STORIES BY JP Ahonen Graham Annable Chris Appelhans Bannister Matthew Bernier Scott Campbell Svetlana Chmakova Tony Cliff Phil Craven Michel Gagné Kazu Kibuishi Kness Sonny Liew Reagan Lodge Made John Martz Sarah Mensinga Ryan North Richard Pose Paul Rivoche Dave Roman Kean Soo Joey Weiser
Kazu Kibuishi (born 1978) is an American graphic novel author and illustrator. He is best known for being the creator and editor of the comic anthology Flight and for creating the webcomic Copper. He has also written (drawn) the Amulet series. The webcomic artist and noted critic Scott McCloud has said that some of Kazu Kibuishi's work is so beautifully drawn that "it hurts my hands when I look at it".
I didn't enjoy the first story, the wordless "Broken Path" by Michael Gagne very much, although the fox-like character was pretty cute despite the crystal shard of whatever creepily embedded in his head, but fortunately I kept reading and liked most of the other entries. My favorites:
"Igloo Head and Tree Head in Disguise" by Scott Campbell. Hilarity! Tacos!
"Changeling" by Sarah Mensinga was a great story. The art wasn't anything special, to me, but the twist the changeling trope was very well played.
"Mountains" by Matthew Bernier was fascinatingly surreal. Two characters living on a desert island wake to find their mountains have vanished, replaced masses of giant creatures. A conundrum, indeed.
Paul Rivoche's "Flowers for Mama" seemed to be an installment in a steam-punk "Aeronautical Adventures" series that I'll definitely have to seek out more of.
"Timecat" was a great little dose of cuteness. The full "cover" page is oddly a-representative.
Dave Raman's cartoonish "This Morning I woke up to discover I was The Chosen One" was very clever and I think would be a hoot for anyone familiar with the fantasy cliches, especially Harry Potter.
Svetlana's Chmakova's sweetly drawn and colored "On the Importance of Space Travel" was pitch-perfect and I think would be great re-issued as a stand-alone in picture book format for a younger audience (not that it isn't great for teens and adults, but I think elementary kids could read this one as well).
Unfortunately my library does not have any other volume of Flight, but I will definitely be tracking down more by the contributors.
Another strong showing from the Flight folks. Like all the books in the series, this anthology is a hodge-podge, from the fairly pointless (but well-drawn) Delilah Dirk story by Tony Cliff to the downright sublime “Scenes in Which the Earth Stops Spinning and Everybody Flies Into a Wall” by John Martz of http://drawn.ca and Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics. I found most to be pretty but inconsequential, but some were unbelievably hilarious (Scot Campbell’s “Igloohead and Treehead in Disguise”) and others I found truly beautiful, both for their stories and artwork (“Beisbol,” “The Changeling,” “On the Importance of Space Travel”).
There’s also a lot of fun to be had simply juxtaposing the many different styles. The transition between the muted tones and quick brushwork in “n” and the lavish, fall-through-the-panel depth of “The Changeling” really made the latter stand out, I thought. As does the contrast with the even flatter, heavily-bordered style in the following “Mountains.” Great stuff.
There are a lot of previews on the Flight website, if you’re curious, and all of the amazing “Igloohead” story is on NPR (though weirdly misspelled).
Flight 5 is possibly the best Flight volume since the first. The quality of the stories is consistently high, their subject matter both appropriately thematic and varied, and their artistic presentation top-notch. The extremely experimental works are more carefully selected than they were in Flight 3 and 4, and the more conventional pieces more in-line with those found in the first volume.
Particularly impressive works are: The Broken Path by Michael Gagné, Delilah Dirk and the Aqueduct by Tony Cliff, The Courier by Kazu Kibushi, n by Phil Craven, The Changeling by Sarah Mensinga, Mountains by Matthew Bernier, And They Called Me... Bigdome by Paul Rivoche, This Morning I Woke Up To Discover That I Was The Chosen One by Dave Roman, Two Kids by Grimaldi, Voyage by Kness & Made, and On The Importance of Space Travel by Svetlana Chmakova.
I enjoy the Flight anthologies for their beautiful art, and this one is no exception. The writing quality varies, but the art is almost uniformly excellent.
