Stitch #8 Review: Dynamite Entertainment Turns an Amusement Park Into Experiment 626’s Wildest Ride Yet

There are bad ideas, there are Jumba ideas, and then there are ideas so spectacularly reckless that only Stitch could turn them into an amusement park.

Stitch #8 sends Experiment 626 into one of the funniest and most chaotic setups of Dynamite Entertainment’s Disney series yet. Writers Connor Ratliff and James III, joined by artist Greta Xella, take the familiar promise of a fun family day out and transform it into exactly the kind of disaster Stitch was created to thrive in.

The result is a colorful all-ages adventure packed with mad science, questionable business decisions, theme-park mayhem, and a very important lesson:

Never give Stitch control of the attractions.

Jumba Finally Has the Perfect Plan

Dr. Jumba has tried plenty of experiments over the years, but Stitch #8 opens with something approaching desperation.

His inventions keep failing.

For a self-proclaimed evil genius, that is unacceptable.

What Jumba needs is one successful creation—something even Experiment 626 cannot destroy. Inspiration arrives when he realizes the answer may not be another dangerous experiment at all.

It could be marketing.

Jumba comes up with a wonderfully ridiculous scheme: create an amusement park with a lovable mascot, build an audience around it, and eventually use that connection to influence the public.

It is the kind of plan that sits perfectly between legitimate entrepreneurship and cartoon supervillainy.

And that makes it exactly the kind of thing Jumba would consider brilliant.

Fans following Dynamite’s larger Disney Stitch adventures will immediately recognize the tone. The comic understands that Jumba rarely thinks he is creating a catastrophe. In his mind, everything is perfectly reasonable right up until the explosions begin.

Stitch Land Is Almost a Good Idea

At first, the concept seems surprisingly workable.

An amusement park built around Stitch?

That probably would attract crowds.

Unfortunately, the problem with designing an attraction around Experiment 626 is that eventually Experiment 626 is going to become involved.

And Stitch does not understand concepts like “reasonable construction,” “approved ride specifications,” or “guest safety.”

He understands fun.

Lots of fun.

Preferably dangerous fun.

The preview pages immediately lean into the absurd scale of the situation, dropping Stitch, Jumba, Pleakley, and a collection of unfortunate civilians into a theme-park nightmare involving rushing water, an erupting volcano, and even a massive dinosaur.

Stitch’s internal reaction makes the disaster even better. He knows things have gone terribly wrong.

He also knows it is probably his fault.

That combination of chaos and innocent enthusiasm is where the character works best.

The Story Has a Great Flashback Structure

Rather than simply beginning with Jumba announcing his plan, Stitch #8 throws readers directly into the catastrophe.

Stitch and the others are already trapped in an out-of-control attraction as water carries them toward increasingly ridiculous dangers.

Then Stitch thinks about going back to the beginning.

The story does exactly that.

The flashback structure turns the opening into a promise. Readers already know Stitch Land becomes a spectacular disaster; now Ratliff and James III get to show us precisely how everyone made enough terrible decisions to reach that point.

It is a simple storytelling device, but it fits this comic extremely well.

The bigger the disaster gets, the more entertaining the question becomes:

How did they possibly think this was going to work?

Lilo Still Knows What “Real Fun” Means

The quieter opening material with Lilo provides an important counterbalance to Jumba’s scheme.

Lilo wants to visit Real Deal Playland.

She has done everything she was asked to do and expects Nani to follow through on the promise.

When the trip gets delayed, Lilo is understandably frustrated.

Stitch, meanwhile, notices something important.

Lilo’s enthusiasm for the park—and especially its mascot—gives him and Jumba an idea.

That small domestic setup gives the larger story a believable starting point. Jumba is not simply constructing an amusement park because the plot needs one. The plan grows out of something Stitch sees Lilo genuinely enjoying.

Of course, Jumba takes that idea and turns it into a scheme involving behavioral influence.

Because Jumba.

Greta Xella’s Artwork Fits the Energy Perfectly

Greta Xella’s artwork is an excellent match for this kind of story.

The pages have an animated quality that keeps the characters highly expressive without feeling like screenshots from the films.

Stitch can move from confused to delighted to terrified within a handful of panels.

Pleakley has the exaggerated body language necessary for every new disaster to feel like the worst thing that has ever happened to him.

Jumba’s facial expressions sell his enormous confidence in plans that readers already know are going to fail.

There is also impressive contrast between the smaller domestic sequences and the oversized theme-park chaos.

Once the attractions begin going wrong, the visual scale expands dramatically. The volcano dominates entire pages. Water rushes toward the reader. Characters are dwarfed by gigantic attractions.

The book remembers that an amusement park should feel enormous to begin with.

A Stitch-designed amusement park should feel completely uncontrollable.

Stitch Remains the Perfect Chaos Engine

One of the biggest strengths of Dynamite’s Stitch series is that it does not need a traditional villain every issue.

Sometimes Stitch himself is enough.

Not because he is malicious.

Quite the opposite.

Stitch frequently causes his biggest problems because he desperately wants something to work.

That appears to be central to Stitch #8.

Once the idea of a Stitch-themed amusement park takes hold, Experiment 626 naturally wants to help.

That should immediately terrify everyone.

His enthusiasm turns Jumba’s already questionable idea into something much larger, much more elaborate, and vastly more dangerous.

The fun of the issue comes from watching the consequences accelerate.

A Strong All-Ages Comic

The series continues to hit an important balance.

Stitch #8 is accessible enough for younger Disney readers but does not talk down to them. The humor has multiple layers, especially whenever Jumba begins rationalizing one of his supposedly brilliant plans.

Adults can enjoy the absurd corporate and marketing angle while younger readers get exploding volcanoes, runaway rides, mascots, Stitch, and giant dinosaurs.

That is exactly where an all-ages comic should operate.

The Covers Give Collectors Plenty of Stitch

The provided cover lineup includes:

Cover A: Alessandro Ranaldi
Cover B: Animation Art
Cover C: Ciro Cangialosi
Cover D: George Kambadais

Each approaches Experiment 626 differently, from energetic adventure imagery to classic animated Stitch.

Collectors looking beyond the standard covers can also explore some of the issue’s specialty variants, including Ciro Cangialosi’s Stitch-centered artwork.

For a character with such an expressive design, the variety works particularly well.

Final Thoughts

Stitch #8 takes a very simple idea—Stitch goes to an amusement park—and makes the much smarter choice of letting Stitch help build the amusement park instead.

That changes everything.

Connor Ratliff and James III understand that Experiment 626 is funniest when his intentions and abilities are working against each other. Stitch wants everyone to have fun. Jumba wants his newest scheme to succeed. Pleakley would presumably like to survive.

Unfortunately, those goals are not necessarily compatible.

Greta Xella’s energetic artwork keeps the comedy moving while giving the oversized attractions enough scale to make Stitch Land feel genuinely dangerous.

For longtime Disney fans, younger readers, or anyone who enjoys seeing Stitch turn a harmless idea into an escalating catastrophe, this issue looks like one of the series’ most entertaining outings yet.

Rating: 8.5/10

Stitch #8 Comic Details

Title: Stitch #8
Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment
Writers: Connor Ratliff, James III
Artist: Greta Xella
Cover A: Alessandro Ranaldi
Cover B: Animation Art
Cover C: Ciro Cangialosi
Cover D: George Kambadais
Format: Full Color, 32 Pages, All Cardstock Covers
Genre: Adventure
Rating: All Ages
Price: $4.99