When the first FLIGHT anthology appeared in 2007, some people thought it was the beginning of a new school of comics — a group of artists as influenced by animation (particularly Miyazaki) as comics. While many of them have yet to make a huge mark in comics, a bunch of FLIGHT alumni have gone on to create significant comics — for instance, Vera Brosgal’s ANYA’S GHOST just came out this year; Kazu Kibuishi’s AMULET series continues to gain young readers, and Jake Parker has illustrated his own books in addition to a collaboration with Michael Chabon. The list goes on and on — Sonny Liew, Becky Cloonan, Hope Larson — most of the artists in FLIGHT are young, and they have years of work ahead of them.
FLIGHT #2 is, if anything, even more spectacular than the first book. Check out the contributors and previews below — it’s a stunning anthology of breathtaking art and optimistic stories, and one of the finest comics anthologies of the decade:
1.
“Inner
Sanctum” by Michel
Gagné2. “Solomon
Fix” by Doug
TenNapel3. “Jelly
Fruit” by Catia
Chien4. “The
Robot and the Sparrow” by Jake
Parker5. “Dead
Soul’s Day Out” by Sonny
Liew6. “Monster
Slayers” by Khang
Le7. “The
Golden Temple” by Neil
Babra8. “Dance
of the Sugar Plums” by Don
Hertzfeldt9. “Destiny
Xpress” by Jen
Wang10.”The
Orange Grove” by Kazu
Kibuishi11.”Weather
Vain” by Hope
Larson12.”Heads
Up” by Becky
Cloonan13.”Tendergrass”
by Matthew Woodson14.”Last
Things Last” by Kean
Soo15.”Cellmates”
by Phil Craven16.”The
Ride” by Rodolphe
Guenoden17.”Laika”
by Doug Holgate18.”Ghost
Trolley” by Rad
Sechrist19.”Wilford’s
Stroll” by Justin
Ridge20.”Impossible”
by Herval21.”Dust
on the Shelves” by Bannister22.”This
Time!” by Clio
Chiang23.”Blip
Pop” by Ryan
Sias
24.”Mouse
Trap” by Johane
Matte25.”Sirius
and Betelgeuse” by Jeff
Smith
26.”The
Flying Bride” by Giuseppe
Ferrario
27.”The
Plank” by Ben
Hatke
28.”Icarus”
by Johane
Matte29.”A
Test For Cenri” by Amy
Kim Ganter
30.”La
Sonadora” by Joana
Carneiro32.”Béisbol”
by Richard Pose33.”Salmoning”
by Vera BrosgolHow to get this book?
DA RULEZ: email your name and address to beatgiveaway at gmail dot com with FLIGHT #2 in the subject line. Winners will be selected at random. NO ADDRESS, NO WIN. The contest closes tomorrow at 5 pm EST when the next giveaway begins. Books will be mailed next week.
Giveaway open to US and CANADA residents ONLY. Sorry about that! I looked into international shipping but it is just too complicated and expensive. Maybe when I get a sponsor!
It worth it for the don hertzfeldt comic alone.
My theory (yet to be disproven) is that any comic drawn and written by an animator will be a worthwhile read.
(The creator usually has skills as a character designer, as well as storyboarding and extremes. If old school, they’ve had to draw thousands of drawings… 24 frames per second.)
For example:
Jeff Smith
Stephanie Gladden
Osamu Tezuka
Walt Kelly
Carl Barks
Add Dash Shaw to that list, Torsten. His work has greatly benefited from his animation projects.
The Flight books are *awesome*. Easily some of my favorite comics work in 20 years.
I dunno, they always fell juuuust short for me. Fun and disposable instead of timeless game-changers.
None of it felt rushed or poorly made (it was actually quite slick), they just didn’t seem to set especially high goals in terms of content.
They were originally presented to me as opposite-but-equal to the Ergots. That probably skews my opinion of them.
Anyway, there’s still a lot of great stuff in those books. But Hertzfeldt’s is the only one I remember.