Flight, Vol. 8

Flight #8

by Der-shing Helmer (Editor)

STORIES BY
JP Ahonen
Matthew Armstrong
Bannister
Jason Caffoe
Scott Campbell
Tony Cliff
Cory Godbey
Grimaldi
Der-shing Helmer
Kostas Kiriakakis
Nicholas Kole
Sonny Liew
Leland Myrick
Jake Parker
Katie Shanahan
Steven Shanahan
Kean Soo
Kyla Vanderklugt
Dermot Walshe

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Young Adult

272 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 2011

About the author

Hi, I draw comics and put them on the internet for people to read. Sometimes I put the drawings on paper so people who are not on the internet can also read them. I live near San Diego, CA, and I am excited to make more comics for everyone.

Thanks for reading my stuff!

Reviews

[Kim Lockhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ah, the best of the bunch. This eighth volume of the Flights series is a home run. The stories are great, with so many important object lessons. I enjoyed this thoroughly!

[Sesana]

If the only thing you do with this volume of Flight, or any volume of Flight, is to look at the art without reading a word, you'll be rewarded. As always, the eighth volume is filled with a wide variety of gorgeous and imaginative short comics. Picking a handful of favorites is hard, and almost pointless. They're all worth at least looking at, and most of the comics have writing just as good as the art. But here goes: this volumes Kenneth the ninja adventure, Cory Godbey's The Clockmaker's Daughter, Kazu Kibuishi's The Gift, Jake Parker's Checkers, Der-shing Helmer's Migration, and the sweet Periwinkle story that rounds out the collection.

[Chris - Quarter Press Editor · Rating 3 out of 5]

These have all been fairly solid books. I'm definitely bummed that this is the last of the series, but it had a good run considering the ample price tag and the HUGE variety of content and authors. Compared to some of the other volumes, this one felt more cohesive as a whole, and a nice way to end the series.

As I've said in the past with the other volumes, these are very much worth your time. There are a few gems in each that make the whole trip worthwhile.

And again, the talent of art showcased here makes me so angry. I love and hate so many of them. Ah jealousy...

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Seriously, these collections are truly wonderful. They're short but delightful. Descriptions of each would not do the book justice, so just take my word for it: pick up a handful of volumes at the library & have a entertaining evening delving into the fanciful worlds that these authors & illustrators have created.

[Milly · Rating 2 out of 5]

“The Hollow Men” was a 5 star for me

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of comics from many creative folks I already follow, which is neat! I know I'm reviewing the last book in the series first, but you can't stop me, haha.

1. Encore
Kostas Kiriakakis

A nice story about a man discovering a young woman in the rain and just listening to her story about leaving her circus friends (not intentionally), encouraging her to keep trying, since as long as she has a dream and her friends, she's bound to be amazing. Gorgeous visuals!

2. Kenneth Shuri & The Wrong Kill
JP Ahonen

I only JUST noticed his name is Shuri Ken. Boo. (Haha!)

This is a fun series, full of slapstick and comedic misunderstandings. It's just a little bit violent (in one part specifically, otherwise it's "clean" slapstick), but the art is cute and interesting to follow! I have to say, I don't envy freelancers at all—especially not THIS one, haha.

3. Riddle
Kyla Vanderklugt

Sort of a twist on the riddle of the Sphinx, but there are two adventurers—a knight and his squire—and the beast is a variant of that petrifies the knight instinctively (she is supposed to ask a riddle first). The squire then solves her riddle and wins her scales as his reward, but the squire isn't heartless and instead lets her keep her scales in exchange for unpetrifying the knight. It's a lovely story and well drawn, a very nice addition to the anthology!

4. The Clockmaker's Daughter
Cory Godbey

A gorgeous—if sad—adventure about cheating death, including a parable that isn't really one. I love the visuals in this, so haunting!

5. Echoes
Jason Caffoe

Mostly a monologued letter home, from a young man who has set off for the big city to do bigger and greater things. It's wild how similar his style is to Kazu Kibuishi's (which may be why he helped out so much on Amulet—it's like they're natural complements)! Not a lot happens in this story; it feels more like exploring a world that dabbles just a little bit in steampunk.

