Colbert Wins!

So, apparently over in the Marvel Universe, Stephen Colbert (who's ironic and abortive real-world campaign was for real in the Marvel Universe) won yesterday's election. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Sure, in the moment it's silly fun and I'm sure it'll earn Joe Quesada another appearance on The Colbert Report (making it a great marketing tool), but long term, is this really the best thing for Marvel creatively?


In 2000, DC Comics had Lex Luthor win that year's presidential election (I'd say that a President Luthor would be an improvement over a President Bush, but Luthor did allow Topeka, Kansas to be destroyed by alien invaders, so that's one up for Bush (Oh, and Bush didn't have to be forcibly removed from office by the Justice League, so there's two for him)). I thought it was a great idea story-wise, but that's one of the main differences. DC's fictional president was elected as part of the ongoing story of the DC Universe. Marvel's fictional president is largely a stunt. The other difference goes to the difference between the Marvel and DC Universes. Marvel has always prided itself on trying to tie its world to the real world as closely as possible for a super-hero universe, so the president in the Marvel Universe has always been the same as the one in the real world. Major events in the real world reverberate in the Marvel Universe. Admittedly, it's a silly premise when you think about it too hard (given that the "realistic" Marvel Universe is currently in the midst of an alien invasion story), but it's part of the flavor of environment in which the stories take place. I guess my question is this, do the writers at Marvel really want to live with this long term? Will they or will it be quickly forgotten.

Okay, I'm devoting too much thought to this thing. It's just silly fun, so I'll just sit back and enjoy it.