The exact contours of the pile extend far beyond the image in this article’s header. They reach further into my shelves and horizontal spaces to wherever large amounts of materials can be stacked. They stack just as much in my mind too when I need to wipe the dust off them every week. And this week, of course, brings us another portion of that extended stack—a series that includes two pieces that I had written maybe a bit too long ago. But with the final two volumes in hand, I can finally see the full story of Matt Fraction, Elsa Charretier, Matt Hollingsworth, and Kurt Ankey’s November.

Dee, Emma-Rose, and Kay are having a day. There’s been explosions all over the city, things are on fire, people are dying, and they’re involved with the reason for it all. Dee has been reading out numbers every morning at a short-wave radio station, Emma-Rose is delivering groceries, and Kay is the 911-dispatcher that’s heard everything happening first-hand. All three, though, have been involved with the source of these explosions in some small way. Dee’s number station is one in a network; Emma-Rose found a gun in a puddle; Kay used to work in the police evidence lock-up and has been involved in taking things for herself along with everyone else there. But the people who have been using that evidence lock-up have been doing more with it since Kay left and are looking to sweep up the loose ends left in the city. 

The slow reveal is where November is at its strongest. There are multiple points in the story where we can start inferring the shape of the story—like trying to guess an object by touch alone in the dark—but there’s always another dimension to be revealed in some flashback or sudden action that helps to show how the world slowly unfolds. And across four graphic novels, this kind of breadcrumbing helps to keep our minds on the mystery of the whole thing between the three years of releases. But then this kind of large-scale, seventy-plus page per volume release works well for the story November is. As it stands, it’s an experiment in what kind of story can be shown in this graphic novella form and how each piece can contribute to the whole. As a single volume, it doesn’t have that final page cliffhanger monthly issues thrive on, but then those shorter monthly issues don’t have the kind of density needed.

November on its own is a fun enigma in terms of comic storytelling. It exists as these four volumes with no big collection to bring the whole thing together. But it can really only exist in this state. These kinds of longer form stories told in pieces over years may seem like a normal comic thing—that’s just what monthlies do—but in this format, with this graphic novella form, we get just a bit more that helps to keep us connected to the story before that next volume releases. 

Get excited. Get fractured. 

Drew Barth (Episode 331, 485, 510, 651, & 674) resides in Winter Park, FL. He received his MFA from the University of Central Florida.