There is very little I can say about this book without ruining the first issue so I’m going to tread lightly in an attempt not to spoil it all for you. A Black Hawk helicopter goes down in the middle east and the survivors of the UN manned crew are left to fend for themselves. Problem is they’re not alone! I know scary right? All that remains of the crew are the pilots, one injured man and one woman and then another crew woman. Now this second woman is completely unbelievable in this situation. She seemingly has no training and acts unfamiliar with the simplest of concepts such as pulling your gun on a hostile. There was several times in which I actually yelled at her because she was acting so stupid. I’m serious that’s how frustrating her character was, that I was yelling at a comic book... one that I have control over the pace and speed in which it proceeds. At any rate the remaining three come across a massacred group of insurgents and have only moments to take in the horrible scene before they themselves are attacked. They’re attackers are dead men with 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 honestly a bit of a disappointment coming from Garth Ennis. I really felt like he soft-balled this story and put in a minimal amount of work to go with it. Really since this comic is a movie as well I have to wonder if the script was changed into comic format at all or if the script was dog eared for issues and then thrown at the artist. The story is really slow and uninteresting and frankly the characters were 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 art detail it better be. Wolfer’s art is really the only redeeming quality of the book as he draws everything from action to gore and a mixture of supernatural as well. If you’re unfamiliar with Wolfer’s art then you obviously need to pick up more 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 gets better or at the very least the movie is better. I hate to just rip Garth Ennis a new one, but this story just isn’t very good and the fact that he wrote the comic, wrote the script and directed the movie has me wondering just how good this 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’s a special treat for you the trailer to the movie! Which is basically the first issue, no joke.

Score: 2/5

Writer: Garth Ennis Artist: Mike Wolfer Publisher: Avatar Press Price: $3.99