6. The Hollow Men
Nicholas Kole

A creepy adventure where a young prince who is to be married and crowned in the same day can't stand the pressure and runs away to the forest, seeing a bird and following it. He meets a forest entity that wants his company, only for it to drastically age him, to his regret. He changes his mind about staying in the forest and vows to leave, but not before taking the bird he followed, to bury it in peace. It's beautifully drawn, but I'm not sure I follow the story as well as I think—if so, it's sort of about duty, even if it's not what you really want, and I'm not sure I like that.

7. The Gift
Kazu Kibuishi

Farm boy goes to town on his own to get medicine for his mother, meets a stranger, gives him a ride, discover a mysterious box in an abandoned campsite... and disagree how to handle the box. The farm boy suspects something's wrong, since the campsite is littered with clothing and shows no sign of a fight, but the stranger wants to take the box. Naturally, when they take the box, and the stranger wakes up in the night to check on the box, a mysterious entity takes him into the box, leaving behind his clothes and pistol. In the morning, the farm boy discovers the stranger has vanished but still does not meddle with the box. When he reaches town and turns it in, the owner rewards him, so he can buy the medicine without selling any of his family's grain.

It's a fairly common lesson in folktales, about not being greedy, and being rewarded for doing the Right Thing, but this is a nice (and spooky) version. It does have Kibuishi's trademark of characters with Resting Annoyed Face, but also lovely backgrounds and details. Fantastic story all around!

8. The Black Fountain
Tony Cliff

Another spooky story, this time about a cursed fountain. The story is told mostly as a mother reminiscing about her ancestor who sculpted the fountain, and how his jealousy poisoned it. She is worried, as her children have discovered the fountain near their house and have gone to play by it. The children are fine, as they do not drink from it but have built a fort around it.

Definitely a nice ghost story! I do have to wonder why the mother (or anyone else) didn't put some kind of protections around it, though.

9. The Collector
Leland Myrick

Ghost story three! It's a streak!

This one is set in a more medieval era, and involves a prisoner being led to his execution. The actual story is a flashback, with the setup having some children (of the storyteller?) asking how the main character lost his hand. He describes his entourage as leading the prisoner through an unknown woods, which the prisoner says is bad luck should they die in an unnamed place, so he names it. As it happens, Something has followed them, to collect their things, and systematically attacks them until only the prisoner and the main character are remaining. The main character frees the prisoner, who takes down the Collector, then obediently allows himself to be bound again before they proceed to the place of execution. However, the main character can't abide by letting the prisoner die after saving his life, so in exchange for the prisoner's life, he gives his own hand.

The art is a bit rougher than the prior stories, but it conveys a good atmosphere for the story. I like it enough, but I do feel like the punishment is misplaced. I suppose that's just how things work with volunteering as tribute, though.

10. New Year's Day
Sonny Liew

A robot is forgotten by its owner and told by the owner of the restaurant where it was left to leave. The robot asks for directions to walk home, though it is constantly told how far away that is, but the robot has no other options, considering it has no currency to get a ride on the bus or buy fuel (though a Good Samaritan offers to pay for its fuel).

It's a nice little story, but there's not a lot to it other than just a robot going home. The art is a sketchy, somewhat dreamy style, giving a touch that conveys the feeling of being a little bit out of place, which suits the story.

11. Buttons and Jim in What's Stopping the Gravy Train?
Katie and Steve Shanahan

This is a cute story about helping out a talking train (sort of like Thomas the Tank Engine) who can't get to Gravy Town because a Track Troll is eating the tracks, or going to. The ending reminds me of Axe Cop, since it shows that Buttons was probably voiced by Jim's son.

12. Jellaby: Who Needs Friends?
Kean Soo

Probably the best way to get somebody to shut up. :)

I like the little twist at the end with the loud friend (Jason) holding hands with Portia as they watch the meteor shower. Kind of sweet!

13. Igloo Head and Tree Head in 'Accomplishments'
Scott Campbell

A fun adventure in a world full of anthropomorphic EVERYTHING. Igloo Head and Tree Head start off deciding they will do ALL THE THINGS! For a while, it goes surprisingly well, until Igloo Head hurts himself and decides that accomplishments are bad. Tree Head cheers him up by having them ride Rocket Head to Moon Head, the ULTIMATE ACCOMPLISHMENT.

