THE STITCH CREW DISCUSS THEIR TAKE ON THE CHAOTIC BLUE FURBALL!

Connor and James, welcome to the world of Stitch! What memories and feelings did you have towards the franchise and its characters, prior to jumping into this new series?

CR: This was a real thrill for both of us, to get to play in this particular sandbox. I saw Lilo & Stitch the day it was released in theaters and loved it, just so funny and exciting and also very sweet. And Stitch has become one of the most iconic characters in the entire Disney canon. He’s everywhere.

J3: I wasn’t super familiar with Stitch beyond knowing “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride” was a bop. I was genuinely blown away when I first watched the film, because what do you mean there’s a Disney movie with the premise, “What if your best friend was a furry little mischievous alien unlearning diabolically evil programming?” That’s bonkers! Where have I been?

This latest series is titled Stitch, but we’d love to know which other beloved characters from the original film may be popping up in your stories.

CR: The core of this series is really a trio: Jumba, Pleakley, and Stitch. There is such a rich tradition of Disney trios, from Mickey, Donald, and Goofy to The Three Caballeros and The Three Little Pigs.

J3: Don’t forget the Sanderson Sisters!

CR: So many trios! And we also bring back a lot of other characters in smaller ways.

J3: We’re squeezing Cobra Bubbles into as many issues as we possibly can. He’s a lumbering giant with a deep booming voice that we hope will be as fun for the reader to imagine as it was for us to write. The live-action trailer dropping led to us writing Ombit into an issue, because “he took the red one” was iconic in 2002 and remains iconic now.

Now that we know a bit about who’s showing up, let’s look at the plot. This series centers around a mission undertaken by Dr. Jumba. What drew you to focus on him as the key thread for your initial story? And beyond being his usual force-of-nature self, how does Stitch factor into this adventure?

CR: In some ways Jumba and Pleakley are a double act, with Stitch inserting himself into their dynamic because he can’t resist the temptation to play around with whatever Jumba is working on. Jumba is a genius, but he invented something that is smarter than he is, and he is forever paying the price for that! It’s almost like how parents, deep down, want their kids to be smarter and do better than they did, but then when faced with that reality, it can often be overwhelming!

J3: Jumba’s motivations in the comic are perfectly summed up in the first movie: the Grand Councilwoman calls him an “idiot scientist,” to which he responds, “I prefer to be called evil genius!” He deeply desires to be acknowledged for his malfeasance, but instead gets bupkis. He won’t let that stop him, though! His devious drive to experiment 625 times before finally getting it “right” — in heavy quotes — is the engine for the relentless sci-fi hijinks in the series.

The two of you are co-writing this comic — how does the collaboration process work for each of you?

CR: James and I met doing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in NYC, and we instantly liked each other. James has such a great brain for comedy, and I just have so much fun coming up with ideas with him. For this series, we just started coming up with as many weird ideas as we could — we were encouraged to go a little crazy with it. And then we sort of treat it like a road trip, where you take turns driving and navigating. Basically, for the actual writing part, one of us will do the main draft and then the other one will go through and try to make it even better, and we go back and forth until we are satisfied with it. I feel like James’s drafts don’t really need much fixing, so what I contribute is like comedic seasoning. James has to do a lot more clean-up on what I write, because I’m newer at this process and I feel like my first drafts are a real mess. But we get there by the time we submit a script for approval!

J3: Connor does a great job, I don’t know what he’s talking about.

The wonderful Italian artist Greta Xella is joining you to illustrate the series. How has it been working with her and seeing her translate your scripts to the page?

CR: As of this moment, we haven’t seen any of the art for these stories yet! But I’m very excited to see what Greta comes up with, because everything I’ve seen of her work has been fantastic.

J3: Nate shared with us Greta’s character sketches when we signed on, and even at that early stage they were such vibrant depictions. She has a strong grasp of these characters’ personalities and gives them so much life. Her Stitch especially is cosmically delightful. And her portfolio has some incredibly striking fantasy art, so we’re very excited to see this mad sci-fi epic we wrote go from page to panel with someone of her caliber.

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