Plastic: Death and Dolls #4 // Review
Edwyn’s mom needed to speak with him. Edwyn was polite and well-mannered. (This was a long time ago. Long before she died.) Edwyn’s mom wanted to talk to him about Cassidy. Cassidy made her happy, so she wanted Edwyn to give him another chance. And since he was such a nice kid in listening to her concerns, she gave Edwyn a bag of green plastic army men. That happened years ago, but it’s the first scene in Plastic: Death and Dolls #4. Writer Doug Wagner continues a descent into the hell of a serial killer’s psyche with artist Daniel Hillyard. Color comes to the page courtesy of Comics Michelle Madsen.
Years later, Edwyn’s at a diner engaging in a live chat. He’s actually kind of surprised to find that he’s able to have a live chat online with Virginia. It’s so nice to be able to reconnect with her on Kevie’s Love Emporium. So nice to know that she’s working. And then there’s the small matter of dealing with someone he saw at the diner, but Edwyn’s also got memories of Cassidy and his mom that he’s reminded of. Virginia was there for what happened that day. Edwyn did what he could. It was what his mom would have wanted.
Wagner is moving the narrative around the edges of detail. On the surface...it’s a pretty simple story that makes no clear judgment on what it is that Edwin is doing. It’s simply presenting it in a cold and clinical way that only focuses on things as they come-up. No need to sensationalize anything. It’s just a guy with a hacksaw and a few victims. There are heads in freezer bags that are clearly labeled. The deeper psychology of what’s going on with Edwyn is left outside the realm of the verbal as Wagner presents Edwin and his life.
Once again, Hillyard is showing the raw emotion of the homicidal drama with clean lines and simple horror. The artist follows the writer’s lead in presenting it all in a way that feels suitably detached from the acton without blinding itself to the horror of what’s going on. It’s a fine line between horror and straight ahead drama that both artist and author maintain. Madsen’s largely washed-out colors follow the emotionality of the horror from a respectable distance as well. It’s a very sharp and cleverly-poised presentation of psychological horror.
Though it definitely makes an impression, Plastic: Death and Dolls hasn’t quite lived-up to some of the best entries into the genre from across various other narrative genres. There’s a lot in the series that seems to echo aspects of Brett Easton Ellis’ original American Psycho. The novel followed the detached, affectless perspective of a serial killer in a way that spoke to the slick anti=depth of wealth and pop culture in the 1980s. It’ll be interesting to see if Wagner and company are able to delve any deeper into any deeper themes of plastic, dolls and other ancillary matters as the narrative opens-up to larger themes in future issues.
Grade: B
