Avatar Press 2019
Written by Pat Shand
Illustrated by Daniel Gete
Coloured by Juan Ridriguez
Lettered by Kurt Hathaway
The undead horror returns, and now unleashed in America in double-sized issues! Sheriff Kat Noble keeps the peace on a quiet border town. But as young girls start to go missing, she’s pulled into a supernatural slaughterhouse and stumbles into the makings of the ultimate terror plot – Stitched loose in the streets of the USA!
At least five years ago I was a huge supporter and advocate for the storytelling that was both incredibly creative and scary as hell. It has been quite some time since I not only read & reviewed one of their titles so I am thrilled that with the return of Stitched we get to go back to basics and why I loved Avatar to begin with. I am also excited that Pat is writing this as he’s got an interesting mind so to see how that translates to this property is sure to be fun to watch unfold. Unfortunately I don’t have access to any of the interior artwork to share to show you all which makes me sad.
One of the best things about this franchise is the fact that you start your story pretty much anywhere and any time so long as you stick to basics. What are the basics well that’s easy enough get the barrel of black goo, from there it’s where your imagination takes you. Right off the bat with this opening we are drawn into the story by seeing this acquisition in progress. It brings this sense of mystery to us as we have no idea what is going on or who is in charge nor what they want. Pat brings us right into this and makes us want to know more and he does so naturally and effortlessly while bringing that sense that the shits going to hit the fan.
I really like the way that this book is structured. I love that we go from Afghanistan to Texas. Now we go this is where we get to meet the Sheriff, Kat, who is one tough as nails and just as angry a woman you’ll ever meet. In some ways she’’s your typical butch officer of the law who still holds onto here femininity extremely well. She is smart, tough and someone to be reckoned with but can she handle what is about to come is something else altogether.
Daniel’s work on the interiors here really is sensational. He has such a way with how he’s able to utilise all the varying weights in the linework to create such spectacular attention to detail. As with Avatar there is nothing left to the imagination, though that first guy, damn that was tiny yikes, and a refreshing change that there’s at least a landing strip. I am always totally impressed with the way we see the composition in the panels from Daniel. The way backgrounds are utilised so that they expand moments and bring a size and scope to the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a stellar eye for storytelling. The colour work too is incredibly well done. To see how the skin and the musculature can be created through the use of highlights and shading is some masterful colour work. It feels like the colour bleeds or gradation we see is so subtle that we barely notice it but see the end result and it’s just damn impressive.
This story is off to the races like a Greyhound after the rabbit and there’s no stopping it now. Then we get another short story only this one is mainly prose with some illustrated moments and it reminds me of old books where each chapter had a drawing at the top. The ironic part is that I feel this is a bleed from the opening of the issue, whether it is or not it’s still a lot good reading that helps the reader understand more about what one feels upon seeing the Green Men and that head.
With this fantastic story & plot development complimented by the way the pacing helps the reader feel the flow of the story and then add in this quality and level of work on the interiors and yeah it makes realise just how much I have missed this company and their books.