Book excerpt: The campaign trail is paved with blood and broken bones. History diverged one fateful day in 1868, when presidential candidate Horatio Seymour lost his temper mid-debate and violently attacked Ulysses S. Grant, earning him not only widespread popularity but the presidency as well. Today, elections are decided by brutal, highly publicized hand-to-hand combat in arenas called Stumps. And in a society that adores violence this much, it's no surprise that powerful people get away with murder. But not for long not if Senator Jack Hammer and FBI Agent Anna Bell Lister have anything to say about it. Eisner-nominated writer CHUCK BROWN (BITTER ROOT, Rotten Apple) teams up with artist FRANCESCO CHIAPPARA and letterer CLAYTON COWLES for a political action series set in a hyper-violent world full of countless injustices and people who have to fight for their place in it. Collects ON THE STUMP #1-5