The New York Four

This little OGN from Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly almost got a fifth star, but little things kept yanking me out of the story, namely the little guidebook/status updates. At first I thought they were cute ("New York 101: Broadway & Houston Streets... If you pronounced it like Houston, Texas, you are most likely a tourist. Say "house-tin" instead") but by the time they were explaining what a spider roll is, I was rolling my eyes and feeling condescended to, and annoyed to have my eye and thoughts diverted from a story that stood very nicely on its own. It concerns an NYU freshman, a young woman whose parents overbear, whose sister is estranged but newly in her life, whose friends are counting on her to come through with a place to live, and show more who is being secretly wooed via text message by someone who snuck his email address into her pocket at a show. Wood does a lovely job of ratcheting the tension to the breaking point and exploding it nicely, and Kelly's character designs, crowd scenes and cityscapes are all a comics fan would wish for. That the book is a nice little digest-size (fits in the pocket) and tells a compact, stand-alone story makes me consider it almost an American manga. It's a pretty darned good read. show less

Evidence of male author bias in graphic novel construction: everything from female posture to irresistible straight bad boy to vacant-minded female protagonist. I regret that this was the last book to pass my eyes in 2016.

The characters were well-drawn and the detailed cityscapes were exceptional. With comic art this good, who cares about the storyline?

No, I'm not the target audience for the Minx line, but I'm a sucker for anything by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly. This one didn't disappoint. My only gripe is how quickly the main character was taken into the fold of the other three of the Four. On reflection, that could be because I related to the character maybe a little too much.

Great art, but the story is thin and riddled with YA fiction cliches.

I read this on recommendation of a friend and she was right, I really liked it. The graphic novel follows Riley as she tries to find her place in the world and figure out who she is. It sounds a bit lame, but it's not. The drawings are fantastic, as is the writing. I really liked The New York Four and I can't wait until the next collection is available.

Merideth says: Riley is an introverted, bookish young girl in her first semester at NYU. An online gadfly, but shy in real life, Riley is determined to make real flesh and blood friends while at college away from her controlling parents. She reaches out to a group of fellow freshmen, recruiting them for a SAT prep course research group. The four all have very different personalities, but mesh well, and look forward to getting a place together away from the dorms.

There is much to like abou this book. First off is the cool New York setting, which is key to the atmosphere and plot of the book. Next is the artwork, which is is crisp in black and white, but not super clean, which suits the urban setting. However, by choosing to focus on show more Riley, and her doom texting romance, Wood shoots himeself in the foot, as Riley is the least compelling of the 4 girls at the center of this book. Savvy readers will determine the identiy of Riley's virtual love long before Riley does, and the denoument is predictably cliched. I believe Wood saw this as an ongoing series, but with the end of Minx, I don't know that there will be more volumes. show less