Graphic Novel Review – Flight Vol 6 Edited by Kazu Kibuishi (3.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Teen
Genre: Fantasy/Graphic Novel
Length: 288 pages
Publisher: Villard
Release Date: July 21, 2009
ISBN-13: 978-0345505903
Stand Alone or Series: 6th book in the Flight series
Source: Bought
Rating: 3.5/5 stars

“The latest installment of this comics anthology collects the work of 17 up-and-coming comic creators in one glossy volume, cramming in a dizzying variety of works.

The book opens with Michael Gagne’s beautiful and deeply alien The Saga of Rex—Soulmates, in which two small, foxlike creatures, deeply in love, follow each other through a series of increasingly strange and symbolic transformations; next is J.P. Ahonen’s The Excitingly Mundane Life of Kenneth Shuri, the charmingly cartoony tale of a suburban ninja’s search for a new job.

Flight tends toward the wordless and the surreal: small animals pilot mechanical birds (Andrea Offerman’s Mate) or an undead rabbit looks for love (Dead Bunny by Nikki Damon and Justin Ridge). Particular standouts in this volume are Rodolphe Guenoden’s Dead at Noon, for the expressiveness and incredibly strong visual storytelling ability of his wordless art, and Graham Annable’s Magnus the Misfit, for its loony sweetness and sheer vitality.”

This is the 6th book in the Flight series and I think it was one of the weakest volumes in this anthology series. Volumes 4 and 5 were absolutely spectacular and this one was a bit shorter and the content wasn’t as high quality.

Some of my favorites were: The Saga of Rex: Soulmates and Daisy Kutter: Phantoms. There were a couple other good stories as well but the majority of the stories were pretty lackluster.

You can see down below for a list of the stories in here and comments on them.

Overall an okay Flight volume but a bit disappointing. There are still some quality stories in here but it wasn’t nearly as good as the previous two volumes. I would recommend the whole anthology series to those who enjoy fantasy/sci-fi graphic novels. This was one of the weaker books in the series but it was still okay.

“The Saga of Rex: Soulmates” – Michel Gagné (5/5)
I continue to love The Saga of Rex. The illustration is beautiful and the story is touching, creative, and very engaging. This was my favorite of the bunch.

“The Excitingly Mundane Life of Kenneth Shuri” – JP Ahonen (4/5 stars)
This was a cute story about an un-ployed ninja. I enjoyed it.

“Daisy Kutter: Phantoms” – Kazu Kibuishi (5/5 stars)
I always love Kazu Kibuishi’s artwork. This was an amazing story with steampunk and western overtones to it. I really loved it.

“Magnus the Misfit” – Graham Annable (3/5 stars)
This was an okay story about the origins of Vikings.

“Dead at Noon” – Rodolphe Guenoden (2/5 stars)
I didn’t enjoy this story much. It’s pretty dark and involves drinking, implied rape, and a lot of violence. I just felt like it didn’t fit very well with the theme of these graphic novels. I also thought the artwork was hard to follow.

“Epitaph” – Phil Craven (2/5 stars)
This was very short and, although slightly ironic, wasn’t all that entertaining. I didn’t enjoy the artwork style either.

“Walters” – Cory Godbey (4/5 stars)
This had excellent artwork and told an engaging adventure story. I had a little trouble following parts of it but overall enjoyed it.

“Mate” – Andrea Offermann (3/5 stars)
Beautiful artwork in this story as well but I was a bit confused by what was going on.

“Kidnapped” – Red Sechrist (2/5 stars)
I really didn’t like the artwork in this one and I thought the story was boring and kind of silly.

“Cooking Duel” – Bannister (3/5 stars)
This was about a cooking duel between a husband/wife. It was cute but also a bit boring.

“Dead Bunny” – Justin Ridge (4/5 stars)
This was a well done and well illustrated zombie bunny version of “Are you my mommy?”. It was very cute and I enjoyed it.

“The Z’s” – Richard Pose (3/5 stars)
This was a cute story about a young boy going fishing. It was decently drawn but I thought it got a bit confusing at points and was boring at other points. It was okay but not great.

“Jellaby: Hide and Seek” – Kean Soo (3/5 stars)
This was a continuation of the Jellaby story. It was about them playing hide and seek together. Honestly this was kind of lackluster and nothing all that exciting happens here.

“Fish N Chips: Even the Smallest Creatures” – Steve Hamaker (3/5 stars)
This one just didn’t hit the mark for me. It’s about a superhero duo fighting an evil clam. I read through it and thought it was kind of blah.

“Long-Winded” – Mike Dutton (4/5 stars)
This is a sweet story about a young girl and her grandpa taking a walk as he tries to explain the concept of the wind to her. It was beautifully drawn and very well done. I enjoyed reading it a lot.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Graphic Novel Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge
– Steampunk Reading Challenge