With my birthday having fallen somewhere around the middle of doing this meme (and the whole thing taking place in the build-up to Christmas), it seemed somewhat inevitable that the “last comic I’d read” by the time I got to day 30 would be something that someone had bought me as a present. And so it’s proved – and while I haven’t yet finished the Kyle/Yost X-Force trade that flatmate Julian got me for Christmas, I have now read the entirety of The New York Four, a gift from fellow Alternate Coverer James.

Already aware that I was a fan of Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly’s excellent Local – in fact, he was the person who first recommended it to me back when it was running – it naturally also fell to James to educate me further in the ways of one of his favourite writers. So then to this, a digest-sized book released as part of DC’s short-lived Minx imprint of comics aimed at young female readers – which showed up around the same time as Local, and which might have provided a good Wood/Kelly fix during the delays between issues of their much-heralded Oni series had I only been aware of it at the time.

The New York Four isn’t anywhere near as strong as Local, certainly – but then, it’s significantly shorter in format, and not so deliberately telling a deep and involving narrative that stretches out over the course of twelve years, so it’s not as if a comparative lack of depth or character development can really be held against it. Ostensibly the story of four friends in their first year at NYU, the lack of page space means that the book is instead forced to focus more on a single character – Riley, a native New Yorker with an addiction to texting, a lead on a shared apartment and an estranged big sister to reconnect with. In and of itself, Riley’s story is fine – there’s a big old twist two thirds of the way through that changes the complexion of the entire thing, and makes the book somewhat more akin to Local in the sense of showing a young girl learning a life lesson through her own mistakes. But it’s to the comic’s detriment that it seems determined to set up possible plot strands for the other three characters, yet never finds the time to explore them in detail. I’d imagine that the intent for any planned sequels would be to shift the focus over to each one in turn, but it means that reading this volume in isolation feels frustratingly incomplete.

One thing that certainly isn’t different when held alongside Local, however, is the quality of Ryan Kelly’s art – in fact, reading this reminded me of just how bloody good he was on the other series, and how much I’d like to see more of his work. It’s a damning indictment of comics when an artist has to be praised for drawing four female characters (five, if you include Riley’s sister) and actually having them look like entirely different people (and not just down to hair colour), but it’s something Kelly does extremely well. Even though his style often veers towards the cartoonier side (albeit not when it comes to painstakingly detailed recreations of NYC locations), his characters and expressions are always realistic and believable – and it makes for a comic that’s very easy to open up and engage with.

I’m certainly pleased to have been given the chance to read the book, even though it’s not necessarily something I would have rushed out to buy – and although I’m still a long way from becoming a reader of manga, this format is one that I’m starting to enjoy reading comics in, and before long I may even end up experimenting with moving away from the Western books (Scott Pilgrim, Empowered et al) that make use of it and towards the Japanese works that begat it. As for New York Four itself, I’m certainly interested enough in the characters and setup to want to follow them over to the sequel that’s planned for early next year. Once again, then, James’ work is done.