FLIGHT v2 HITS IN MARCH - A LOOK INSIDE

[MattBrady]

by Benjamin Ong Pang Kean

While Leonardo DiCaprio’s Howard Hughes character is romancing some of the world’s most beautiful women, including Katharine Hepbrun (played by Cate Blanchett) and Ava Gardner (Kate Beckinsale) in Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, Kazu Kibuishi and friends are hard at work on the next volume of Flight.

Flight is an anthology book that collects comic short stories by creators in the comic and animation industries, coming together to celebrate the graphic narrative medium. These are professional and non-professionals whose work and visions were inspired by internationally-acclaimed storytellers such as Hayao Miyazaki and Moebius.

The success of the first volume of the Flight OGN has prompted Kazu Kibuishi to continue the tradition of celebrating the graphic narrative medium.

Cartoonist and comic guru Scott McCloud was right after all.

2004 was indeed the year that comics took flight.

Scheduled for March, volume two of Flight features stories and art by established comics professionals, up-and-coming creators and the original crew such as Jeff Smith, Michel Gagné, Doug TenNapel, Sonny Liew, Becky Cloonan, Enrico Casarosa, Chris Appelhans, Christian Schellawald, Clio Chiang, Don Hertzfeldt, Hope Larson, Jake Parker, Jen Wang, Johane Matte, Kean Soo, Khang Le, Matt Rhodes, Neil Babra, Phil Craven, Rad Sechrist, Rodolphe Guenoden, Vera Brosgol and more.

From the fantasy of a fading childhood romance in a small seaside town to the tale of a pair of monster hunters looking to make a quick buck to the allegory of a young robot finding meaning in his disposal, this new volume once again features stories for readers of all ages and tastes.

“The response [to the first volume] was incredible,” Kibuishi told Newsarama. “While it did well in stores, it was really all of the artists in the entertainment industry that seemed to latch onto it, especially folks in storyboarding and animation. It's been amazing seeing just how many people actually know about this book. Friends of mine would introduce me to someone else and say I work on comics and they go, "ohh, okay." But then they mention Flight and they say "oh yeah, Flight!!!"

So good was the response that the creator was swamped with numerous enquiries from all quarters. “Yeah, too many people started contacting me, and I actually have had to stop answering those e-mails. I guess I didn’t realize what I was getting myself into taking on the editing duties for this project, but it is nice to see that so many people want to become a part of it. It must mean we're doing something right. A few of those people I was familiar with, and I already liked their work, so I brought them aboard.

“As far as more familiar names go, I asked Jeff Smith while we were chatting at the Comic-Con and he said he'll think about it,” he added. “When I followed up with an e-mail, he replied and said that he had read the book and now there was no doubt that he wanted to be a part of this. It was so great to hear one of my heroes say something like that. It really validates the effort put into the project.

“Other additions include Doug TenNapel, who I asked to contribute while we were having lunch at a small Chinese restaurant in Burbank; Sonny Liew, who contacted Chris a while ago and Chris immediately invited him aboard; Michel Gagné, who is just an awesome person in so many ways, and who I asked while chatting with him at Wizard World LA. And the list goes on. There are quite a few talented folks, established and new, that are going to be in the next Flight books, and they're work is all mindblowing...”

Jeff Smith needs no introduction. He is the creator of his best-selling creator-owned comic, Bone and is currently working on the Shazam!: Monster Society of Evil mini-series for DC.

Doug TenNapel is probably best known as the creator of Earthworm Jim and The Neverhood. He also created Gear, Creature Tech and Tommysaurus Rex as graphic novels. His current projects include the Nickelodeon television show Catscratch and his new graphic novel Earthboy Jacobus.

Sonny Liew is an up-and-coming artist who’s re-teaming with Mike Carey and Marc Hempel (the same creative team for My Faith in Frankie) for another Vertigo project, The Regifters. He is also working on the next volume of his creator-owned series, Malinky Robot.

Michel Gagné is the founder of Gagne International Press for which he writes and illustrates a collection of wonderful books, including The Towers of Numar, The Story of Rex: A Search for Meaning, Insanely Twisted Rabbits, The Great Shadow Migration, and his graphic novel Zed. He has also worked extensively in the animation industry as an effects animator. He worked on The Iron Giant and Osmosis Jones among other films. He also did the “Spore” back-up tale in Detective Comics #776-780. His current projects include his new book Odd Numbers and a pilot for a television show based on his work.

Other established creators include Becky Cloonan, fresh from her run on the Brian Wood-written Demo maxi-series, and Enrico Casarosa, who has two issues of his Adventures of Mia series out so far.

But who are the rest of the gang?

“Chris Appelhans is currently a visual development artist for a film in production called Monster House at Sony Imageworks, and he's been working in and around the film and video game industries for a while now,” Kibuishi said.

“Christian Schellawald is an art director at Dreamworks Feature Animation and an instructor at ArtCenter. His work is simply astounding.

“Clio Chiang is an animation student in Canada who worked on the first Flight ("The Bowl") and is part of the Pants Press Gang, a small group of online comics artists that I love dearly.

“Don Hertzfeldt is an independent filmmaker who was nominated for the Academy Award a few years ago for an incredible film called Rejected. He also deservedly won a whole slew of awards for his other films, like Billy's Balloon, Lily and Jim and Ah, L'Amour.

“Hope Larson is an up-and-coming comics talent whose work just grabbed me from the moment I saw it. She also worked on the first Flight book.

