
Boom! Box 2017
Created & Written by Carly Usdin
Penciled by Nina Vakueva
Inked by Irene Flores
Coloured by Rebecca Nalty
Lettered by Jim Campbell
Well this is something the world definitely needs right now! Set in 1998 featuring a young woman crushing on her coworker in a Record Shop that’s an all-girl joint! It’s got the right blend of characters, see personalities, and just enough of both extreme fiction and normal teenage life to make it that all-ages book that’s easily relatable to. Doesn’t matter if you are a boy or girl the crush feeling is universal as is the feeling of being a fish out of water at times.
So while the Fight Club part of the title is more than a little out there though at this time kind of all the rage it’s just a part of what this series is about. Also the twist put on it is great and I really think that it has some potential for something extraordinarily interesting to come out of it, at least from a characterisation standpoint. However this issue is really about getting to know the characters who inhabit this world and how they know each other.
I’m pretty impressed with the pacing and structure of the story here. The flow of the issue is really good and the strength of the storytelling, see how natural it feels as you read it, took me a little by surprise. Which is usually the case when i’m encountering someone’s work for the first time. I mean it too because this really is super cute, easy to find someone to relate to and has all this awe of innocence of being young carefree and finding yourself a part of something you’d never dare dream of.
I really like the interiors here! The linework is spectacular in my humble opinion, how the weight of it is used whether light or hard. There’s some wonderful attention to detail here I wasn’t expecting to see in an all-ages book. Let’s face it for some reason all-ages usually equates to simpler in terms of the interiors. The way pages are laid out with the use of angles, perspective and the pick and choose of the backgrounds, every panel should be filled up to really showcase the mood, tone and feel of what’s happening, showcase a nice eye for storytelling.
The dialogue and character interaction throughout the issue are great. It’s got the kind of feeling you’d expect actually out of a John Hughes Eighties movie. Granted these girls, women, are tougher and more modern in the sense of how they dress are seen and the beginning of what we see today. There really is something endearing about the book that just kind of captures a moment and simply makes you smile.
Also I expect to see more of a mystery to solve, the disappearance of Rosie, as well as what the basement is all about as the story progresses. This is off to a fantastic start it captures the reader’s imagination and doesn’t let go.