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PLASTIC FARM #5 & 6
by Rafer Roberts & co.
($2.95,
www.plasticfarm.com)
Review by Monsu Pok
I haven’t read any of the previous issues of
Plastic Farm, so I’m probably missing any intermediary narrative.
The cover to
Plastic Farm #5 resembles the once ubiquitous, rough, cut-and-paste style of the punk rock aesthetic such as the album cover of
Anarchy in the U.K. The first story delivers on the cover’s promise as we find a group of wild punk rock kids crashing a yuppie party in 1997. These rich folks exchange such dialog as, “Oh, Ronald, you are such a card!” By the end of the tale, the punk rockers leave showing those rich kids what’s what. The dialogue in the story, particularly the rich kids' dialogue comes off as artificial. Granted, it serves the purpose of caricature, but by using outdated phrases, the satire loses any bite. Furthermore, most of the emphasis in the story is placed on the shenanigans of the characters rather than the characters themselves. In the end, two of the protagonists vow their eternal love with an unconventional promise ring, but their attitude resonates with a certain smugness of believing themselves to be hip. Jake Warrenfeltz’s artwork doesn’t help the matter. While utilitarian, his body proportions are sometimes distracting and unintentionally humorous. Dembicki’s "Witch’s Tongue" nicely closes out the issue, however, as both the words and pictures are short, dark, and sweet.
Issue six of
Plastic Farm contains an entirely new story involving a guy named Chester. The story opens with a nice touch of surrealism as a creature walks up to Chester and is soon blown away by telepathy or some magic voodoo. Chester proceeds to relay his tortured life story to the barkeep and a Scottish patron. Chester’s tale is full of woe and angst with some genuinely touching moments regarding his foster parents and high school isolation. Toward the end of his story, things swing into the supernatural as we see Chester and others transform into Rob Zombie-type characters after a near death experience. Although Rafer Roberts’ story is served well by character exposition, it is sabotaged again by dialogue. Toward the end of the story, the Scottish patron says, “Fook that noise!” Roberts’ own artwork, like his stand-in, Jake Warrenfeltz, is serviceable but unstylish. There are moments when Chester is drawn as toy-sized next to his female peers. Perhaps it’s a metaphor for feeling inferior, or perhaps Roberts’ is exaggerating the different growth rates of boys and girls; in any case, it’s distracting.
If all the stories are collected together in graphic novel form, they may reveal a level of nuance and intricacy, but as things stand,
Plastic Farm is a professionally produced and affordable series, but one where the pieces move awkwardly.
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