An all-new original graphic novel follow up to the award-nominated Heavy Vinyl: Riot on The Radio that reunites everyone’s favorite girl vigilantes to save the day by stopping Big Music from killing digital music in 1999!
SAVE THE INTERNET, SAVE THE WORLD (OF MUSIC)!
It’s 1999 and Chris is living her dream: working at Vinyl Destination by day and fighting for (musical) justice by night (okay, maybe during the day too) in the world’s coolest teen girl vigilante fight club. But when the girls of Vinyl Destination enter a Battle of The Bands – to investigate and, of course, win – they learn that the shadowy corporate masters of the music industry plan to destroy the fledging world of digital music and blame it on Y2K. Now it’s time for Chris and the gang to dial up 56k (or more, pretty please) of justice so they can save the day once again!
The critically-acclaimed team of writer Carly Usdin (The Avant-Guards) and Russ Manning Award-nominated artist Nina Vakueva (League of Legends: Ashe) reunite for a follow-up to Heavy Vinyl: Riot on The Radio, which was recognized as one of the 2018 YALSA Great Graphic Novels for Teens.
Carly Usdin is an award-winning filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her first feature, Suicide Kale, won the Audience Award for Best First Feature at Outfest 2016. After playing over 30 festivals worldwide the film is now available on iTunes and Amazon Prime. In 2017 Carly served as showrunner and director for the scripted series Threads, produced by New Form for Verizon’s go90 platform. The 20-episode horror and comedy anthology series brought to life outrageous stories from internet forums like Reddit.
Carly is also the creator and writer of two comic book series for BOOM! Studios: Heavy Vinyl (in stores now) and The Avant-Guards (out in January 2019). Heavy Vinyl was nominated for a 2018 Prism award, honoring the best in LGBTQAI+ comics.
Carly has spent years making short-form narrative and branded content for clients like Funny or Die, CollegeHumor, Amy Poehler's Smart Girls, World of Wonder, CBS, Fullscreen, Astronauts Wanted, Portal A, TruTV, Viacom and YouTube. Most notably, she directed the third season of Awkwafina’s digital series Tawk. Her promo campaigns for RuPaul’s Drag Race have won One Show Awards and Promax BDA Awards.
Carly has recently completed post-production on her short film Misdirection, created as part of the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women, class of 2019. Currently she is developing several projects through her production company Scheme Machine Studios, which she owns with her wife, photographer and producer Robin Roemer.
That was super cute and fun. More of a 4.5, but I rounded up because it makes my heart happy to see SO MANY gay girls in one place. <3 This series has loads of sapphic rep, POC rep, QPOC rep, lighthearted talks about serious topics (like being ready for sex, etc.), and jokes, all wrapped up into a team of cuties kicking the patriarchy's ass and saving the world, one mixtape at a time. The 90s setting is SO much fun and I loved the addition of the Y2K subplot!
All the things that made the first volume so special are gone. The passion for music. The excitement of a potential new relationship where you don't know how the other person feels. All gone. Now there's some goofball plot to destroy music through putting viruses in napster or something and Y2K is somehow involved, even the author couldn't keep that story straight. The book has devolved into a goofy tween comic. Nina Vakueva's art is still fantastic though.
It was so nice to be back with the girls from Vinyl Mayhem! This second volume was fun and cute. I must say I was more interested in the characters and their own storylines than in the general one and their quest to save everything. There might be a third volume, I hope this one gets released soon, I can't wait to check it out!
**insert punk guitar riff "Kicking ass Being gay Saving the world From Y2K! YEA!"** I’m going to just assume those are lyrics from Volcano Girls in the delightful second volume to Heavy Vinyl where our teen vigilantes are now rocking ears when they aren’t punching faces. This series is a bit silly but it’s also high energy, adorably sapphic and so much fun. The crew is back as the 90s are barreling to a close and everyone is concerned about Y2K while assured that computer programmers have got it covered. Yet computers are crashing and maybe those burned cds aren’t as safe like everyone’s mom was worried about? This volume is a lot of fun, really making the period piece element work for the story better than in the first. I especially liked the element of slow dial-up issues when trying to buy concert tickets. This issue however lacks some of the romantic tension and all-around joy of the original that makes it feel a tad sophomore-slump. Not that it’s bad, and there’s plenty of new dynamics: Chris and Maggie are so cute together but dating is full of anxiety, D might have romance on the horizon with a girl possibly even more hip that her, Logan is leaving town and more…because now they have a battle of the bands to win. And a lot of asses to kick. The artwork continues to be amazing and possibly even stronger in this volume. I particularly like how well it captures action and big montage moments. Honestly, even if this is a bit lacking in story compared to the first one, it’s still just awesome to look at. I love Heavy Vinyl and I hope Carly Usdin makes good on the promise at the end for a third volume. These characters are so fun to read about and I just want Chris and Maggie to be adorably in love forever. And make sweet music. Heavy Vinyl: Y2K-O is a lovely continuation of a thrilling graphic novel series.
There’s a hokeyness and earnestness to this story, along with the fun, developing relationships and terrific visuals. I found the Y2K stuff as well as the virus plot to be a little cringey. That said, I like the energy of the story.
