Hi-Fi Fight Club #3

Created and Written by: Carly Usdin
Pencils by: Nina Vakueva
Inks by: Irene Flores
Colours by: Rebecca Nalty
Published by: BOOM! Box

Hi-Fi Fight Club has become one of those hidden gems you tend to hear about - a comic that may be flying under the radar in the mainstream but that continues to impress month-to-month. And that is exactly what this comic continues to do this month.

After an eyebrow-raising conclusion to issue 2 where Maggie and Chris discover the remaining members of Stegosour trying to break into Vinyl Mayhem, we fast forward to the rest of the ladies helping out in their mini-interrogation to try to find out their motivation. Unfortunately, they don’t get much information from them.

An aside: I know we are supposed to suspend our disbelief when reading comics, but since this comic seems to be based in the real world, I couldn’t help but wonder two thing in the opening pages of issue #3: 1. Why didn’t they call the cops? The boys of Stegosour were clearly trying to break in, and 2. Isn’t detaining them overnight kind of illegal? Plus leaving them in the care of a 15-year old girl is also really strange.

With that said, the rest of the issue was a joy to read. We get to continue experiencing Chris’ infatuation with Maggie, with a small speed bump along the way in the form of the cute barista. We get the explanation of D’s disdain of Chris, but with happy results. And finally, we get to see that Chris is a pretty smart cookie as she starts to begin to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Stegosour’s lead singer.

The art team also continues to impress this issue. Vakueva brings so much life to the characters on the page that it continues to bring every single character's personality to forefront. I am always a fan of characters that show true emotion in a comic and Vakueva does Chris justice throughout this issue: we see Chris go from pure elation to pure dread, to pure “I’ve figured this out”. Hats off!