Breaking the first rule of Fight Club

Originally, Heavy Vinyl was titled Hi Fi Fight Club. This will be important in a minute or two. The basic premise of this graphic novel, originally a short series of comic books now bundled and bound as a set, is cute and light hearted. Teenage Chris has recently gotten her dream job at the local record shop Vinyl Destination. She wants to become a musician and she has a crush on one coworker (peppy Maggie), idolizes her boss (Irene), adores older co-worker (Kennedy), and would love to figure out Dolores (Goth arch nemesis).  The basic plot is just that, basic: the star singer, Rosie, of a local (I think) band with a scheduled performance at the shop (the Stegosaurs) goes missing just before the performance, and Chris and friends must figure out what happened to her. In addition to the mystery, Chris also has to figure out why the rest of the Vinyl Destination crew sometimes stays late to clean but she gets sent home.

The group of friends and the little details about them, their relationships with each other, and outside of work are what really make this story fun. There’s the usual teen drama of wondering if Maggie notices Chris, both in the sense of person but also romantic interest; there’s the feeling left out at not being allowed to participate in activities, and there’s the eventual discovery and fitting in with the rest of the group. The art is fairly simple to my non-expert eye but the characters are still pretty expressive in their facial expressions and body language. I was faintly reminded of this children’s book I remember from growing up, The Handy Girls Can Fix It. At any rate, these are the strengths of both the book and the story which together make me hope that someday in the not too distant future, a sequel might be possible. The end of the book is conclusive with both mysteries but suggests there’s definitely more story to tell, so I can dream.

There are 2 important questions mixed in that are critical to the story part, one of which remains partially incomplete as noted above, and the other which I found a little irritating: first, what’s happened with Rosie, and second, why won’t the rest of the team let Chris stay and help with the cleaning? The answer to the first part would be spoiler-y and involves some implausible suggested skullduggery concerning a local (again, I think) music producer given that the world of the story is otherwise fairly realistic. This part strikes me as slightly unfinished, but not to the point that it bothers me. The thing that bothered me was the answer to the second question which gets revealed about halfway through the novel. When Christ is finally allowed to stay after, she finds out that the rest of the crew isn’t really cleaning, they’re training because they’re actually an after-hours/underground vigilante fight club. Hence the original series title which makes this non-spoiler. Because what else would they be? Of course it makes total sense. {Please note, these last two sentences should be taken as total and complete and utter sarcasm.} While I appreciate the female empowerment side of things, not only does this seem like it’s just an excuse for the girls to learn some fighting skills and become defenders of innocent women and girls who are threatened or oppressed by males, it also seems totally random. Plus, what’s the first rule of Fight Club? Yeah, that gets violated all over the place. Yes, these skills come in handy in solving the Rosie problem, and yes, it provides a reason for a little twist concerning Rosie, but still…

In spite of the irritations, I feel that this story needs to be a movie or mini-series because that would be a lot of fun. At minimum, there should be a sequel or few that fills in the rest of the story and continues building the relationships that really make the novel a sweet read.