Doug Wagner and Daniel Hillyard, the creators behind Plastic, Plush and Vinyl, are back this April with a brand-new horror comic book mini-series you won't want to miss! As the series title implies, I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer follows a fashion school student who can't resist her murderous urges, and we caught up with the creators to learn all about their creative process and what we can expect. We also have an exclusive preview you can read ahead of the first issue's release on April 2nd from Image Comics!
What was the inspiration behind I WAS A FASHION SCHOOL SERIAL KILLER and why were you excited for it to be the next series you two collaborated on?
DOUG: It all started with me falling down the ever-so-dangerous research rabbit hole. One day, I got intrigued about how few female serial killers there have been… well, how many we know about. That led me to the blood countess Elizabeth Bathory, renowned for her rumored hundreds of murders and proclivity of taking baths in their blood. I couldn’t help but daydream of what a modern-day Elizabeth Bathory would look like. From that, Rennie was born.
As far as why I’m excited for this to be our next collaboration, it just seemed like the next logical story in our arsenal of sick and disturbed horrors. Once Daniel liked the basic idea, my mind just took off with ideas. Once the muses start whispering, I’ve learned you’d better be listening.
Can you give us more details about your collaboration on the new series? Sounds like you had a great time working together on this.
DOUG: Daniel and I have worked together now for over a decade. It’s become pretty seamless to us, but we’ve learned our process can be terrifying to others. We both share one goal above all else – create a comic we both would want to read. No egos. No worries about who gets credit for what. It’s all about the story. I start by pitching a two or three sentence idea to Daniel. He shares his thoughts. From there, I work out a short summary, a long summary, a page-by-page breakdown, and finish with the script. Every step of the way, I share it with Daniel so we can rip it apart and make it OUR thing. For me, our collaboration is always exhilarating and inspirational. There’s nothing more fulfilling than working with someone who has the same goals as you do.
DANIEL: It’s about the easiest thing in the world to me now, honestly. Like Doug said, we leave egos at the door and just try to make the best comic we can. Everything has its stages, from the initial story to character design and trying to figure out what each individual book is going to look like and where our inspirations might come from. We do a lot of back and forth throughout the whole thing, adding and taking away ideas depending on what we like and what we don’t think is working. I love a good analogy, so I’ll say it’s like dressing a mannequin. The mannequin (the story underneath) is like the bones and stays mostly unchanged, but the dressing and presentation of it is like a constant work in progress right up until the end.
What kind of research went into fashion school and fashion trends? Was there a particular film, show, or book (or something else) that helped guide the fashion school experience and fashion trends?
DOUG: Yes! To all of that! I can’t say there was one particular film, show, or book that I depended on. For weeks, I personally consumed as much information as I could. I watched seasons of every fashion reality TV show I could find, read dozens of fashion magazines, perused through several books featuring the fashions of varying time periods, and spent way too much time checking out fashion school websites. I think what captivated me the most was the sheer boldness of it all. I adore it when people let the outside world see their true selves. You don’t get much closer to that than fashion. IMO.
DANIEL: I’m not going to lie, while I did do a lot of research with things like Pinterest and Instagram, Popeye magazine, and designer shows, a lot of the fashion design elements have to be credited to my wife. Where I was thinking of the fashion aspects like uniforms, she got me to adjust and look at them in terms of vibe, putting together looks for each. It was a really interesting world that I’d never really thought of that much, the world of fashion. But when I started thinking about the feeling of a character and how they might express that, it really opened things up. Throughout the story, the character Rennie goes on this journey of opening up, becoming more valuable and making friends, and as she does that, her fashion changes. Just as she is changing herself internally,
Rennie Bethary isn't your typical lead character. What excited you about telling Rennie's story?
DOUG: I think the primary draw for me was taking this loner outcast that has irresistible, murderous urges and trying to see how she would fit in the world of a prestigious fashion school. It’s the classic stranger in a strange land theme, but with a serial killer as the stranger and a high-end fashion college as the strange land. It’s Dexter meets Pitch Perfect.
DANIEL: I love her sass [laughs]. I think that’s a small part of why serial killers draw so much fascination. In real life it’s the mystery, you know. What makes them the way they are? But in fiction, it’s the confidence. Rennie is confident and bold but not showy. She is trying to be more than she is by going on this journey of development and self-discovery, but she won’t conform just to fit in. She’s okay with being different. And as someone who likes to draw bad-ass over-the-top gory stuff, she kills people pretty good too.
Can you give our readers a tease of the horrors that await them over the series' five issues?
DOUG: Well, Rennie is going to brutally murder as many people as she can throughout the story, skin them, bathe in their blood, and turn their remains into high fashion.
DANIEL: Music to my ears.
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The fan-favorite creative team behind Plastic, Plush, and Vinyl—Doug Wagner & Daniel Hillyard—will reteam for an all-new, campy horror story in the upcoming I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer. This five-issue miniseries is set to launch in April from Image Comics.
Rennie Bethary has just been accepted into New York City’s most prestigious fashion school. Her designs are daring, edgy, and singular…and made of human flesh. Did we forget to mention Rennie is a serial killer who simply wants to be a fashion designer instead? Stupid, pesky, murderous urges!
I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer #1 will be available at comic book shops on Wednesday, April 2:
- Cover A by Hillyard
- Cover B by Hillyard & Michelle Madsen
- Cover C by Jae Lee
I Was a Fashion School Serial Killer will also be available across many digital platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, and Google Play.
Variant Covers
After spending more than 10 years as a consultant in the tech and entertainment industry, Jonathan James launched Daily Dead in 2010 to share his interest in horror and sci-fi. Since then, it has grown into an online magazine with a staff of writers that provide daily news, reviews, interviews, and special features.
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