I wanted to get up something about the New Brian Wood/Ryan Kelly project before it became stale.

The New York Four is a great graphic novel. It is one hell of a well-executed story.

The great creative synergy that this team brought to Local is in full display here. The tone of the book skews younger (of course, this is a Minx book) but that doesn’t mean that Wood is talking down to his audience. While it is clear that Wood is playing towards Minx’s intended audience, he never allows whatever constraints the Minx line brings with it to overwhelm his story and his being in evoke character and place.

Kelly’s art is simply gorgeous. There is an absolute lusciousness to his art; he is amazingly capable of evoking real places. Reading this book makes you feel like you really experiencing New York as you read it.

The only problem I have with this book is it feels incomplete; more a prologue than a full on story. I hope this is because there are future volumes planned. Because if not, it would be a big waste for Minx and DC. It would have been nice, even if future volumes are planned, for Wood to have provide a bit more of a conclusion to this volume, however.

There is no one I would not recommend this book too. It is simply a great piece of art and a very well-executed story.