In the run up to Halloween we take a bite out of Stitches, a macabre comedy with a big appetite which sees introduces us to the dark world of Edward Ables, an undead funeral home director with a taste for human flesh. And if that sentence alone isn’t enough to spark a morbid interest in this book then we’re not sure what will!

Publisher: Hunchback Graphics Publishing
Writer: Travis Duda & Dan Lee
Artist: Shawn Daley
Price: $4.99 from Hunchback Graphics

Our rating: [star rating=”3.5″]

This quirky first issue of Stitches, introduces us to Edward the undead funeral director with little explanation as to his condition or how he became the thing that he is. Which works as a way to shock the reader when we witness him taking a bite out of corpse on the slab at the funeral home. The concept may sound macabre and just a little bit bizarre but it works, and it’s a mechanic that lends itself well to plenty of humorous situations along the way. Such as Ed’s ability to remove parts of his own body but still retain their uses – for example he can pluck out and eyeball but still see with it or rip off an ear and use it to eavesdrop.

It’s this that gives Travis Duda and co-creator Dan Lee a great deal of paths to explore with the character with the opportunity for hilarious combinations and situations to drop the reader into that we’re sure will develop further in future issues. There is mention of a past where Edward lives in the shadows and we see him pull a suitable vehicle from retirement suggesting he may have been a bit more prominent in his earlier years and this is something that Duda and co could explore and build on in the future to give the book some depth.

With a drug craze sweeping his city Edward is struggling to find a good meal, he needs untainted organs to sustain his hunger but the drug riddled bodies that keep turning up are no good so he decides to set out and take down the pushers themselves before they ruin any further meals for him. This eventually lands him in some particularly hot water towards the closing that will seemingly lead nicely into the next issue.

What makes Stitches work is that it doesn’t take itself too seriously as it progresses through the first issue. It’s a light read, amusing and well plotted out, with a really unique outlook to storytelling, that could almost be seen as a parody in some respects, while keeping it’s own originality about it in others. The art style from Shawn Daley complements the book’s feel and is pleasant on the eye in both it’s lines and it’s colours.

This is yet another solid book from the guys at Hunchback Graphics (publishers of Rehung Daji) and they seem to building a strong line of properties, and so are definitely a publisher to keep an eye on for sure.