For those of you who have not yet read the “Flight” series, each volume is a collection of graphic short stories by different artists and writers all loosely linked by the subject of flight. It could be literal flight. It could be a flight of fancy. It could be a link so tenuous that you have no idea why the story is there. But you’ll be glad it is. All the “Flight” volumes are excellent, and this volume is no exception, with superb art and only a few offerings whose stories I felt were lacking. If you’d like to get an idea of what the art and stories are like, there’s a free preview of each at: http://flightcomics.com/flight5preview/
Notes on each story follow:
“The Broken Path” by Michel Gagne Gagne continues his wildly imaginative story of a fox exploring a strange new world in which he’s an unwitting hero. Weirdly beautiful creatures, landscapes, and planetscapes.
“Delilah Dirk and the Aqueduct” by Tony Cliff Sassy adventurer Delilah and her hired man run afoul of arrow-shooting villains in their flying machine. Excellent action sequence, though like many action sequences, there’s not much plot.
“The Dragon” by Reagan Lodge Though the art is lovely, the story of the everyman (or in this case, everyfox) with no talents to speak of who is inexplicably embroiled in conflict against Powerful Bad Guys and triumphs over them through dumb luck has been done to death and smacks of authorial self-insertion. It’s like the “Twilight” of the “Flight” universe.
“Beisbol 2” by Richard Pose A young boy, disillusioned when he meets his idol, finds another reason to love the game of baseball. This is the type of wonderful visual storytelling that transcends the cliché that lies at the heart of the story by making you understand _why_ it’s a cliché. You know how it’s going to end, but it’s still satisfying to read.
“The Courier” by Kazu Kibuishi A steampunk-inspired retro-futuristic world of precipitous cities where couriers travel by parachute. One contemplates his position in the world. Short, sweet, and a lot of visual impact crammed into a few pages.
“Malinky Robot” by Sonny Liew A deceptively simple meditation on personhood. Charming and poignant.
“Worry Dolls” by JP Ahonen Fabulously inventive story in which a gift from his girlfriend changes the fortunes of a down-on-his-luck actor, but not without a few missteps. Funny and relentlessly innovative.
“Igloo Head and Tree Head in Disguise” by Scott Campbell In a surreal world of monsters whose cranial protrusions define their identities and fortunes, two friends take a practical joke to the next level. Hilariously idiomatic and utterly charming.
“Evidence” by Graham Annable A strange, macabre little story by someone who obviously has a dog and knows what sorts of things they tend to dig up and bring home.
“The Changeling” by Sarah Mensinga Two lovers separated by their respective stations in life are brought together by an act of kindness. Beautiful, moving, and magical- one of my favorites.
“N” by Phil Craven I was utterly won over by this plucky little ninja who defeats an army of Bad Guys, until the Damsel in Distress was revealed. Darling art, excellent execution, but for crying out loud, why are women in ninja comics always useless?
“Mountains” by Matthew Bernier The most impenetrably weird story of the collection, a man and woman must face their fear of weirdness outside their usual existence and start a new life somewhere else.
“Big Dome - Flowers For Mama” by Paul Rivoche Golden-age throwback art with a steampunk sensibility perfectly suit this tale of aeronautical derring-do, all for the sake of some flowers for mama. Ironic and funny.
“The Chosen Ones Club” by Dave Roman Woodland creatures inform a boy that he is part of a prophecy, but you can never trust those woodland creatures, now can you? A delightful adventure yarn about how getting by with a little help from your friends is much more fun.
“Jellaby – Lost” by Kean Soo I love Jellaby, though his adventures are hard to describe. Summarizing it would be like summarizing Miyazaki’s “My Neighbor Totoro.” A girl, her friend, and a big cute monster get lost, and then get unlost. But that’s the beauty of the graphic novel format (and Miyazaki films): the visual elements turn a simple story into something beautiful.
“Two Kids” by Bannister, colors by Steve Hamaker Two kids are lost in the woods: one by choice, one by accident (no cute monsters, though). Thoughtful and sad.
“Scenes In Which the Earth Stops Spinning” by John Martz and Ryan North Exactly what it sounds like, and even funnier in execution. Wild, anarchic, funny, and sweet.
