posted 03-11-2002 11:13 PM               

I lived in New York City for five years, and while I’m happy to be back in my hometown of Philadelphia, I love New York. There are so many people, and so much happening, that the city has a life and excitement all its own, a pace that can grind you down or exhilarate you, and often does both. Brian Wood clearly has the same love for the city – not the glitzy Times Square and midtown Manhattan New York, but the neighborhoods filled with ethnic restaurants, quirky stores and old apartments. That love shines through in Couscous Express, a solid quick hit of comics action. My life in New York was never this exciting, but I love the way he captures the city’s personality.

You might say the plot is straightforward, if a story about the Turkish scooter Mafia shaking down a Middle Eastern restaurant that is defended by a horde of gun-toting couriers qualifies as straightforward. Olive Yassin is a 16-year-old daughter of immigrants, delivering takeout for her parents’ restaurant Couscous Express – rated the number one Middle Eastern restaurant in New York three years in a row. A Turkish mob boss has a grudge against Olive’s mother, though, and is determined to drive them out of business. Olive’s boyfriend Moustafa and his fellow underground couriers try to defend them, but Olive’s impetuousness sets off a turf war and guarantees that someone is going to end up dead.

Wood keeps the story humming along, and he has a great knack for dialogue. My only real reservation about the writing here is that Olive is the central character, and she’s not nearly as interesting as most of the others. This could be because Wood heavily emphasizes Olive’s immaturity and self-absorption, to the point of perhaps overdoing it. Before the action gets really heavy, I had a bit of a hard time figuring out exactly what anyone would like about her. But the setting and other characters give the book personality to spare.