14. Rematch!
Dermot Walshe

A fun retelling of the tortoise and the hare (or the hare and the tortoise, whichever order), but they have a new challenger in the form of a frog with a fancy racecar! Of course, you might imagine the outcome when they decide to team up against the frog, but it's still fun to see for yourself!

15. Checkers
Jake Parker

A vibrant and beautiful, yet somewhat sad, story about the main character being invisible to everyone around her. A bit of homage to Harvey at the end?

16. Migration
Der-shing Helmer

A twist on the story you might expect when you see the title "Migration" and see a bunch of dinosaurs walking in line! Beautifully drawn, and rather straightforward.

17. Winged!
Grimaldi and Bannister

A story about modern Talaria! Also a Back to the Future (Part 2) reference at the end, haha. Anyway, this is EXACTLY why we don't have flying cars.

18. Periwinkle in Try, Try Again
Matthew S. Armstrong

This reminds me of A Wish for Wings That Work, but with significantly less Santa, haha. There's also what appears to be an epilogue to this story after the contributors page, but they're slightly different colours, so I'm not sure. Maybe it's an epilogue if you want it to be?

On the whole, a nice collection of fun short stories! Maybe not for ALL ages, but certainly many of them!

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe it's already been 8 or 9 years or whatever since the first Flight came out. I think back then Andrew Henry was a young baby faced boy making weird jokes and talking about One Piece and I was in hot rising band called Dance Methodical... or something.

Anyway, It had been at least a year or two since I last cracked a Flight. But I have to say that I suddenly felt nostalgic for the Halcyon days of 2003 or whenever the first one came out. Jellaby was there, there were stories with crazy airships. There was even a story about a Penguin who wished he could fly.

Anyway, I don't think I can really put it into words, but the last Flight (volume 8) was good enough that it reminded me of the first Flight. Which, to me, means that it was a good read.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have enjoyed the Flight series of graphic novels, an anthology that brings a variety of artists and writers together to write short graphic stories. This is the final volume, and had some highs and lows for me.

The first stories were pretty dark (even the ones that were comedic were dark) and I didn't enjoy them as I simply was not in the mood for violence or darkness. But the end was mostly lighter stories, which I enjoyed quite a bit. I was especially delighted by "Periwinkle in Try, Try Again" about an adorable penguin and "Igloo Head and Tree Head in 'Accomplishments'" which had so many sight-gags that brought extra joy to a fun tale.

[Karissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally I do a short review of each story in these anthologies but I am pressed for time. In general this was a well done collection of graphic novel short stories. As with the last few volumes there was a mix of amazing and just okay stories.

As with previous volumes my favorites continue to be the stories by Kazu Kibuishi but I enjoyed some of the other short stories in here as well. There is some amazing artwork (and some not so amazing artwork). In general I feel like most of the stories were well done.

Overall I would recommend all the Flight graphic novels to those who enjoy sci-fi and fantasy graphic novels. I feel like the middle volumes were the best (3, 4, 5) and that the last few haven’t been quite as awesome. However they are all very good and feature a wide (and interesting) variety of graphic novel fantasy short stories.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read a few of the short stories in this graphic novel compilation. I didn't love it enough to finish reading further. Some stories were interesting, others bordered on the absurd. Because of time constraints and stuff going on in life, I chose not to finish this one. I don't know if I will return to it later or not. The reason we checked this out from the library is because we were trying to read more by Jon Klassen, a favorite author/illustrator, and he has work included in a different volume. For some reason our library ONLY had Vol. 8. We gave it a try.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of short graphic novel stories. A big variation of styles and topics which ranges from contemporary, fairy tales, knights, western to science fiction and more. I had this one in my hands before but wasn't so sure but even the few stories which art works didn't appeal to me so much had a good or very original story behind it (most art work is pretty good). At the end I enjoyed every single story in this book. If you like graphic novels you can't go wrong with this one.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the weakest volume I’ve read in the series, only a couple stories were worth it. Both the art and the storytelling in some of the stories were sub par at best. This is coming from someone who loves the Flight series too.

[Idamandarin Azhar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely magical! Love this!

[Gillian Dawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Mike Arias · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unbiased rating:3.9

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good volume.