“Time Cat” by Joey Weiser Another favorite, the story of a cat convinced he can time travel and his attempts to make mealtime come faster. Hysterically funny.
“Voyage” by Kness and Made Breathtakingly beautiful journey of a polar bear. (SPOILER: So is she now a bi-polar bear?)
“On The Importance of Space Travel” by Svetlana Chmakova A new girl in school claims to be from Pluto, and her classmate is frustrated by her willful self-delusion. The casual cruelty of the age group is painful to see, but it makes discovering the underlying kindness even more satisfying.
“Franknfrank – Seasons” by Chris Appelhans This is perhaps my favorite- a very simple story with a spectacularly beautiful reveal at the end. This is everything I love about the short graphic story format.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I really enjoyed this book. One reason why I enjoyed this book is because it is different from other books I had read. This book has multiple short stories in one book. Overall the stories where enjoyable and made reading fun.
Graphic novels are like flash fiction with art, script, character, plot and storyline. One favorite in this compilation was "Courier," by Kazu Kibuishi. I liked the character, mainly, because he was a laid back fellow, seemed quiet, with short, jet black hair and a humble attitude. His job is sending messages to people and he does it well, knowing the routes well, sometimes acrobatically, just to save time. He wants to have more purpose in his life though, the main conflict that I can also relate with on a human level. The story has a great twist to it, and the ending, a charming one, producing an "aweee" effect. Besides the touching story, the graphics were very open, with basic perspectives, swamped with dark, hazy tones and copper tans, that contributes into a milky, subdued texture. The narration is not too wordy, which I myself prefer, the main character's thoughts boxed in carefully, as a major component in the narration. The story's setting is set in a futuristic, high-tech world of hover crafts, huge buildings, and messages dropped down in canisters, similar to The Fifth Element sci-fi movie with Bruce Willis in it. There were many other stories here that were also great to fun to read too.
My favorite of the Flight anthologies so far. I love them all, but each new one seems to be at least a bit better than the last.
There were one or two stories I didn't care much about, but I still liked them. The art is beautiful. I particularly love Michel Gagné's style in "The Broken Path". "The Aqueduct" was an interesting blend of fantasy subgenres. "The Dragon" has an interesting story and striking art, and is perhaps my favorite in the book... along with "n", "The Chosen One", and "Scenes In Which the Earth Stops Spinning and Everybody Flies Into a Wall", and numerous others...
Any lover of fiction, art, and/or graphic novels should definitely check this book out. I eagerly await the release of the next anthology in July.
I was so excited for Flight 5 to come out, because it has a new, full-color Delilah Dirk story by Tony Cliff. My favorite short story in this graphic anthology, though, was "The Changeling" by Mensinga; a sweet story with little dialog that's told mostly through sequential art. My next favorite was the humorous cartoon story "This Morning I Woke Up To Discover I Was the Chosen One" by Dave Roman.
Nearly two dozen comics stories, in a variety of genres and styles. My favorites were probably Richard Pose's "Beisbol 2" and "On the Importance of Space Travel" by Svetlana Chmakova, but there's some cute little bits in here, too, like "Timecat," a story about a cat that thinks it can jump into the future and tries to use this power to get to dinnertime.
Still the best graphic fiction compilation around, even if this volume is a tiny bit less excellent than the last three volumes. Highlights are: The Courier (Kazu Kibuishi’s little symbolic-but-not-really fable), The Changeling, Worry Dolls, Delilah Dirk and the Aqueduct, and Mountains.
In terms of stories, I think this volume has been my favorite. As usual, the art is still gorgeous and leaves me so jealous that I can hardly contain my envy. Seriously, if you haven't read a FLIGHT volume, you need to.
Well, as usual some stories were good and some stories were meh...
The Broken Path by Michel Gagné: ★★ I've been reading all Gagné's short stories published on Flight... Still, I can't understand what they mean. The art is amazing but the story doesn't make any sense. OK, I've been reading them in the wrong order but... being without words doesn't help either.
Delilah Dirk and the Aqueduct by Tony Cliff: ★★★★ I love Delilah Dirk: she's a real kick-ass. She's also a bit of a destroyer, as it's shown in this short story where Delilah help destroying a beautiful Roman aqueduct. The colors are a bit too greenish but the stories is funny.
