Celebrity Obsession Reaches New Heights in a Quirky and Offbeat Stitch Adventure

 

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The following contains spoilers for Stitch #1, on sale now from Dynamite Entertainment

It’s really kind of strange, honestly, how often I think about the big “It’s toasted” scene from Mad Men, but consarnit, it applies to so many things that I’m talking about, that I can’t help but bring it up frequently. In case you’re unfamiliar, the very first episode of Mad Men is about a dilemma that Don Draper, the star advertising executive of Sterling Cooper, is having in 1960 with the company’s biggest client, Lucky Strike cigarettes. The government recently told cigarette companies that they could no longer do the then-most common form of cigarette advertisements, which was to tout the health benefits of smoking (It helps you lose weight, stuff like that). Meanwhile, a new article had just come out that revealed that cigarettes caused lung cancer. So, not only could cigarette companies not talk about the health benefits of their products, they were also dealing with the horrible publicity of it appearing as though they were KILLING their customers. Draper couldn’t think of an effective new ad campaign in this environment. However, at the last minute, he IS able to pull something out of thin air. He asks how they make their cigarettes, and among the description of how their tobacco is turned into cigarettes, the owner mentions that they’re toasted. Draper then explains that that’s it. Just promote THAT. This confuses the executives, but Draper explains – ALL of the cigarette companies are in the same boat. ALL of their ad campaigns are ineffective right now. So the first one who comes up with ANYthing viable that doesn’t remind people of cancer is the “winner,” by default. In other words, while all of the companies are upset at their situation, they should be HAPPY, since it puts them all in a position where they could now do ANYTHING.

Similarly, Stitch is a tough character to write as a solo character. He’s an alien who can’t really be exposed as an alien, and he doesn’t really speak. It really limits the sorts of stories that you can tell with him. However, BECAUSE of that, I think it ultimately results in being very FREEING for the writers of the character. Since you can’t really tell many normal stories, that basically means that you can tell ANY story! And that’s definitely the approach that Connor Ratliff and James III took with this issue.

Stitch #1 is from writers Connor Ratliff and James III (Ratliff is making his comic book debut with this issue), artist Greta Xella, and letterer Fabio Amelia, and it uses the fact that Stitch is a bit hard to write for to just go nuts with a funny piece of social commentary.

What is the setup for the series?

The main villain of the series is Dr. Jumba Jookiba, the evil genius who created Stitch in the first place. Jookiba has lost his spot in the Evil Genius Group-slash-Syndicate (E.G.G.S.), and so he has to come up with some evil inventions to earn himself enough villain points to get back into the good graces of the group. So he notices that Earthlings tend to pay a lot of attention to people who have nice hair, so he develops a special gel that will give its user the perfect hairdo. Stitch, though, sneaks into his ship while he is yapping, and steals the hair gel, and uses it, and Stitch gets a new hairdo!

And, of course, everyone just becomes OBSESSED with Stich!

What does the comic say about idolatry of celebrities?

Xella is clearly having a blast with everyone’s sudden obsession with Stitch after he got his new hairdo…

She has especially done some great stuff with a mime character, like having Stitch run on top of the box that the mime created. Just really trippy, out there stuff…

The whole issue, though, can be accurately described as a trippy, out there adventure. It’s just a madcap romp, with the world becoming obsessed with Stitch and his haircut.

Ratliff and James III make a very clear, but not over-the-top, commentary about how people like to jump on the bandwagon of something that is different and that stands out. Stitch, though, being Stitch, takes this to mean that he should just give everyone ELSE the same hairdo as himself! So the plan is to make the whole island covered with the same gel, but through a mishap, it suddenly means that everyone in the WORLD gets the hair gel!

It’s a really hilarious visual of seeing various people over the planet getting this same “cool” hairdo. And, of course, now that EVERYONE has it, it is no longer special, and it no longer has the hypnotic effect.

This was a strong opening effort in the series, and the plot engine of Jookiba coming up with different evil plans to get back into the evil league is a great concept, as, again, there is not a whole lot that you can do to drive the story with Stitch’s character, as he is a fairly constant presence, so using Jookiba as the driving force of the stories is a very smart approach, as there really isn’t anything you CAN’T do with that guy, as evil geniuses can come up with whatever crazy thing you want them to come up with, that’s what makes them mad scientists ot begin with!

So this should be a promising series, and the timing is, of course, great, with the Lilo and Stitch live action movie becoming such a blockbuster.

Source: Dynamite