Plastic by Doug Wagner

I first came across Plastic in a YouTube video. As the woman reviewing it described the plot, I was instantly intrigued. I don't read a whole lot of graphic novels, but I have a fascination with them. There's something about those glossy pages and columns of pictures that I'm instantly drawn to. I tend to really like the ones that I do pick up, and this one just seemed too weird not to try. It's a good thing Amazon exists though, because the idea of picking this one up in a bookstore was a little bit embarrassing to me.

The plot concerns Edwyn Stoffgruppen, a retired serial killer enjoying a road trip across America with his girlfriend, Virginia. He's left his old life of murdering people behind him, and is content to wander along lonely back roads with his girl. Their trip is disrupted, however, by a group of young men that begin to harass Virginia at a gas station in Louisiana. Edwyn lashes out at the men, horrifically injuring them before driving away. Later, it turns out that one of the men Edwyn attacked is the son of a prominent crime boss, and this man isn't going to let Edwyn get away with hurting his son. He does some research and discovers Edwyn's background. Realizing that he could both punish Edwyn and use him for his own ends, he formulates a plan.

This man arranges for Virginia to be kidnapped and he gives Edwyn an ultimatum: kill the local sheriff and her family for him, and he will let Virginia go. Edwyn agrees to the plan, but also pursues his own mission of revenge against everyone who has laid a hand on Virginia. The story is fairly straightforward, except for one interesting twist - Virginia isn't a real woman at all. She's Edwyn's sex doll.

This was such a weird and engaging read! It is most definitely not for children. The storyline is graphic, violent, and written for mature audiences. For the right reader, however, Plastic is very enjoyable. It has a surprising amount of heart for a story about a murderer who is obsessed with his sex toy. I really wanted Edwyn to get his "happily ever after," however strange that outcome would be. In a way, he does, but not in the way you might expect. It's a slim volume, and only takes a few hours to read. For the curious, it's worth the time. 

The artwork is similarly gory, but very well done. The colors are well chosen and the images are well drawn. The end of the volume has a few pages talking about the art decisions that I found to be quite interesting. As I haven't read a lot of graphic novels and do not have a lot of experience with art, I don't quite have the vocabulary to go into depth on the quality of the illustrations. However, I liked what I saw and I felt that they went together with the story perfectly.

Plastic is definitely not the kind of novel I usually pick up, but I really ended up enjoying it. My true rating for it is probably a 3.5 out of 5 stars, but as I don't do half-stars on this blog, I'm settling on a 3 out of 5. It was a very entertaining way to spend a few hours and was a wild ride. The only elements I would have changed would be the addition of more details. I wanted it to be longer. I wish it had spent more time developing Edwyn's character--I would have liked more information on some elements of his background. For what it was though, this was a cool read. I'm definitely interested in trying out more graphic novels in the future.


Challenge Tally
Finally in 2019: 12/6 Books Read - Complete!

Total Books Read in 2019: 24