Press Release
BOOM! Studios is pumped to announce HI-FI FIGHT CLUB, a new series launching in August from filmmaker Carly Usdin (Suicide Kale, RuPaul's Drag Race) and artist Nina Vakueva (Lilith’s Word). Hi-Fi Fight Club is a music-infused, action-adventure series that takes rock ’n’ roll fandom out of the record store and into the streets.
The year: 1998. The place: New Jersey. Chris has just started the teen dream job: working at Vinyl Mayhem, the local record store. She's prepared to deal with anything—misogynistic metalheads, grunge wannabes, even a crush on her wicked cute co-worker, Maggie. But when Rory Gory, the staff's favorite singer, mysteriously vanishes the night before her band’s show in town, Chris finds out her co-workers are doing more than just sorting vinyl...her local indie record store is also a front for a teen girl vigilante fight club!
“Hi-Fi Fight Club is equal parts Empire Records and The Baby-Sitters Club, with a little D.E.B.S., Scott Pilgrim, and Lumberjanes in there as well,” describes Usdin. “It’s a fantasy based on my life growing up in New Jersey in the ’90s. All I wanted to do was to work at a record store and be a superhero. Music was my primary means for self-discovery and I look back on that time period very fondly. There's also some wish-fulfillment on a deeply personal level as I do often wish I had come out in high school instead of waiting until college.”
“I love creating and developing characters for stories, so I look forward to learning more about our Hi-Fi Fight Club cast through their actions and speech, coming up with special gestures and facial expressions for them, and designing their individual styles,” adds Vakueva. “Plus, with the story set in the ’90s, it's been a nice bonus browsing through a lot of fashion photos from that period!”
While Vakueva has worked on her own webcomic (Lilith’s Word) before, this is Usdin’s first foray into the medium.
“You can't see it but I have a ridiculous smile on my face right now,” beams the filmmaker. “I loved comic books as a kid—I spent countless hours hanging out in our local comic book shop with my mom, going to local conventions... so this is absolutely a dream come true. And I couldn't imagine having a better partner than BOOM! Studios.”
“This comic manages to combine so many of my favorite things I’ve lost count,” says Shannon Watters, Editor. “I cannot wait to see Carly and Nina rock this series!”
Covers for Hi-Fi Fight Club #1 are illustrated by Vakueva and Lumberjanes co-creator Brooke Allen.
Print copies of Hi-Fi Fight Club #1 will be available for sale at local comic book shops (use comicshoplocator.com to find the nearest one) or at the BOOM! Webstore in August. Digital copies will be available to purchase on digital book marketplaces, including ComiXology and the BOOM! Studios app.
Hi-Fi Fight Club is the latest release from BOOM! Studios’ critically acclaimed BOOM! Box imprint, home to popular original series such as Lumberjanes by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooke A. Allen, and Noelle Stevenson; Giant Days by John Allison, Lissa Treiman, and Max Sarin; The Backstagers by James Tynion IV and Rian Sygh; SLAM! by Pamela Ribon and Veronica Fish; and Goldie Vance by Hope Larson and Brittney Williams.