20 FISTS: Stay Golden (Series Review)

This is a comic about fistfights and bad romance. 

Chel and Billie are from two different fight crews, however, their budding relationship makes things that much more difficult. The story of Chel and Billie is as old as time but 20 Fists serves up a tale filled with the right amount of twists, turns, and personal struggle that make it easy to sink your teeth in the the story and its characters. 

If you’ve read any of the other reviews of the book, you may have caught where folks are comparing 20 Fists to The Outsiders, Fight Club, The Warriors, or the like, with romance mixed in and that would be accurate, however, 20 Fists stands firmly on its own with solid writing and with art that tells its own brutal story with well-placed punches and blood.

Chel and Billie are toxicity in the flesh. Their relationship is beautifully told by Frankee White who manages to capture their strife in a way that is fresh and has purpose. I would love to see more of Chel and dig a little deeper into her past and definitely her future. There is a vigor in Chel that you love to see in stories, you end up cheering for her and her cause. From the first panel of issue one to the last panel of issue three, we are thrust into the thick of things with zero apologies from White. Another clever aspect of this series is the pace of the story. With a seamless transition from fight scenes to flashbacks or their budding romance the action never stops, there is always something interesting happening in this book. Kat Baumann’s take on the world of 20 Fists fits it like a glove. From the cracked buildings, the background environment, or the great character work, the art keeps the grungy story intact with meticulous and soulful detail.