On the Stump

In an America where laws are literally fought for on stumps in public, Senator Jack Hammer was someone with his best days behind him.  Until he beat the crap out of Senator Sweet Smell over a bill to deregulate genetic engineering.  Not only is he now more popular with the general public, he’s got the attention of some people with their own agendas.  There’s FBI Agent Annabel Lister, who has been following a trail of corruption that leads to Senator Thunder Bearer.  He was backing Sweet Smell in his fight and now he, and his Clown League thug, have it in for Senator Hammer as well.  Then there’s the secret league of Blacksmiths living under the White House, former Senator Hail who’s running the Nyxx Corporation, and a book that requires some blood before it can be opened.  Senator Hammer will find himself working with or against all these factions and more, all because he finally found something to fight for.

There’s plenty of crazy in “On the Stump” and artist Prenzy does a good job of bringing it to life with pencilwork that’s light on detail but filled with all the energy this story needs.  The thing is that while writer Chuck Brown’s tale starts off strong with its “What if politics were run more like the WWE?” premise, it pretty much goes off the rails by the end of the volume.  Part of that’s due to all of the above-mentioned complications that are foisted onto the miniseries over its five issues.  Part of it is because the story becomes increasingly more serious and preachy as it goes along.  Part of it is because the volume ends without strong resolution, in that it tries to set up a sequel (that probably won’t be coming anytime soon).  Still, the idea of politics via wrestling showmanship is a compelling one that kept me reading, and Brown conjures up a generally likeable crew of protagonists.  Even if Brown and Prenzy don’t come back to this series, there’s enough interesting stuff here to make me want to see what they’ll do next.