Flight Volume 1 (v. 1) [Paperback]

Bengal (Author), Bill Mudron (Author), Catia Chien (Author), Clio Chiang (Author), Chris Appelhans (Author), Derek Kirk Kim (Author), Dylan Meconis (Author), Enrico Casarosa (Author), Erica Moen (Author), Hope Larson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 2004

Volume One of Flight features stories by professionals and non-professionals alike, all playing on the theme of flight in its many incarnations. From the maiden voyage of a home-built plane to the adventures of a young courier and his flying whale to a handful of stories about coming of age and letting things go, this first volume of Flight is full of memorable tales that will both amaze and inspire.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Most of the stories in this gorgeous color anthology are about flying, but the title also refers to its contributors starting to take wing. The 21 young American cartoonists in the book—some of them still in college—met through their Internet comics; a few of them have never been published in print before. As Scott McCloud notes in his afterword, though, they're the future of comics. Many of them have assimilated manga and fine-art influences into their work; several use dazzling computer color techniques that have more to do with animation than traditional print comics. The sense of visual imagination at work owes almost nothing to traditional branches of comics art; there aren't many domestic or plebeian scenes. Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away), with his sense of wonder and formidable skill, is a touch point for many, but not in an overbearing way. Most of the contributors are clearly en route to solid comics careers, although a handful are still working out how to make their narratives as confident as their images. Highlights include Clio Chiang's "The Bowl," an ingenious, wordless variation on the classic three-wishes story that draws its visual language from cel animation; Jen Wang's "Paper & String," a lovely short story constructed out of collaged kite paper; Khang Le's "Outside My Window," a bittersweet childhood fantasy rendered in sketchy watercolors; and Derek Kirk Kim's "The Maiden and the River Spirit," a wry commentary on an Aesop fable.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Image Comics (August 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1582403813
• ISBN-13: 978-1582403816
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #646,990 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Oh wow..., August 18, 2004

By 

Jimmy Lin (New Brunswick, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flight Volume 1 (v. 1) (Paperback)

Remember 1990 and what a desolate time it was for comics? The major companies weren't doing anything remotely interesting and had started the whole mess of needing to buy 5 titles to get a single story; Image hadn't come along to with creator-owned stuff yet; and Jademan had pulled out of the US market. Sure, there were a few bright spots - The Vertigo line was just starting, but overall, it was pretty bleak.

All of a sudden, Heavy Metal got a second wind and started publishing *good* stories again - full of life and vibrance and with plots and art that weren't afraid of nay-saying normalists. Nothing lasts forever, but for a few years, Heavy Metal was the place to go for interesting stories every month.

Reading *Flight* took me back to those days, back to when, as a jaded teen, I opened up Heavy Metal and was blown away by the vitality of the art and writing on the page.

Kazu Kibuishi's genius was to ask a bunch of his webcomics and artist friends to contribute to an anthology, which was intended for a small press release. Little did they know that Image Comics would see their work and be blown away enough to publish it, thus ensuring that a larger audience would read it.

*Flight* is a collection of stories, many of them having to do with flying, but not all. There's an action story involving a zeppelin; a wonderful mixed-media story about discovering people you've know for years; a nearly wordless piece about triumphing over fear (my personal fave, done by Dylan Meconis and Bill Mudron); a post-script by Scott McCloud; and a couple "Copper" pieces by Kazu himself (featured on his website www.boltcity.com).

These are comics, pure and simple. Graphic storytelling at its best by people who don't care about "rules" in art and who didn't wait for "permission" to make their own book. There's nothing trendy or throw-away in this book - no manga, no steroid-superheroes, no grim lines to be muttered in a badas$mofo manner. Little tales - some cute, some dark, some deeply personal, some poetic. All of 'em wonderful.

Pick it up. Pick it up and read it. And then give it to a friend. And then tell someone else about it. Because work like this deserves to be seen.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Certainly not blown away..., June 12, 2007

By 

C. T. Hunter "chips_books" (Gainesville, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Flight Volume 1 (v. 1) (Paperback)

I don't mean to come down too hard on this original and beautifully done collection of comics, but I have to admit to being disappointed. After reading the glowing reviews on Amazon, I thought I was really in for a treat. I dived into this volume as soon as it arrived on my doorstep only to find myself wondering what all the hoop-la was about. Many of the stories contained in this anthology (especially the 6-7 crammed into the middle) do very little to inspire, and in fact left me with a rather bitter feeling. Some of the stories led me to a bored feeling that had me thinking of better ways to spend my time.

While I can appreciate the beauty of simplicity and enjoy the rather abstract message presented by some of the contributors, I felt like a number of the stories here took those concepts too far. Stories of girls flying kites and crazily (unintelligible) pointless confusions of maps do very little to kick-start the imagination or capture the attention. IMHO, about half of these stories could have been left out for an overall more pleasant experience.

Either my expectations were simply too high for this volume, or I'm a dullard who cannot recognize artistic talent when I see it, but this book certainly did not blow me away. However, I did enjoy a number of the stories within. Particularly the first and last few. Beautiful artwork and simple but gripping stories can be found here, but you'll have to look for them amid a choir of blandness.

Because it has even more raving reviews than this one, I'll probably check out Flight Volume 2, but if it doesn't impress me more than this one did, it'll be my last.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A mixed but pretty bag, February 7, 2005

By 

lwu (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flight Volume 1 (v. 1) (Paperback)

I ordered this collection on the strength of a few authors I had read before but never really fell in love with the work as a whole.

There are a few charming pieces, a few gems, and a few pieces that struggle with their narrative and never quite get off the ground.

"Flight" as a theme may be a bit too airy and loaded with cliche to build a cohesive set of stories, but these authors -- many of them not yet well known -- try their best.