A review by mpho3
Flight, Vol. 1 by Kazu Kibuishi

3.0

I love storytelling through graphic art and was fairly excited to dive into this compilation of up-and-coming artists. Like other readers, I found the volume to be a mixed bag. I loved the theme "flight" and enjoyed the creative manner in which some of the artists worked with it. However, I found one nagging problem with most of the stories - lack of narrative development. Of the 24 stories, I felt that two ([a:Jake Parker|51668|Jake Parker|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]'s "Hugo Earheart" and "The Bowl" by [a:Clio Chiang|150815|Clio Chiang|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]) stood head and shoulders above the rest, succeeding both in narrative and in art work. There were a few - particularly [a:Jen Wang|1557381|Jen Wang|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1283470701p2/1557381.jpg]'s "Paper and String;" [a:Jacob Magraw-Mickelson]'s "Dummy Brother;" and [a:Chris Applehan]'s untitled - that I really enjoyed for the impressive artwork but not so much the stories. "Taj Majal" by [a:Neil Babra|970679|Neil Babra|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]; [a:Enrico Casarosa|133571|Enrico Casarosa|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]'s "Air and Water;" and [a:Bengal|150821|Bengal|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg]'s "Formidable" seem unfinished and left me wanting more. [a:Catia Chien]'s two submissions, "Fall" and "Tumbleweed" are beautifully rendered vignettes. I was suprised by how much I liked both "Outside My Window" and "Beneath the Leaves: Jump" by [a:Khang Le|191599|Khang Le|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66.jpg] and [a:Rad Sechrist], respectively; I give both stories props for being sorta cutesy but still managing to win me over. And I give special mention to [a:Joel Carroll|8164|Lewis Carroll|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1192735053p2/8164.jpg]'s "Wing" because it reminded me in a good way of the original (dialogue-less) Aeon Flux - before they ruined it with words. That's slightly over half that interested me in one way or another, which is not to say that the others were bad, but they didn't impress me in any sort of way. As a final note, I will add that [a:Scott McCloud|33907|Scott McCloud|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1231113775p2/33907.jpg]'s afterword is pretty lame, though I get what he was trying to do - lauding the new generation for their innovative ways of coming together, using new mediums to work with old mediums, gender balance, and diversity. I'm glad I picked it up, but I would probably be hard pressed to peruse subsequent volumes unless one just happened to come my way. I think fans of sequential art will appreciate it more overall than people who don't consider comics legitimate artistry for adults.