Dee is a disabled ex-junkie night owl who is paid vast sums of money to decipher code from a newspaper and broadcast it from a radio on her rooftop. Coming back from a grocery shop, a lady finds a gun in a puddle. An alcoholic 911 operator goes back to the bottle after a stressful shift. A fat cop rises through the ranks to a position of power where he hires Dee to do what she does. Whuzzit all mean?!
I’ve enjoyed a lot of Matt Fraction’s comics over the years but the first volume (of three) of November is among those of his, along with Satellite Sam and ODY-C, that aren’t very good. I guess the mysterious nature of Dee’s job is somewhat intriguing and I liked how some of the story is told - the original and compelling style of storytelling was something I really liked about Fraction’s Hawkeye run and some of that is evident here too.
Mostly though I was so bored reading this. Never mind not knowing how and why anything is happening - although that is part of why I was so unengaged with the story - the characters themselves just aren’t that interesting. Some lady finds a gun in a puddle and there’s maybe corrupt cops? Uh huh - yawners. An even duller 911 operator’s life. Awful! I wasn’t a fan either of Elsa Charretier’s Paul Pope/Wes Craig-type art.
November, Volume 1: The Girl on the Roof is dreary arthouse faux-noir - short but definitely not sweet.
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