Review: Stitched #1

There is very little I can say about this book withoutruining the first issue so I’m going to tread lightly in an attempt not tospoil it all for you. A Black Hawk helicopter goes down in the middle east andthe survivors of the UN manned crew are left to fend for themselves. Problem isthey’re not alone! I know scary right? All that remains of the crew are thepilots, one injured man and one woman and then another crew woman. Now this secondwoman is completely unbelievable in this situation. She seemingly has notraining and acts unfamiliar with the simplest of concepts such as pulling yourgun on a hostile.

There was several times in which I actually yelled at herbecause she was acting so stupid. I’m serious that’s how frustrating hercharacter was, that I was yelling at a comic book... one that I have control overthe pace and speed in which it proceeds. At any rate the remaining three comeacross a massacred group of insurgents and have only moments to take in thehorrible scene before they themselves are attacked. They’re attackers are dead menwith their eyes and mouths sown shut and nothing seems to be able to kill them... especially a 9mm. 

The story was just okay, it was nothing special and honestlya bit of a disappointment coming from Garth Ennis. I really felt like he soft-balledthis story and put in a minimal amount of work to go with it. Reallysince this comic is a movie as well I have to wonder if the script was changedinto comic format at all or if the script was dog eared for issues and then thrown at theartist. The story is really slow and uninteresting and frankly the characterswere all very stiff and seemed to be playing to stereotype more than anything else.

The art is great, but when you have Mike Wolfer on artdetail it better be. Wolfer’s art is really the only redeeming quality of thebook as he draws everything from action to gore and a mixture of supernaturalas well. If you’re unfamiliar with Wolfer’s art then you obviously need to pick upmore Avatar Press books as he’s one of their best in their stable of artists. His work on Gravel is particularly excellent.

After reading this issue I can only hope that the book getsbetter or at the very least the movie is better. I hate to just rip Garth Ennisa new one, but this story just isn’t very good and the fact that he wrote thecomic, wrote the script and directed the movie has me wondering just how goodthis will turn out in the end. I love it when creative people that work hard are able to transcend to another medium of entertainment and do well. Stitched the movie looks indie as well which has me hoping that it gets better so that I can really root for Ennis, but as it stands I'm skeptical at best. Now here’sa special treat for you the trailer to the movie! Which is basically the firstissue, no joke.

Score: 2/5