Rating: 4 Stars ★★★★ Heavy Vinyl: Y2K-O! is a stellar continuation to the Heavy Vinyl graphic novel series centering around a group of girls in the 90's who not only work in a record store, but also are part of an undercover vigilante fight club! ↠ Heavy Vinyl: Y2K-O! full ARC review 💿🎉💥 For a while I always felt Heavy Vinyl would always be a standalone, which was fine but it felt like there needed to be more adventures with the cast: Chris, Dolores, Kennedy, Maggie & their boss Irene. Then when it was announced that there would a sequel, I was thrilled! As with the first volume you can expect another musical mystery, this time focused on the rise in a digital music website, female friendships, & queer rep. & of course 90's references! Without spoiling too much I will say you can really sense the growth to the bonds & dynamic of friendship between them- you can sense a more laid back vibe to their friendship as they've really gotten to know each other and the love/support they have for each other has grown even stronger! One of my new favorite characters was Carmen who gets to know D. after winning her radio contest, their dynamic was super fun and hopefully if there's a volume 3, Carmen makes a return! As for returning characters, it felt like there was just more page time dedicated to the main cast either together or just separately which was great. They all have their own small arcs in the story and it was nice getting to delve into each! Aside from mystery, this novel also focuses on the girls navigating relationships which was a surprising, yet phenomenal arc of this volume! As for the art style, I LOVED it! It looks to be a more softer art-style compared to Volume 1, which definitely had a more realistic look to it (if that's how I can describe it?). Overall there's clean, minimal backgrounds but definitely spotlights the important details & as for characters, there's such a great attention to detail and the rainbow of colors used is fantastic! The action scenes definitely take up space on the page when necessary and the overall its detailed + has a certain "vintage style" to it which was great too! As with the previous volume, Y2K-O also features an inclusive cast! Featuring a mostly female cast there's also a main character who identifies as trans (Carmen) & f/f relationships! My only gripe is that the mystery had a lot of build-up and you'll definitely be satisfied with how the team solves it, but for me personally I was just expecting a bit more. The end also does feel a little bit rushed, but overall it REALLY leaves you wanting more to the Heavy Vinyl world! (*I hope there'll be more to this series <3) Heavy Vinyl: Y2K-O is a much needed continuation to a series set in the 90's following a group of friends working in a record store, who also happen to be part of a secret vigilante group as they solve a mystery on the brink of Y2k! The plot is immersive, fast-paced, and features great character arcs, and the art is wonderfully detailed! This volume will leave readers wanting more from the Heavy Vinyl world!
*Received an early digital copy via the publisher*
Cheesy, over the top, and a weird plot. I wish this had more issues, I am sure it would be 10x better if the author was given more time to flesh out the plot. Maggie and Chris are still a cute couple.
again it's just like a shot of pure good vibes, why would you NOT read this!! this time with a dose of good old-fashioned late 90s tech & floppy disk code patches...sheer delight.
I love women, and it makes me happy to read a comic about women loving other women. I don't totally love the main conflict (hence the four stars), but this is a really cute comic series. Looking forward to the next one!
Fun and entertaining. I preferred the first volume though. I felt like there was less of a plot to this one, and things didn't really pick up until the second half. Some of the music element was lost and I wasn't as interested in the characters this time, but I still enjoyed it.
3.5 stars This follows the characters from Heavy Vinyl: Riot on the Radio, one year after that first volume. The Vinyl Destination crew is working toward the Battle of the Band$$$ as Y2K draws nigh... with the help of the girl vigilante network they tackle the mystery surrounding the connection between these two events... and the possible fate of the future of music.
I don't think the story was a strong as in the first collection-- there were more moments/elements that felt missing from this story. Some of the little interactions between characters get overshadowed by "big picture" tensions that left those relationships feeling like plotline filler rather than exploration and development of series characters. While this volume feels setting up for more in the series, ie the introduction of supporting new characters, I fear what threads hold this together will only unravel more if the creators continue to take the story into the twenty-first century. Both volumes felt like as much '90s references as possible had to be crammed into each panel, especially so with Y2K-O!-- between that and the requirement of the reader to suspend their disbelief that 1) the vigilante network could exist at the level of organization and success it does; and 2) the nonchalance of gay acceptance in small-ish town in late '90s, it feels like actual work to stay in the story rather than put the book down altogether. That's not to say I don't appreciate the creators' efforts to create a comic they wished could have existed in the late '90s-early 2000s. However, I feel there are too many diversity/societal elements/issues crammed into the limited length of the work. This forced-feeling leaves the reader wondering how much was genuine and how much might have been to check off imaginary "diversity points". If these volumes were expanded, if we could spend more time on the small-picture before immediately jumping to the "taking down the evil" segment, I think this story would work better for more people. I commend the creators' attempt to emulate the comic/cartoons style, feel, and content from the '90s with characters audiences today actively seek out; no one work can have everything, can be perfect, and unfortunately, this work leaves more to be desired than what the comic offers.
la segunda aventura de las chicas patea culos que llevan también una tienda de discos. Además de lidiar con sus problemas personales, salvan al mundo del efecto 2000. Se me ha hecho muy corto y quiero más. Me he reído con las referencias de la época y recordando esa paranoia que hubo por la llegada del nuevo milenio.
This volume had some mixed reviews which made me a bit nervous to read it but it was so good! I just love all of these girls. They are all so adorable and wonderful. The relationships are super cute and the plot while ridiculous is fantastic. I love how ridiculous the fight club vinyl store y2k plot is. It makes it fun and interesting to follow. This leaves it open ended so I am definitely on board if they ever continue with these characters. It’s gay and cute. I’m obsessed now.
I want more! It looks like this series has stalled out and that's too bad because it was pretty fun! I'm so disappointed this hasn't been continued! Read during Dewey's 24-Hour Readathon.
rep: f/f relationships, Black mc, Latinx mc, trans sapphic woman (side character), sapphic side characters
It was one of my most anticipated release, and I was not disappointed, but I did not like this as much as I liked the first volume. I couldn't remember what Y2K was about so, I had a hard time to follow what was going on. But it was still good.
second book of the heavy vinyl series! this one was... eh. i definitely enjoyed the story of the previous volume better than this one. maybe because the stakes weren't as high, but i thought this book to be a bit blander. however, the art is still beautiful, as always. i love seeing the improvement in the art.