Kids Comics Pitchfest 2023 Showcase

THE ASSASSIN’S DOCTOR: A CIVIL WAR HISTORY

President Lincoln has been shot. His injured assassin flees to the home of Dr. Samuel Mudd, who splints his broken ankle. Less than three months later, Mudd is sentenced to life in prison for co-conspiracy to Lincoln’s murder. Mudd denies his guilt, but the Northern republicans are out for blood.

Mudd attempts a desperate (failed) escape from his remote island prison. When Yellow Fever decimates the population on the island, Mudd decides to step up in a heroic and courageous act of courage that earns him a presidential pardon.

Throughout this saga, a mysterious narrator helps reveal Mudd’s thoughts and fears. Her identity and motives are revealed at the end – she is Mudd’s abandoned wife.

My Why:

One of the few plot-paths that send me over the edge is when an innocent character gets framed or blamed for an act s/he didn’t commit. Especially when the “character” was a real person. I don’t do “unfair” very well. But what if that character is an unreliable reporter or not quite as pure as he claims to be? More than 150 years after the American Civil War, Dr. Samuel Mudd’s integrity is still debated. In this story, Mudd grows from a coward protecting his own skin, to a humbled doctor, whose courage and acts of selfless kindness earn him a presidential pardon. His calculations and role in his trial add a fascinating and irresistible layer to the historical and psychological twists of this story.