In this review of I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer #5, Rennie goes on the spree to end all sprees, and Sofie learns all about her best friend’s murderous side.
I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer #5
Written by Doug Wagner
Art and Main Cover: Daniel Hillyard
Variant Covers: Daniel Hillyard, Vinnie
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: August 13, 2025
This review contains spoilers
I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer #5 picks up right at the warehouse, with Dean Elias trying to offer Rennie to the traffickers in addition to Sofie, and just trying to do a bit of preemptive damage control before she gets there. They decide they’d kill this other girl when she arrives.
Rennie shows up, dressed to kill (in the outfit she’d designed for her midterm entry), offering them a deal: either she gives them the phone and they give her Sofie, or she kills them. Of course, they laugh off her threat and intend to murder her…but she’s experienced.
She goes on what may be the most justifiable murderous rampage of her life, Sofie’s safety driving her the whole time. Once she’s dealt enough lethal damage to the group, she frees Sofie…who has witnessed the sort of blood-soaked madness that be right at home in a slasher film.
Dean Elias tries to act like he had nothing to do with the attempt to sell Sofie, but both girls know how full of crap he is. Rennie has Sofie close her eyes and cover her ears to spare her any further trauma as she takes the Dean out, too.
A bit later, at Rennie’s, Sofie has learned all about Rennie’s dark side. But Sofie doesn’t see her as a monster; she knows her primarily as a hell of a fashion designer and her best friend. And that is when she gives her a proposition: the two of them can start their own fashion design studio. It’s not something Rennie expects, but she definitely starts to consider it…
First and foremost, I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer #5 wastes absolutely no time getting into things. The opening scene at the warehouse is a blend of what happens before Rennie turns up and, the aftermath. Across the rest of the story, it’s all but established that so much as looking at Sofie the wrong way will earn someone a blood-soaked visit from Rennie, and what she did to every non-Sofie occupant of that warehouse was easily her most brutal work. The highlight of this? Weaponizing the parasol she’d included with her design (especially when one of the traffickers sarcastically asked if she planned to kill them with it).
Showing up for this final showdown in the outfit she’d designed for the midterm was also a great choice. It’s something she’d designed as her friendship with Sofie was blossoming, and to show up to save her while wearing it feels like a way of showing that, yes, she’s definitely proud of who and what she’s become, that the bonds she’s formed are strong and not even a conspiracy involving the Dean and her favorite teacher could take that from her.
The artwork in I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer #5 was particularly outstanding for this. The kills had a rich amount of detail, and the return of the almost-neon backgrounds on the kill panels (and the fact that these people had it coming) made it a graphic delight to see. Another note: Sofie’s expressions after Rennie first confirms that, no, this is NOT her first time killing. At all. They definitely nailed that sort of mind-break that would happen for someone (particularly someone as sweet and trusting as her) upon finding out that their best friend is capable of inflicting that level of carnage.
When the situation has calmed down enough for Rennie to better explain herself, Sofie seems fairly okay with the murder aspect. Even when Rennie brings up that she’d forgotten to mention one casualty, Sofie’s response doesn’t feel like horror so much as mild exasperation.
I was slightly surprised when the design studio proposition came up, because I kept thinking they’d end up together in a slightly different sort of partnership (and judging by Rennie’s thoughts at the end, she may have thought the same). Either way, this leaves things open for a follow-up, one that could show how their studio is doing, possibly dive more into Rennie’s past.
I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer itself is a fun ride from start to finish, and works great as-is, but seeing more with these characters would also be a joy.
Final Thoughts
I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer #5 reaches a logical and bloody conclusion that leaves its two leads with a bright future. It’s a great ending to an enjoyable story.
