Kazu Kibuishi

Summary: Copper and his dog Fred go on a variety of adventures - often despite Fred's neuroses and anxiety. But Copper's usually more than willing to keep spirits high, and even occasionally get them out of trouble.

Review: Rather than a regular graphic novel, Copper is a series of short comics, mostly one page (although a few are longer, and there are a few recurrent characters and themes). I'd encountered Fred and Copper in "Maiden Voyage" in the first volume of Flight, but I got a much show more better sense of their personalities from reading all of their comics together.

So, from the cover, and the shelving at my library, I was expecting this book to be aimed at a fairly youngish audience. And while there wasn't anything that made it inappropriate for the younger set, there was a pretty dark tone to some of the comics that I wasn't expecting. I like the interplay between Copper and Fred, but for every story in which Copper gets the last word ("Climbing"), there's another one in which Fred's more pessimistic outlook seems to be more apt ("Outside"). While there's a sense of whimsy and adventurousness and charm in a lot of these stories, I also got an undercurrent of anxiety and bitterness ("Bubbles") and loneliness ("Signals") from more than a few of them... which I think actually made me like the collection more in the end. It's rare that a comic can achieve that balance, with its perspective feeling so mature and realistic, despite the talking dog and giant mushrooms. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: I don't know if I can come up with any read-alikes, but I found this book had more depth than I was expecting given its size and cover, so I'd say it's worth checking out for any comics fan, especially if you like the strips Kibuishi has on his website. show less

One of the things that I particularly noticed about Volume 3, more so than Vol. 4, was how well it was organized. The diversity of the stories (both in terms of tone and in terms of plot) was just as great as in Vol. 4, but they were arranged in such a way that one story naturally flowed into the next, with elements from one story both highlighting and contrasting what had come before. The most charming, cute, and funny stories - including an earlier adventure in Michel Gagné's "The Saga of show more Rex", which is the only part of this anthology series that has an order to it - are pretty heavily front-loaded in this volume, and I enjoyed them all. "Old Oak Trees" by Tony Cliff was a perfect fairy tale adventure, and the punchline of Johane Matte's "Hunter" literally made me laugh out loud. The volume then takes a dip into more serious stories: Azad Inezikian's tragic "Polaris" and Kazu Kibuishi's "Iron Gate" both unexpectedly broke my heart, and Rodolphe Guenoden's "Message in a Bottle" actually made me a little sniffly, although not quite in a sad sort of way. Throughout the book, I was always amazed by how much story and how much emotion and how much creativity these artists could pack into so few panels and pages... which I suppose is a good summation of the Flight series as a whole. 4 out of 5 stars. show less

ARC provided by NetGalley

The war against the great Elf King continues and Emily and Navin are looking for all of the help they can get. Navin and his classmates journey to Lucien, a city ravaged by war and by mysterious creatures. There they search for a beacon that is crucial to their fight against the Elf King. Emily has a more dangerous task. To follow Max into the Void and learn his secrets in order to take down the Elf King once and for all. It a journey they may not survive, but they show more must try anyway. And before all is said and done, the group will lose some, and some will come back, to fight once more.

I’ve loved the entire series but the story in this one left me on the edge of my seat wanting the next volume to come out already! Kazu continues to answer some of the questions he's been building the entire series, such as what Max’s role is in all of this and where the Elves will stand when all is said and done. It is a masterful story building and Kazu has only gotten better and better as the series has progressed. And I can’t wait to see where he goes from here.

The artwork in this volume is absolutely phenomenal. Kazu and his team have outdone themselves with this series and in this volume they surpass themselves. The colors are astounding. They make the book come alive. What really sells the story though, are the illustrations as they capture and convey the moods of the characters and their surroundings. The drawings have a light airy quality to them, with a simple, but moody, color palette to show off the extensive use of shadows to convey emotions of the character in graphic detail. The reader is never left wanting or wondering what the characters are thinking, the colors clearly display what they feel, the fear and courage of Emily as she seeks to save the world around her.

This has been one of my favorite series since the first book came out and I eagerly look forward to each new volume. It’s an epic journey on par with Jeff Smith’s Bone, with captivating characters and fantastic artwork. I can’t wait to see where Kazu takes us next in this journey and I eagerly await the next volume in this fantastic series. 5 out of 5 stars. show less

Summary: The Flight anthologies are collections of short stories in graphic novel form. They don't have overt themes, per se, but in Volume 5, a number of the stories had to do with the power of childhood illusions and imaginations. (This is a vast oversimplification; the stories are always really varied, and can just as easily feature ninjas, zombie rabbits, cowboys, or baseball players.)

Review: Now that I've gotten over my (false) preconception of "The Flight anthologies should mostly show more wordless" that I developed while reading Vols. 3 & 4, I enjoyed the heck out of this volume. Some highlights for me in Volume 5 included JP Ahomen's "Worry Dolls", about the way the dolls get rid of the worries from your mind while you sleep; Sarah Mensinga's "The Changeling", which had a really charming story and interesting artwork with a lovely palette; the lovely but incredibly sad "Voyage" by Kness & Made (I have a thing about polar bears, okay?); and Ryan North (of Dinosaur Comics) and John Martz's gleefully absurd "Scenes in which the Earth Stops Spinning and Everybody Flies Into a Wall", which is exactly what it sounds like. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: These anthologies are visually stunning, full of interesting stories, and a great way to get exposed to the wide range of what comics can be, and can do. Definitely worth checking out. show less