By Zack Quaintance — On the Stump #1 is a political satire comic that hits readers like a punch to the face. This is fitting, because this is also a comic that features many a punch to the face, or stomach, or head. It’s also in many ways a natural comic for our current political climate.

The central concept of On the Stump #1 — a new Image Comics series from writer Chuck Brown, artist Prenzy, and letterer Clayton Cowles — is that the United States Congress is now a place where legislation is decided not by voting, but rather by one-on-one physical combat. Want your bill to go through? You best get ready to throw down in front of a roaring crowd in Washington, D.C., with a member of the opposition party. Senators have names like ‘Jack Hammer’ and ‘Thunder,’ and it’s all as bloody as you might think.

This is by basically any metric a very good metaphor for our times, which have reached an unprecedented level of political acrimony. The forces that have caused this would take another 1,000 words to articulate, but I think it’s fair to say that more politicians than ever before are more interested in bashing the other party that accurately representing the entirety of their constituents or — gasp — making any progress as a united country.

This by its own merits would make for an interesting enough comic, but the creative team is not content to let it lie there. They go a step further and extrapolate that physical combat-first mentality to the rest of the nation as well. Slight disagreements in this book degenerate quickly do fisiticuffs, as do criticisms of the press. It’s all a very entertaining (and slightly nauseating) way of getting at another idea that’s never been more relevant in our country — the behavior of those in power has an outsized effect on those they govern. 

The scripting by Brown is also very solid, incorporating mysterious characters and clever banter throughout, and the artwork by Prenzy knows exactly when to hit the readers with the most violent imagery (although I won’t say anything more about that, lest I spoil a big reveal). All in all, I enjoyed this first issue quite a bit, and I look forward to following this story as it progresses.

Overall: We live in dark political times, to be certain, and On the Stump just might be the ideal time to address them....with gloves off, of course. If you want entertaining and dark political satire that does not pull any punches, this is the book for you. 8.5/10

On the Stump #1
Writer: Chuck Brown
Artist: Prenzy
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Solicit: SERIES PREMIERE! Each issue of arc one features a connecting variant cover by SANFORD GREENE! The campaign trail is paved with blood and broken bones. History diverged in 1868 when a pivotal presidential debate turned violent. Today, elections are decided by highly publicized hand-to-hand combat in arenas called Stumps. Unfortunately, the violence doesn't end in the ring, and powerful people can still get away with murder. Senator Jack Hammer and FBI Agent Anna Bell Lister are teaming up to bring it all down. Eisner-nominated writer CHUCK BROWN (BITTER ROOT) joins forces with Italian artist PRENZY (#Like4Like) and letterer CLAYTON COWLES to create a hyper-violent tale full of countless injustices-and people who have to fight for their place in it.
Release Date: Feb. 19, 2020

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.