California Democrat Robert Garcia—former mayor of Long Beach, proud representative of the LGBTQ+ community, proud immigrant, self-proclaimed “comic book nerd”—was scheduled to be sworn into Congress today accompanied by some important personal touchstones… including a very rare Superman comic.
Here’s his tweet, confirming he’s indeed the member of Congress whose choice went immediately viral when it surfaced in a tweet documenting the (mostly religious) tomes that other new members had selected to accompany their own swearing-in ceremonies.
Will be proudly sworn-in to Congress on the U.S. Constitution. Underneath the Constitution will be 3 items that mean a lot to me personally. A photo of my parents who I lost to covid, my citizenship certificate & an original Superman #1 from the @librarycongress. 🇺🇸😊 pic.twitter.com/YGW43OLsIp
— Robert Garcia (@RobertGarcia) January 3, 2023
This is a sweet follow-up to his tweets soon after the election in November, in which he very excitedly confirmed he was “freaking out” about one perk of his new job…
Ok y’all I’m freaking out. This is the Congressional members reading room in the Library of Congress. I can pull any comic book from what is the largest public comic collection in the country and read them here. Let’s go! pic.twitter.com/SyIrCvHkfT
— Robert Garcia (@RobertGarcia) November 14, 2022
Read the whole thread to see him teasing the very Superman issue that surfaced in Congress today, as well as his very astute reply to any haters lurking in his feed: “For all of you upset that I still read comics and suggesting that I need to do more serious reading…..um…….anyone who understands comics knows that comics are an essential part of American fiction. And the lessons learned are invaluable. It’s serious shit.”
So now, io9 readers, it’s your turn. If you were elected to Congress, or some other high office that involved taking a solemn oath—what nerdy text would you pick as part of the ceremony? Lord of the Rings? The Colour of Magic? The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film? Or maybe something fictional, like Evil Dead’s Necronomicon? (Examples may or may not be from actual io9 staffers.) We want to know!
Update, January 3 at 7:40pm ET: House members cannot be sworn in until the House has a speaker, according to CNN, but presumably Superman will be on hand once Garcia is able to get his turn.
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