Customer Reviews

Flight, Volume One

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Kazu Kibuishi (ed.), Flight, vol. 1 (Image, 2004)

Interesting collection of graphic shorts, varying in quality (of course) but most relatively strong. Interestingly, I liked Kibuishi's the best (usually I find editors who include their own work in anthologies use second-rate stuff they couldn't get published elsewhere); appealing characters, strong storyline, manga-style artwork without being overly cute or cloying. But Kibuishi's two stories are by no means the only reason to pick this up; there are a number of solid artists represented here. Open to a random page and you're likely to like what you see. *** ½

This whole flight project is a good idea. A bunch of talented artist get together and show off a story of theirs, something about flight. I enjoyed some of the stories in here. Some are weird. Some are great to look at.

Overall I think this book is okay. However, the later books (flight 2-4) just keep getting better and better. I guess with time the artists grew and so does their artworks. There are also more and more artists joining in. I highly recommend getting the later books. If you do, you need to get this one too...to complete the collection of course.

this first anthology is just as great as the later ones... it's just a bit smaller. when i first saw this in the library i had to check it out! it was thoroughly enjoyable and inspirational to me (as an artist). the later ones pack even more stories into them, but this one is just as worth your money.

If you've ever looked at the volumes of Flight the front covers are beautifully drawn by Kazu Kibuishi. Just the Covers alone take you into this artist imagination, a world filled with different outlooks and point of views of different dimensions that make you think if you were really there everything would seem logical. I happen to love his artwork and his other work, Amulet. BUT,,,,, Sadly I was disappointed when I got volume one only to find that the front cover had nothing to do with the whole book. Its just a compilation of lots of small short comics from different writers. Nothing to do at all with the front cover that drew me in so deeply into these books. Sadly I skimmed through it and sold it to Hastings. I judged this book by its cover.

Look into it before you get it. Don't make the same mistake I did.

Great though if your into small works and compilations.

Having not read the description before reading this book, I wasn't aware that it was an anthology. This is no one's fault but my own, but, since I thought I was getting an original work of Kibuishi's, I found myself disappointed.

That said, I didn't give up on reading it. Each entry is a short story that has something to do with flight (save for a few). Most took on an artistic expression, as if to show off the author's style. As such, some of the stories are a bit out there. I liked a few, but didn't care for them all, which is why I'm giving this book a 3-star rating.

Something about this reminds me of the Robot Carnival anime, which is a collection of different animation styles. Each story has something to do with robots, like this does with flight, but otherwise they were all very different . . . that is the case with Flight too.

In order to enjoy this story, it's best to put on your creativity cap and look at it as more of an art form than a collection of well written stories.

James D. Maxon

Author of:

Traphis: A Wizard's Tale

The Cat That Made Nothing Something Again

Manga and speculative fiction reviewer:

BooksForYouth<dot>com

Flight is an anthology published by Image comics. The idea is to have young creators make short stories about flight. There are six volumes out there and this is the first one. I enjoyed reading it. The nice thing about anthologies is that if you don't like one story, the story is short enough to not matter and if you like one story, you can look for more things from that author online. This anthology has several good stories, I liked both stories written by Kibuishi, the editor of the comic. Both of them were funny. Near the end of the book there's another story I liked a lot, it is called "The Bowl". It is a nice story told without words, the art is very strong and the author, Clio Chang, was able to express complex things through her art. Other stories I liked include "Hugo Earhart" by Jake Parker, "Tug McTaggart, Circus Detective" by Phil Cravenand "The Maiden and the River Spirit" by Derek Kirk Kim.

A good comic, worth checking out.

Havng read this book and a number of it's successors, I find that this is an excelent introduction to the series. It is amongst the shorter of the FLIGHT series, and it's stories are more focused on that very topic. Additionally, a number of the concepts explored on the covers are introduced here.

For those who have never picked up any of the FLIGHT series, let me explain what it is. It is an anthology of graphic ("comic strip")short stories.

These are by and large not super hero stories, although a later volume in the series (not this one) features a ninja, and there are science fiction or fantasy concepts occasionally introduced and explored in some stories. Nor is the traditional Idea of a comic strip format always strictly adhered to. One of the female cartoonists in the group of creators who made these stories in particular likes to layout her Ideas as artistic montages of word and image that resemble nothing I have ever seen. This is cutting edge graphic storytelling from the heart.

Book one sets the tone nicely by offering a good selection from some of the core creators who will entertain us in later volumes. everything from the light hearted tale of the boy and his dog who attempt to build aircraft to the dark montage of the lady i mentioned earlier, to the retelling of the classic water god gifting tale of mythology in modern form-with a twist- to the tale of young child and a robot. all done in unique ways. there are slightly more than a score of stories, and an afterword by scott mccloud, creatorof zot, understanding comics, ect.

If you've never read a FLIGHT anthology, Start here. They just get better after this.

I bought this book because it was listed as a must-buy by the Library Journal and by a number of graphic novel bloggers.

I have no idea why.

The art is gorgeous, but the stories are generally very weak. It always takes at least two reads to understand what the point of the stories are and many of them are still lost on me. Many of them read like scenes from the middle of a story, and lacking the setup, or the general direction of the overall narrative, they make for strange reading. It's much like tuning into a movie an hour in and watching five minutes of the film. Or, like picking up a comic for one issue in the middle of a storyline.

In general the creators of the vignettes are far more talented as artists than they are as storytellers. It seems that, by design, the art is far more important than the story here, so if that's what you are looking for, you will not be disappointed. If you want good stories, don't buy this book.

I bought this after hearing a rave review of Vol. V on NPR's "All Things Considered". I plan to purchase all volumes- but I have to say that I usually prefer edgier writing;the art work, however, is very nice. I think this run is marketed for a young audience, hopefully they tackle deeper aspects of "Flight" as the series continues...?

As a whole I liked this publication and I thought most of the stories were enjoyable. There seems to be something for just about everyone. Although there were a few that left me scratching my head....and wondering what the heck was going on. But I'm glad I decided to give this hodge podge of stories a chance and I am very much looking forward to the other volumes in the series.