The Dragon by Reagan Lodge: ★★★ I love Lodge's art. The story is OK - even if I'm not sure I understand the underlying meaning - and I wish there were more of them.
Béisbol 2 by Richard Pose: ★★★★ Maybe the art isn't amazing but I really like the story. A little boy want the signature of his favorite baseball player on his ball. The guy is a jerk and tricks the boy. An immigrant from Cuba turns out to be the real hero of the story. That was good!
The Courier by Kazu Kibuishi: ★★★ I tried to read The Amulet (in Italian) and I really didn't like it. I didn't see the point of the story. But Kibuishi's short works are very good. I usually like all his short stories. This one gives a little hope for those with inane jobs.
Malinky Robot by Sonny Liew: ★★ The art is quite personal but I didn't like the story.
Worry Dolls by J.P. Ahonen: ★★ Interesting concept but meh... I prefer Ahonen's previous contributions to Flight.
Igloo Head and Tree Head in Disguise by Scott Campbell: ★ ARGH! I really don't like those. Campbell's art is good for zombie stories but not for this. That's too silly for my liking!
Evidence by Graham Annable: ★★ A bit cruel but OK, I guess. A dog is very curious and discovers a skull, even if all it was going after was a butterfly.
N by Phil Craven: ★★★ OK, I guess. It lacks context: if it had been more developed (more words, more pages, a structure), it could have been even more interesting.
The Changeling by : ★★★ I'm not a bit fan of fairies, that's a fact, but this story was OK. At least the fairies weren't bad.
Mountains by Matthew Bernier: ★ Meh. Didn't like the art, didn't understand the point of the story.
Big Dome: Flowers for Mama by Paul Rivoche: ★ Probably the worst story of the entire collection. The art kind of reminds me of the 1960's and the protagonist is extremely unpleasant and way too wordy.
The Chosen One by Dave Roman: ★★ I'm getting tired of all this Chosen One theme, even if artists are trying to be creative.
Jellaby: Lost by Kean Soo: ★★ I don't like Jellaby's stories.
Two Kids by Bannister with colors by Steve Hamaker: ★★ Interesting art but I'm not sure I like the ending.
Scenes in Which the Earth Stops Spinning by John Martz and Ryan North: ★ Bah... Nonsense!
Timecat by Joey Weiser: ★★ A cat thinking it can time-travel... A bit silly!
Voyage by Kness and Made: ★★★★ The art is stunning. I love it.
On the Importance of Space Travel by Svetlana Čmakova: ★★★ I do have a soft spot for Čmakova. I love her drawings but this story is a bit weak compared
Seasons: Frank and Frank by Chris Applehans: ★ Didn't like it.
Overall, I'd say this book deserve three full stars. It's a good anthology, way better than Volume One and Volume Four.
Really hard to star rate this. Writing review as I go along. Ok, here’s the end result: So far mostly duds, some nice ones. I liked 6 out of 21. Except for some “Damn”s, its fairly kid friendly, if not boring.
1. “the broken path” by Michael Gagné: no words, art is decent/cute/understandable, good at creating a world and telling the story wordlessly. Its a section from the bigger GN and definitely prompted interest! Apparently serialized in FLIGHT, but I don’t have all of those. Despite this, it still felt like a complete (very) short story! Kid-friendly.
2. “Delilah Dirk and the Aqueduct” by Tony Cliff: comic-booky art style, female heroine (with a long skirt we get views of under her skirt..why?), I’m guessing this one is serialized too as we seem to dropped in the middle of something and there’s no real story.
3. “The Dragon” by Reagan Lodge: ooh, the backgrounds are cool, grabbed my interest, also we seem to be dropped in the middle, cute without being cutesy fox character, many pages in, not sure whats happening—threat of peril of some kind, many pages dedicated to showing that without any progress, there’s a “Damn” and a “go to hell”, but mostly it just goes on with peril and then fox is rather undramatically reunited with the person he came with and thats it..so…
4. “Béisbol 2” by Richard Pose: story of some kids that are jerks and a baseball player who is a jerk, and two women who are jerks. Stereotypes all around! But it is a complete short story.