[Wendopolis · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better volumes.

[Dermot · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of Kazu's Flight volumes are a nice collection of short stories but I was particularly proud of my contribution "Rematch" in this one !

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finally finished with all the flight volumes. Fun quick assortment of several graphic novels.

[Tung · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Flight volumes are anthologies of indie cartoonists’ creative efforts (see my reviews of volumes one through seven). The tales told in these works span the entire spectrum of contemporary comic stylings from manga-influenced works to rough sketches to symbolic surreality to more traditional graphic novel flair. The tales vary in art style, length, and unfortunately, quality as I found each volume except for the first volume fairly uneven. Volume 8 was announced as the last of these anthologies, and I expected a stronger end to this series. I was disappointed to find this volume to be one of my least favorite of the the series. My favorite stories in Volume Eight were “Riddle” and “Echoes.” I didn't care for any of the others. My favorites from a visual perspective were “Riddle” and “The Black Fountain.” Weak end to a great series. For graphic novel fans only.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Latest volume of the best ongoing anthology since sliced bread....and every slice is both terrific and different from the others. I'd give the highest ratings for art and story both to the Kiriakis, the Godbey, Kole, Kabuishi, and Campbell. But the closest entry to a dud is the Caffoe, and that's really only because there's no plot---just an intriguing contrast between the quotidian "letter home" and the exotic setting.

Required reading, like the earlier volumes, for anyone who wants/needs to keep up with what's happening in graphic fiction for young readers.

[Damon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great as always - though apparently this is the last volume. Too bad, since this has consistently been one of the best anthologies going, but I think maybe for the best, since it would be easy for it to become formulaic. Not much new or different or out of the mold this time around, but that's okay - the usual mix of cute and funny and poignant is fine. The IglooHead and TreeHead story is the best thing in here.

[Astrid Terese · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeg anbefaler virkelig denne serien. Det er ikke alle seriene som inneholder tekst, og noen bare noen få tekststriper, men det er ikke vanskelig å få med seg hva tegneren mener med bildene. Samtidig er det noe med at hver del er så forskjellig, og ikke minst innholdsrik. Det er tegneserier her du kan lese mange ganger slik at bøkene bare vil vare og vare. Les dem, med andre ord!
Hele min omtale finner du på bloggen min Betraktninger

[Sarah Schanze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid compilation, and I'm very sad it's going to be the last volume in the series. I did feel that, for a grand finale, they should have added more artists and really beefed up the volume. Maybe they tried and others didn't have time, but it didn't feel like a farewell to me. Then again, maybe that means someday in the future they'll have more unplanned volumes. ;) We can only hope!

[Kirk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like the rest of the volumes, most of the stories are either too cartoonish or too short and pointless to be ejoyable reads. The only artist whose work showed promise in this volume was Cory Godbey. And the usual lovely cover art by Kazu Kibuishi, which always makes me pick up the Flight books in the first place.

[Lupe Dominguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok. So I gave this one a three mostly because the LAST PART OF THE CUTE FOX COMIC WAS NOT HERE!!!! I couldn't believe it!!!! That was the one I was most looking forward to!!! However, I did appreciate the 2 coming of age stories (one of the prince going down the river and the one of the kid moving out) and thought those were well done. Still mad about the missing one, though. Ugh.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazing conclusion to this comic anthology series! So many great stories that make you wish you were a little kid again. I only wish they had bulked it up like they did in volume 2. They could have added past artists like Amy Kim Kibuishi, Chmakova, Gagne, Mensinga, Cloonan, etc.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

A couple of slight stories (usually still with quality art), but overall a successful final (?) entry in the 'Flight' series. Especially enjoyable - 'Kenneth Shuri & the Wrong Kill', 'Riddle', and 'The Collector.'

[Traci Haley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was, by far, the best volume of the Flight series. I usually skip over at LEAST one story, usually a few, because they don't interest me. I didn't skip one story in this one. Every single one was breathtakingly beautiful. I can't even begin to pick out a favorite... they're all amazing!

[Rebecca Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my favorite volumes, hands down. Keep them coming. Graphic stories are well suited to the short story format if done well, and nearly every story in here was well done! Some were a little kitschy for my taste.