A Wish for Wings (working or non)

So. Flight, Volume One. A few places around the net have talked about what a hit this was at Comicon a few weeks ago. After finally managing to snag a copy for myself I can see why.

I was reading Penny Arcade just after the convention and Gabe had several links to people he had met. Bolt City, home of one Kazu Kibuishi, was one of the sites he had linked. I'm glad I follwed the link.

I used to read comics when I was younger and then fell out of the habit for a while. It wasn't that I didn't like them or felt they were beneath me, I just traded that passtime for some other random thing. I've always enjoyed art and stories and the way the comic form melds the two is something I still really get a kick out of.

Fast forward a few years and I've lost pretty much all patience with comics in the newspaper. But I'd discovered web comics. And that was great. But it's not quite the substitute for longer stories told in the comic form. I started gravitating towards graphic novels (mostly manga) as I could find stories a plenty and the art style has always drawn me in like a moth to the flame.

Flight is great because of what it is, and what it isn't. It isn't manga. But there are certainly traces of its influence. It is great story telling. One of the untitled pieces by Chris Appelhans, when viewed through the simple lens of flight, satisfies on several levels. It isn't the same old thing. Each story, while focusing on some aspect of the concept of flight, manages to find it's own little niche. You may find yourself wondering what happens next. Is there more I can find elsewhere? It is, above all else, beautiful. I find myself just flipping the pages to look at the art as much as I stop to read the stories being told.

As this is a collection, sure, some pieces will satisfy more than others. But even if you don't like everything you see, there is certainly more to enjoy. I suspect anybody would enjoy more, rather than less, of what's found here. And some of what you encounter here is truly sublime. Jen, Vera, Rad, Kazu... thanks for showing me the glimpses you have. I look forward to volume two.