“Jake Parker is an art director at ReelFX studios and was one of the first people I knew I had to bring onto this project. He also drew "Hugo Earheart" for Flight Volume One.

“Jen Wang is another member of the talented Pants Press crew and she also contributed a story ("Paper and String", done with origami and mixed media) to Flight Volume One.

“Johane Matte also comes from the field of animation, having worked on some Disney television projects. Her work blew me away when I first saw it and she's an amazing addition to the crew.

“Matt Rhodes is an animation student whose work I saw online a long while ago. I had been meaning to ask him if he wanted to contribute something and it was a pleasant surprise to see that he knew much about the project beforehand and met us at the Comic-Con.

“Neil Babra has been an instrumental part of making Flight what it is. Not only is he one of the world's best comic creators, he is also a star law student and he's been helping me with a lot of the business side of things. When I saw his diary comics a long while ago, they totally blew me away. I also think he has one of the best pieces in the first Flight.

“Rad Sechrist just recently moved down to LA after graduating from my alma mater, UCSB, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He's leaving that career behind to pursue cartooning full-time, and as well he should, since he's so phenomenally good at it. Rad did a "Beneath the Leaves" story for Flight Volume One.

“Phil Craven and Rodolphe Guenoden are storyboard artists at Dreamworks Feature Animation. Both these guys are insanely good. Phil did two stories for Flight Volume One ("Tug McTaggart" and "Deep Blue") and Rodolphe, who is an animation industry veteran (and some would say legend) will be making his stunning comics debut in Flight 2. And it is stunning.

“Vera Brosgol wrote my favorite story from the first book, "I wish...". She's also the formidable genius component of the Pants Press crew and I do think she will take over the world. Seriously.

“Aside from all that, they are all wonderful people, first and foremost. That's really the best part of Flight...

“Flight is actually not a theme in the book,” he continued. “I make sure to explicitly state that to the other artists before they begin work since the last thing I want is to put those kinds of restrictions on them. The stories for Book Two are varied in subject matter, but there seems to be more of a quieter feel to this book than the first one. I really, really like it.

“This time they have a much wider range of tone and content. It's awesome to see some of the artists really stretching themselves this time, like Jake Parker with his story of a discarded robot who finds friendship in a small bird. He's taking his work to a whole new level and it's just amazing. Khang Le's story about a couple of bumbling monster hunters is the beginning to a whole series of adventures he plans to do in the future. Seeing the beginnings of serialized work in the book is pretty exciting too, since it's what I had in mind from the beginning.”

Did he send a copy of the first volume of Flight to the inspirations behind the whole concept, Hayao Miyazaki and Moebius? “Ha! We have yet to send [Miyazaki] a copy. It's something I wanted to do, but I suppose I'm somewhat nervous about it. I'll definitely make sure to try and send him one this year. Although getting him to contribute sounds a little crazy, don't you think? I'd probably faint if he accepted.

“As for Moebius, it's the same thing. These guys seem pretty far removed from my universe, you know? Like they live in the clouds while I shovel coal in my little apartment, or something like that. But yeah, it would be amazing to have them both contribute. I would be honored.

“We'll be pushing the future Flight books in all sorts of directions as many of us have tons of stories to tell. We'll be jumping right onto the third book just as soon as the second volume gets wrapped up. I hope the readers stick with us... and I'm wondering if they've stuck with us here, too.”

For an earlier interview with Kazu Kibuishi where he talked about Flight Volume One, click here.

[smileyguy]

This looks absolutely beautiful!!!!! Definitely a must buy!!!!

I havent bought the first volume.... how was it?

[render man]

I love this kind of thing (but its kinda out of my usual price range).

[Defunkt]

A second volume...WONDERFUL! Can't wait...

A highy recommend Flight vol.1. It only shows that the comic industry ( art wise) is very healthy and exciting contrary to popular belief that it isn't and people who only can complain about the comic industry.

Instead they should buy books like Flight!

[KSBrennan]

Flight Volume One is amazing. I've already order Volume Two. It's definitely worth picking up and supporting these great talents.

[L'Zoril]

Flight vol 1 OGN is one of the best books published last year. Excellent art and stories. Do yourself a favor and buy it

[Harley]

This little guy is so cute!

[Sambo253]

Originally posted by L'Zoril
Flight vol 1 OGN is one of the best books published last year. Excellent art and stories. Do yourself a favor and buy it

I'll te tell you how good I thought Flight Vol 1 was, I bought two copies of it. It was my comic of the year half way through last year, I knew nothing could top it.

I already ordered my copy of Vol.2. My local comic store said Flight was by far their biggest selling non-marvel or DC title which I found curious since no one really talked about Flight on this board, I guess Newsarama doesn't represent the whole of comic buyers (which honestly might be a good thing, I still love it here don't get me wrong).

[Derrick Fish]

If I had to point to any one single book published in 2004 as the BEST, it would be FLIGHT, vol. 1

[Cray_ws]

Benjamin,

thanks for bringing this book to my attention, from all the wonderful praise, I'll have to check it out. The pages look heartwarmingly beautiful.

I'll have to keep my eye out for other Kazu Kibuishi works as well. Simply impressive from the few sample pages I've seen.

[Noc]

Looks great, i wonder if this is the volume that has Gabe and Tycho from penny arcade.

[Santo]

Originally posted by Cray_ws
I'll have to keep my eye out for other Kazu Kibuishi works as well. Simply impressive from the few sample pages I've seen.

I didn't see a link in the article, so here is the website for his comic, Copper. Good stuff.