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The Lovesick Universe is back with a coming-of-age prequel in Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale #1 by artist/writer Luana Vecchio & translator Edward Caio from Image Comics.
Welcome to the Lovesick Universe
If you’re not familiar with the Lovesick series, here’s a quick crash course. The LOVESICK CLUB is an exclusive, subscribers-only site on the dark web that offers the best in erotic and ultra-violent entertainment. There, matriarch Domino and her fellow dominatrixes punish and torture none other than their own loyal subscribers.
Many of whom pay good money to meet their end by Domino’s hand in front of a large, anonymous audience. Lovesick explores the furthest limits of consent in a neon-soaked horror saga that’s not for the faint of heart.
Mother Domino
Initially, Domino seemed like a one-dimensional character. A dominatrix that kills submissive fans while showing all the skin on the world. However, the character of Domino became more complex as you turned each page. See, on the surface Lovesick seemed salacious.
A sort of slasher-horror fantasy for your entertainment. While there is for sure plenty of that, the actual core theme of this tale, way deeper. Luana Vecchio explored the minds of these characters and what made them tick.
Breaking Domino
The beginnings of how Domino came to be was shown in a series of flashbacks throughout the second half of the Lovesick series. Domino was kidnapped and went through psychological and physical abuse.
All of it in an attempt to brainwash her and to break her will and turned her in some sort of submissive sexual slave, Domino did not mind. Furthermore, she was not afraid.
Masochism & Erotic Consumption
You see? Domino already had an affinity for paraphilia. In Domino’s case, her paraphilia was vorarephilia. The erotic desire to consume, or be consumed by another person or creature. Yes, Domino was already dwelling on these type of sexual fantasies when she was just a teenager.
Retroactive Storytelling
So, how did that happened? You don’t just wake up one day and decide you want to be the victim of some horrible crime. In Lovesick, Domino mentions several times what she was up to in her teenage years. Specifically, she opened up to a fan in one scene. Domino used to be all over gore message boards. Just consuming all kinds of depravacies and intense human behavior. I believe this is the window Luana Vecchio is going through to tell the origins of Domino. Even further than those days she spent on those Gore Message Boards. That is the premise for “Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale”..
*Spoilers Ahead*
Madeleine, like the Saint
In this premiere issue, we are introduced to the life of Madeleine. The little girl destined to become Mother Domino. Way before all the paraphilia and thoughts of cannibalism, Madeleine was just a regular little girl.
She was raised pretty normal; she attended a nice school and lived in a nice home. Even took ballet classes. Also, she had strict and religious parents who taught her to always behave and be quiet. You could say Madeleine was being raised right.
Madeleine’s Mother
Madeleine never spoke out of term or even talked back to her parents. But she was always observing their behavior. Specifically, the behavior of her mother. Madeleine’s mom was a bit of a zealot. She was a reserved person, but spoke plenty to put other women down.
Especially women who were not conservative with their bodies. Madeleine’s mom was a misogynist. To the point where she blamed women who were victims of sexual assault. Madeleine quietly wished to grow up as unnoticeable as possible. So she could avoid her mother’s harsh judgement.
A rough start
Unfortunately for young Madeleine, her first encounter with any type of sexual concepts were dark. She heard the term “jerking off” from the older girls in ballet class. Without approachable parents at home, Madeleine did what any other kid would do. She asked a friend from school what did “Jerking off” meant.
Her friend was sort of shaken by the question, but still he answered. As you can imagine it was not very informative. The classmate was more worried about incriminating himself than to educate Madeleine.
Early trauma
While she walked home from ballet class, a grown man in a van pulled up next to her asking directions. Madeleine noticed the man was touching himself while talking to her. Flagellating himself in front of her, a little girl. This of course traumatized young Madeleine.
Madeleine tried to excuse herself from ballet without telling what happpened with the man in the van. After all, her zealot mother liked to blame women for being sexually assaulted. Madeleine had to keep it to herself to avoid her mother’s judgement.
A failed upbringing
Soon after the van incident, Madeleine saw a mysterious black bag while she walked home. Everything in Madeleine told her there was something wrong. Instead of checking it, she ran home scared and did not say a word.
Just like her mother taught her. Quiet. Unbenowst to little Madeleine, there was a girl inside that bag. Later she found out it was one of the older girls from ballet class. Madeleine was devastated.
Spiraling Madeleine
With no one to talk to, Madeleine became even more reclusive into her taught. The guilt of not helping the girl in the bag was sending her for a spin. Specially after reports came out that the victim died of hypothermia.
It was quite possible, that if Madeleine said something, that girl might have survived. Maybe if she said something about the man in the van, no one else would have become a victim. Of course, nothing that had transpired was Madeleine’s fault. But she didn’t have anyone to explain this to her.
Forged by Trauma
Madeleine found herself at school looking at pictures from the crime scene of the girl in the bag. Same girl she didn’t help. While everyone else was feasting their eyes in curiosity with gore and violence, Madeleine experienced something else entirely.
Without understanding what she was feeling. Something dark awakened inside her. Everyone else saw Madeleine crying and believed her scared. But that was not the case.
Early signs of Paraphilia
In a sequence of visions, Madeleine daydreamed about being the victim of that same crime. Visualized herself as the girl who was kidnapped, violated, asaulted and left for dead in a black bag. Rushed by vivid emotions and adrenaline. However, there was something peculiar about this fantasy.
Madeleine did not fight back in her dream. Eventually Madeleine breaks from her timidness and her fear of her mother. A rebellion ensued from within her. She started to go against her mother’s wishes by quitting ballet and dressing a bit more “alternative”. Finally, Madeleine started to dabble in Online Gore Message Boards.
How about the Art?
Luana Vecchio is a master storyteller. There’s variety in the panel structures on each page. From 9-panel grid that feel intimate with each character. To widescreen panels that give that cinematic view. This issue is emotionally charged. Whether is Madeleine’s mother and her raiging misogyny. Or Madeleine’s impressionable innocence and her reactions to all of the horrible things life threw at her. Vecchio is quite skilled in depicting what the story required from the characters.
I give this issue a 10 out of 10
Luana Vecchio takes, essentially a serial killer in Domino, and huminizes her by flushing out her story in it’s entirety. In other words, Madeleine’s future is Domino. Despite this known fact, I’m still unable to stop myself from reading how it happened. Even if horror-thriller comics is not for you, I highly recommend you give “Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale” a read.
