DJs are already larger than life behind their turntables (and they can whip a crowd into a veritable frenzy) but casting DJs as superheroes on the pages of a graphic novel is a fresh approach.

Toronto's Sara Simms, co-creator (along with her sister Melle Oh) of the new graphic novel The Future Prophecy, is the lead super-heroine within its pages, and fittingly holds the future of music in her hands. She's re-imagined the city as a grim and gritty post-war landscape in which "Bogtown Records" is appropriately nefarious, using negative sound waves to enslave the people.

What's definitely a cockle-warming sight in the grey-toned first pages is the sight of Toronto landmarks like Thymeless--the bar's owner is a main character (Declyn Dubs). You'll also find King Selah (of House of David Gang), me&john, and Melleefresh represented in the book.

The first issue, Arcanum, is now available to read online through Graphicly (and it's free for the next 30 days) or you can pick it up through iBooks. It opens, in proper film noir fashion, with the heroine missing, and the city cast into darkness, while Dubs wanders the streets in search of a saviour.

There's much talk of the "metronome of time," and the "score of infinity"--this first instalment is more of a vague introduction, in which we barely glimpse Simms herself, but subsequent entries promise to explore the novel's themes of love, loss, and the mystical power of music--with the characters' powers influenced by the Toronto artist they're based on.

Is it a rather transparent marketing ploy? Possibly. But gauging by the first issue, it's also a sleek little product, thanks to illustrator Arthur Dela Cruz, and it's a clever vehicle for exposing local talent.

Unsurprisingly, there's an audio element as well, with plans to release singles composed by the novel's characters. If this piques your interest, don't miss the launch party at the Mod Club on December 1st.