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Madeleine fails to heed all warnings in Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale #2 by Luana Vecchio from Image Comics
Previously on Doll Parts
Doll Parts is the story of a young Madeleine losing all of her innocence as a child. Because of events that occurred in her early formative years, Madeleine was destined to become Mother Domio. (Lovesick, Image Comics) First, classmates from ballet and school introduced Madeleine to sexuality concepts. These ideas were not age appropriate for young Madeleine. These other children spouted themes they didn’t fully understand. Which to no one’s surprise, confused Madeleine even more when she came to face with a sexual predator.
Predator on the loose
Young Madeleine was walking home after ballet class. When a man in a white van pulled next to her. The man in the van asked Madeleine for directions and when she approached the vehicle she noticed something horrible. He was actively masturbating in his car. As you can imagine, this left Madeleine shocked to her core.
Unfortunately, Madeleine’s parents were very strict and religious people. Specially her mom, who was hyper critical of other women. So, she kept it all to herself. Soon, tragedy struck the community.
Life changing event
Madeleine was walking home after class again. When she noticed a black suitcase dumped on the side of the road. Something screamed inside Madeleine to run, so she did. Turned out, her instincts were correct. There was a dead girl inside that suitcase. Not much older than her. This event changed Madeleine’s life.
The combination of shame and guilt overwhelmed this young child. When she saw the crime scene photos, Madeleine had an out-of-body experience. As in “What if that was me?”. Although dramatic, not necessarily wrong, Madeleine could have been the victim of this crime instead. Since it was in the same area where the man in the white man assaulted her.
Teenage Rebellion
Last domino to fall, teenage rebellion. Not only she was becoming a young woman, but she was rebelling against everything her mother stood for. Madeleine was expressing her new self with fashion, attitude and a newly found voice. Moreso, she was exploring her sexual curiosity. Evidently, curiosity that was informed by gore and violent acts.
*Spoilers for Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale #2*
Like Mother, Unlike Daughter
Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale #2 opens up with new revealing details about Madeleine’s mother. It just so happens that her mother is a teacher at the same school she attends. Also, Madeleine’s perception of her mother as a strict up-tight lady is shared by others. So much so, that they referred to her as the “Drill Sergeant”.
Perhaps this is more fuel for Madeleine’s rebellion against her mother. They are not just drifting apart, they despise each other more everyday. Despite the obvious contempt they share, they steer away from each other, for the most part.
Curious & Unsupervised
Because of this wedge between mother and daughter, our protagonist is left to her own devices. Madeleine continues to feed her newly found interest. For example, she fancies for crime scene pictures, macabre literature and snuff message boards. (Snuff media involves pornographic imagery where there’s a murder or some other violent crime being committed.) For this fix, Madeleine hangs out with her classmate and friend Adam. Although this is unconventional, the two of them share this morbid interest.
Dangers lurking Online
While surfing through a ‘Snuff’ forum, Adam shared a horror tale. The kind of people that hangs out in the message boards of this type of websites, are not to be taken lightly. They do as they say, and say as they do. For example, they don’t take too kind to females.
Additionally, they have gone as far as ruined a girl’s life in the real world. But Madeleine brushed off the stories. She was in the believe that Adam tried to impress her. So, she dismissed him. What should have been a cautionary tale for Madeleine, ended up being a foreshadowing moment.
Pigheadedness
Passing over Adam’s warining, Madeleine created an account and started posting and chatting with people from the Snuff forum. Specifically, she took a liking to one “P1gG_“. Per Adam’s advise, she make sure to omit the fact she was girl. At least, she listened to that. This P1gG_ and Madeleine hit it off pretty quick. They were of the same age. Had the same interest and shared similar parents. What are the chances all of it was just a coincidence?
Online friends
Next, Madeleine and P1gG_ became best buddies. Chatting daily and telling each other about their days. Of course, they also shared snuff content. For example, P1gG_ shared pictures of the crime scene of that one girl that was found dead. Dumped on the side of the road.
Madeleine responded by sharing that this crime happened close to where she lives. Coincidently, it just so happens that P1gG_ lives on the area too. So, he proposed they meet up for lunch. Madeleine realized she shared way too much and left the chatroom abruptly.
Old trick, New victim
Young Madeleine believed to be in the clear after cutting all communications with P1gG_. However, he kept messaging her. Even after many unanswered attempts. P1gG_ kept sharing how his life was grim and sad. Saying how he “felt like shit” or “just wanna die”. Madeleine started to feel guilty, even to the point of believing P1gG_ was going to harm himself. Somehow the well being of this stranger was her responsibility. So, she changed her mind and decided to accept his invitation to meet for lunch.
A bad Idea
Foreshadowed by Adam, Madeleine found herself in the same situation as the girls from the stories he told her. Our protagonist showed up to the location P1gG_ agreed to meet. Madeleine waited for two hours with no sign that P1gG_ was going to show up. She started to feel this whole thing was a bad idea. Adam happened to be walking by with a group of friends and when he noticed Madeleine all by herself. While Adam was talking, Madeleine received a call from an unknown number. It was P1gG_, who was watching from a distance the whole time.
Worst Case Scenario
The voice on the phone did not sound like a teenage boy. Additionally, this grown man was angry and unsettled. The fact that his online friend was a girl was a capital offense. He proceeded to belittle, insult and threaten Madeleine’s life. Panic, horror and confusion settled in. Realizing the gravity of her mistake, she decided to make a run for it. Fortunately, Khris one of Adam’s older friends followed Madeleine. Quick on her feet, she accepted Khris offer to walk her home.
Trapped
When Madeleine finally made it home, P1gG_ was standing outside her house. He took off, but not before ringing Madeleine’s phone once more. This was just one scene from a nightmare. First, Madeleine had to deal with her mother. Somehow she cared more about Khris than the stranger standing outside.
After dealing with her mother, she check her messages and answered P1gG_’s call. This stranger showed proof that he knew everything about Madeleine. From that moment on, if Madeliene did not conceded to his demands he would ruin her life.
How about the Art?
Luana Vecchio’s art is aesthetically pleasant as ever. Even though we know this a train wreck of a story for Madeleine, we can’t look away. On the contrary, the emotions depicted showcase the internal struggles that drive the story.
Another example of Vecchio’s mastery is the perceived feelings by the characters. For example the discontent the mother has for her daughter is palpable. Likewise Madeleine’s moment of fright was tangible when she saw P1gG_. In short, this is very compelling storytelling.
Overall GRADE: 9.5/10
It is not lost on me the introduction of Pig imagery in the story and in some of the covers. If you’ve read Lovesick, you’d remember that Domino’s subjects/victims are called pigs. Along with the nightmares of men in pig masks that Domino had.
With “Doll Parts: A Lovesick Tale”, Vecchio flushes out the small details that make Domino more than the insane sexy head figure Matriarch in leather, that loves to kill men. The experiences that formed the character, that’s what makes them real and relatable.
The story of Domino is a cautionary tale for the Madeleines of the world. Specifically teenagers who believe themselves to be too smart to be fooled. Madeleine lost her innocence due to unfortunate events, forcing her to grow up and mature in many ways. But she failed to realized that when you lack experience, is best to heed other’s warnings and guidance. Instead she was pigheaded and found out the hard way.
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