Written by: Doug Wagner
Art by: Daniel Hillyard
Publisher: Image
Image have a tie-game going between the two most bizarre and horrific comics out right now: Plastic and Underwinter. Underwinter comes off as more of an art-house, Lovecraftian affair, and that scores it a lot of points, while Plastic … Plastic is just twisted to its rotten core.
That scores it a lot of points too.
It’s hard to write a character like Edwyn and a plot like, “gangster cops have kidnapped a serial killer’s wife who happens to be a sex doll, and now he’s trying to get her back” without coming off as trying too hard, edgy, or cringe-inducing. Plastic pulls it off and then some. I’m honestly still not sure how, though I can take a few educated guesses.
The first is that, by and large, this is a dark comedy. The book knows its characters and subject matter are grossly dark to the point of being hard to read, and while it doesn’t shy away from that at all, it gives the reader glimmers of absurdity that take the edge off. Edwyn is driving around with a dead cop in the passenger seat and treating the man like they’re been best friends for years. He even bought him some donuts last issue.
It makes me laugh and go, “Wow, Edwyn is a seriously screwed up dude.”
Which leads me to my second guess. Edwyn is a great character. He’s a dichotomy of absolute violence and gentle charm. He’s polite, he smiles, and he genuinely enjoys what life he has. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Yet the slightest slight against him or his wife, and there’s blood everywhere. He doesn’t just know how to murder, he knows how to murder without any remorse.
This adds a tension to almost every scene he’s in. I can never tell when he’ll fly off the handle and kill someone, or if he’s just going to act like a normal human.
And now there’s a third character involved, and it’s all just so screwed up I can barely process it.
On the art front, the book looks good. It doesn’t have any major style that sets it apart from other books, but it’s competent and the facial expressions are well done. There are no bad panels or slipups. And hell, the book can be very hard to look at. Plastic is not afraid of tackling brutality, and the art matches the writing every step of the way. This is a nasty book.
But you know, in a good way.
At the end of the day, Plastic #3 is another twisted chapter in this very twisted tale. It’s gross and brutal, but it’s also unique as hell and charming to boot. If you’re not laughing, you’re horrified in a good way, and sometimes your face breaks because you’re trying to do both. Bring on issue 4.
