Deborah Dissler (victim of "big daddy" toaster; Stray Toasters story)

dissler-deborah-straytoast-confronted dissler-deborah-straytoast-face DEBORAH DISSLER
(please note that these stories are from Epic Illustrated, part of a more mature line and may not be appropriate for everyone)

Real Name: Deborah Dissler

Identity/Class: Human (see comments)

Occupation: Unrevealed

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Abigail "Abby" Nolan, Todd;
Sergeant Al Wenzel, Egon Rustemagik and Detective(?) Kimball investigated her death

Enemies: "Big Daddy" (Toaster-headed guy);
indirectly Dr. Montana Violet, Dahlia, Todd

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Apparently the corner of Drake and Prentice in an unrevealed city, presumably within the USA

First Appearance: Stray Toasters Model One (1988)

Powers/Abilities: Deborah demonstrated no special abilities nor skills in her brief appearance while she was slain by "Big Daddy."

She was compassionate enough to take a youth from off the streets into her home.

Height: Unrevealed (she did not seem particular short nor tall, so approximately 5'6")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 140 lbs.)
Eyes: Unrevealed
Hair: Red brown

History:
(Stray Toasters Model One (fb) - BTS) - Unable to have children, with repeated attempts proving fruitless, Deborah sought psychiatric counseling for depression with Dr. Abigail Nolan.

Deborah presumably found and took in the young boy Todd, informally adopting him. Todd seemed to be autistic, and he only ate toast and jam (see comments).

(Stray Toasters Model One) - Deborah had a session with Dr. Nolan, who advised her that someone (apparently Todd) was obsessed with him and felt intense frustration and rage over not getting something that he wanted from her. Abby advised Deborah to bring this person to her next session so that they might get to the bottom of the problem. When their time ran out, Abby advised Deborah to keep calm around this person, as he could smell her anxiety, which would only make matters worse. Nonetheless, Abby assured her that everything would work out for the best, and that she should not lose her head.

dissler-deborah-straytoast-knife Deborah subsequently returned home, having bought some fresh bread for toast and jam for Todd, and resolving despite her nausea to stay calm and not demonstrate anxiety. She was instead confronted by the giant, toaster-headed Big Daddy, who told her, "Hi honey. I'm home. How was your day? Mine was murder. What's for dinner?"

Deborah screamed and futilely ran, and when he caught her, she asked him if he wanted money. When he declined, she asked what she had done with his boy, but he told her that her boy was safe with him, but not her.

Holding up a drill, Big Daddy told her that he used it fix things, and he complained that he worked all day and that she had made him no dinner.

She asked him if he wanted her to fix something, but he told her that "bitches" do not fix anything but only make things worse, and that dinner was not what he wanted.

Distraught and confused, Deborah told him to tell her what he wanted, as she had no idea what he needed, but if he would tell her, she would give it to him..."only...stop torturing me!"

Big Daddy asked her why she hated her boy and went to that woman head doctor to plot against her boy. She assured him that she was only concerned about Todd, but after he started rambling about something being stuck in her that only she could get out, she found a knife and tried to threaten him back.

After Big Daddy mentioned the boy again, Deborah begged to see her boy, and Todd told her that he was alright and asked if she had brought him bread for toast. Big Daddy goaded her into stabbing him with the knife, but she was standing in water and was apparently at least rendered unconscious by the shock. dissler-deborah-straytoast-incapacitated

    Big Daddy then went to work on Deborah's body, drilling (her eyes out), screwing, sanding, cutting, wiring, soldering and using tubes, pipes, wires, nuts, bolts, screws and lots of oil. He wired her up like a machine, but he apparently crossed some wires, and when he plugged her in, she was fatally electrocuted.

     Big Daddy felt that Deborah would have "worked" fine if he hadn't crossed those two wires...

(Stray Toasters Model One (fb) - BTS) - The killer left behind an invoice noting a charge of $88.50 for "fixing her good," and further noting that while he had worked overtime, he was not charging for that as she didn't work.

    Abigail Nolan found Todd sitting on her front steps and brought him into her house, feeding him the toast and jam he desired.

(Stray Toasters Model One - BTS) - Police Sergeant Al Wenzel contacted criminal psychologist Egon Rustemagik in the middle of the night to investigate the crime scene. Detective(?) Kimball told Rustemagik that they had detected oil stains all over the front of her panties.

    Rustemagik's investigations led him to discover that his former girlfriend, Abby, had been Deborah's psychiatrist. He visited Abby and asked about Deborah, but Abby refused to give him any information due to doctor-patient confidentiality. He told her that Deborah had been murdered the night before.

Comments: Created by Bill Sienkiewicz as part of the creator-owned Epic line.

I enjoy Bill Sienkiewicz's crazy stream-of-consciousness stories, but they are really hard to follow and make sense of sometimes. I explained things as best as I could, but I'm really not sure who the toaster-headed guy was.

This is the best I could sort things out:

I think Dahlia had an abortion via Dr. Montana Violet, but Violet instead saved the baby's life, and that is Todd. And Dr. Violet put the outlet in Todd's head, and Todd built the toaster head guy, Big Daddy, as some sort of father figure who was killing women, like Deborah.
After the death of a woman who had adopted him, Todd then showed up and was taken in by another woman, and the process repeated itself? Or was it just Debby and Abby?
Meanwhile, Dahlia suspected that her aborted child survived and wanted to kill her, so she was going around and killing young boys.
Abby had had a relationship with Egon Rustemagik, and they had a child that died in childbirth...and left her unable to have other children...and she blamed Egon and had him committed to a mental institution, where Dr. Violet experimented on him.
After being released, Egon was summoned to investigate the serial killings, during which time Dr. Violet drugged him again (I think inspired by Dahlia), but he got better and destroyed Dr. Violet's body, although his head still sought out Dahlia, who slew him.
Egon was set up to save the day, which he ultimately did by unplugging "Big daddy" toaster from Todd , after which Egon ended up being shot in the head by Harvard Chalky, the ADA who was Abby's psychiatry client and who lusted after Abby and wanted to kill Egon so he could have her for himself.
I really want to know what the deal with the toaster guy was...I think he was created by Todd and was some manifestation of his persona?
I don't know who Mona is/was...

As a creator-owned character from Epic, it is unlikely that this story was intended to be part of Reality-616, but there's also nothing to exclude it...the events involved a small number of people in a localized area.. There's no reason it could not have taken place in 1988, which due to Marvel's sliding timescale in is over 20 years and counting before the Fantastic Four's space flight.

This profile was completed 06/01/2025, but its publication was delayed as it was intended for the Appendix 25^th anniversary's celebratory event.

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Deborah Dissler should be distinguished from:

other "Deborah" or "Dissler" characters, groups, items, events, races or places...

images: (without ads) 4 is 1
Stray Toasters Model One, pg. 8 (confronted by Big Daddy);
       pg. 9, panel 1 (fleeing, posterior oblique);
       pg. 10, panel 8 (face);
       pg. 11, panel 5-6 (threatening Big Daddy with knife);
       pg. 13m panel 2 (recumbent)

Appearances:
Stray Toasters Model One (1988) - Bill Sienkiewicz (writer, artist), Daniel Chichester (associate editor), Steve Buccellato (assistant editor), Archie Goodwin (editor-in-chief)

First posted: 09/10/2026
Last updated: 06/01/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
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