Among the original six titles in DC Comics' Minx line was The Plain Janes. The comic featured a female protagonist named Jane making her way through a new environment and meeting with three other girls (all of whom had a variation of "Jane," hence part of the title). Next month, Minx will release Janes In Love, the first sequel in the imprint's brief history.

What does that have to do with The New York Four ($9.99)? For starters, there's the same four-girl format, the lead character being Riley Wilder, a socially reclusive New York University freshman who text-messages far more than is healthy. Much like the "main Jane" of The Plain Janes, she meets three other young women of dissimilar backgrounds: loud, tall and flirty Merissa, the mysterious Lona, and tomboyish Ren. Riley is encouraged to break out of her shell by her black sheep older sister Angie, who left home under circumstances her parents never divulged to Riley. But as Riley tries to become more sociable, going so far as making plans to move into off-campus housing with her new friends, she gets involved in an online romance with somebody known only as "sneakerfreak," pulling her back into texting.

Brian Wood lives up to his critical acclaim, fleshing out Riley and the supporting cast. Wood throws in a convenient way to get inside the characters' heads: they get referred by Riley to beta test PSAT prep courses to make some much-needed money. One of the conditions is that they get interviewed by a therapist to determined if they're under stress. This makes characterizations more interesting, as does cutaways from Riley's story, such as guys falling for Merissa, Ren's frustration with dating near her age, and Lona following a professor around to the point of stalking. Riley herself is fascinating – a girl once restrained by her parents finding her freedom – but her swinging back and forth between her friends and "sneakerfreak" gets a little tiresome. But when the identity of "sneakerfreak" is revealed, it's as if Riley gets punched in the gut, and the reader falls to the ground with her. The ending is bittersweet, though it's also happier than the first two books from Minx's second wave (Burnout and Water Baby).

Artist Ryan Kelly reunites with Wood, his partner on Local from Oni Press. While Kelly's art does stand out, it's his collaboration with Wood that brings out of the bigger characters in the books: New York City itself. While Kelly doesn't hail from New York – he's listed as living in St. Paul, Minn. – it's obvious that he either visits the city often or has access to stellar reference material. In the first double-page spread, Riley comes out of the subway station on Broadway and Houston Street, and Kelly nails the visual. Wood chimes in via Riley's narration under "NY 101," letting us know that "Houston" is pronounced "house-tin," something all native New Yorkers would know. While The Plain Janes used Metro City as a substitute to a post-9/11 New York, The New York Four throws in notable places such as Washington Square Park ("If anyone here tries to sell you something, trust me, they're shady and you don't want what they got"), Park Slope ("As good as Brooklyn gets"), the Circle Line ("Don't let anybody tell you this is corny") and the subway system ("The best people-watching spot ever, just don't be too obvious.") Even the book title's look is New York through and through; the "Four" in The New York Four is in green, a nod to the 4 train. All this makes The New York Four the best book of 2008 from Minx so far.

One more comparison to The Plain Janes: the book ended around New Year's Day, after the completion of a semester. So did The New York Four. And with Janes In Love on the horizon, it wouldn't be surprising to see Riley and her friends come back soon.