-traffic controllers; Bush, Iran-Contra and son W.; and Ford, stupidity.

Also, there are multiple gratuitous sexual references that are simply nonsensical. True, the whole book is gratuitous, but seeing Bush having sex with Babs on every page, or Carter having a threesome with Imelda Marcos and a mystery mullet-dude, lends little to the plot except to make it strangely embarrassing.

These aside, X-Presidents did contain the most hilarious bits of humor I've read in this dark post-September 11 world. Best of all were the peculiar "Archies"-style interludes wherein the X-es play and sing various tunes (yes, they even play the same instruments that the animated Archies did) summarizing the plot action.

This is a bizarre little book, no doubt.