Do I want to keep reading these? 1 good one and 3 meh…should I skip to the last story which is likely to be the other good one?
5. “The Courier” by Kazuhiro Kibuishi: whew, by the editor of this anthology! Wait, that’s it? That’s not a short story….that’s not even a character description. You’ll never guess, a guy is a courier. He seems to live in a future time, but that’s it. Where’s the rest.
6. “Malinky Robot” by Sonny Liew: nice art, cute, part of larger story. This teensy bit seemed more like an anecdote, but sparked interest in the full comic collection.
7. “Worry Dolls” by JP Ahonen: ever wonder where ear wax comes from? Want yet another entirely incorrect understanding of what schizophrenia means? Cute and complete story. One of the better ones in the anthology.
8. “Igloo Head and Tree Head in Disguise” by Scott Campbell: quirky.
9. “Evidence” by Graham Annable: weird but not in a good way.
10. “N” by Phil Craven: wordless, but you’ll hear the sound effects in your head! Super short, ninja fight, saves the girl, the end.
11. “The Changeling” by Sarah Mensinga: Mostly wordless. I think I know what happened but not certain.
12. “Mountains” by Matthew Bernier: Weird, in a good way.
13. “Big Dome: Flowers for Mama” by Paul Rivoche: not my fav art style, but complete story within larger collection, funny.
14. “The Chosen One” by Dave Roman: Cartoon-y, seemed like it was for kids. Sure enough, my kid is looking over my shoulder and says “Astronaut Academy”. Oh, yeah, same creator.
15. “Jellaby: Lost” by Kean Soo: At the end I thought, “wait, that’s it” and started over. Nope, nothing going on here.
16. “Two Kids”, story by Grimaldi, art by Bannister, colors Steve Hamaker: see above.
17, 18, 19 same as above.
20: “On the Importance of Space Travel” by Shetland Chmakova: CUTE! Funny and complete short story.
21: “Seasons: Frank and Frank” by Chris Appelhans: wordless but cute and complete story.
I might just write a general review to copy and paste when I finish each volume.
Like the prior ones, this Volume is an anthology of stories by various artists and writers.
A few stories follow on characters or world building from prior volumes but it's not necessary to have read those volumes to follow what happens here.
Many of the stories connect with a theme of "flight" in either a literal or metaphorical sense, but that requirement gets looser and looser and the collection just becomes a chance to showcase some amazing creators.
The best way I can describe the Flight volumes and the stories contained is "whimsical vignettes."
They're nice collections you can pick up and lose yourself in.
Like any anthology, there are some stories you will like and others that aren’t your style and Flight is no exception. That being said, over all, I thought this anthology was a beautiful display of different art styles and methods of story telling. I also felt like it flowed nicely from start to finish. It was an awesome experience, hopping from story to story, and not feeling like I’m seeing similar style after similar style. Great variety but almost all quality pieces! Definitely worth the read.
Ridiculously cute. I wasn't sure what to expect for age on this collection and did read quite young, but this grown human thoroughly enjoyed it. The stories ranged from touching to dark to funny. All with very beautiful artwork.
There was a very cute, silent story called The Saga of Rex "the broken path" by Michel Gagne that ended on a to be continued. I need to know what happens to the little fox! Are there stories about him before this volume? Does it wrap up in Volume 6? Gah...hopefully I stumble across other discounted volumes and find out someday.
I was inspired to pick this book up by its gorgeous cover art. It turns out it's a compilation of graphic short stories by several authors, some but not all of which deal with "flight". I think my favorite was the story about the kid getting baseball autographs. Several stories were interesting, some were confusing, and some made me think.
After a while, some of the stories got boring. I feel like volume 1 was better. Wasn't really feeling the comics that didn't have a lot of sense to it, such as the igloo head one.
I like this book because it has short stories. l would recommend this book for a 12+. My favorite part was in the story "Beisbol 2" when the baseball player gave the ball to the kid.
These compilations never fail to satisfy. It's an eclectic collection of stories by wonderful illustrators, with some stories a continuation from an earlier book. It's a delightful read and I'd highly recommend this series.