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After picking up the first volume of Flight, an anthology of independent comics, I have since picked up every single volume they have dished out. Reason is these short stories are a great read, something different from the current mainstream comics, and the artwork are also amazing. If you are looking for something different, Flight is the one for you.
Here are some samples from Vol 4, which I picked up from the local library. I have also included the short writeup of the artist from the book.
Cover
Flightcomics
The Window Makers - Kazu Kibuishi
Kazu Kibuishi is the editor and art director of Flight: Volume Four. He is laso the creator of Copper, Daisy Kutter and the upcoming graphic novel series Amulet. He lives and works in Alhambra, California, with his wife and fellow comic artist Amy Kim Ganter. [www.boltcity.com]
What I liked about this story is the message it is bringing to the audience, neatly summarised in the above word bubble.
Igloo Head and Tree Head - Scott Campbell
Scott Campbell, aka ScottC, is a regular contributer to Hickee comics and has appeared in a number of other comics anthologies over the years. Pyramid Car and Advanced Talk are sweet comics by ScottC. he does a comic every morning at work and puts it here: www.doublefine.com. At Double Fine he designs video games like Psychonauts. Other times, he paints. [www.scott-c.blogspot.com]
I like the style and the story.
Roomie-Pal ! - Graham Annable
Enjoying life with his wife in Portland, Oregon, Graham Annable is the creator behind the Grickle books and Stickleback, and editor and contributor of the Hickee anthology. [www.grickle.com]
This shows how simple stick figures and facial expressions can convey expressions and mood.
Tripod - Bannister and Joel Carroll
Bannister was born in 1973 in France. He currently lives near the Alps with his lovely girlfriend and no pets. His new story, Les Enfants d'Ailleurs, was published in January 2007 (Dupuis Publishing). He has collaborated on many projects both in Europe and overseas. [www.bannister.fr]
I like the artwork, and it feels quite dynamic.
The Storm - Pascal Campion
Pascal Campion comes from the south of France where he spent a good deal of his time riding his bike around. After going to art school in the northern part of France, he decided one day to try the United States to see what it would be like. He never went back. He now lives in beautiful San Francisco with his lovely wife and their dog, where he still enjoys riding his bike up and down the hills, and enjoys all the Indian food he can find.
The artwork, colours and sequence brings the story to live, without the use of dialogue.
Bigwheels - Ovi Nedelcu
Ovi Nedelcu is the creator of Pigtale and currently works at Laika Studios. He balances working in print and animation. He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his wift and two kids. Ovi believes in three things: God, love and human stupidity. [www.ovinedelcu.com and www.pigtalecomic.com]
I had seen Ovi's artwork before, and I think his style is great - clean lines and stylized.
To Grandma's - Clio Chang
Clio Chang is from Vancouver, British Columbia, where she is currently a working stiff in the animation industry on such shows as Pucca and Ricky Sprocket. She enjoys free time, green tea, and cooking. Occasionally she posts scribblings at www.cliochiang.com.
I do not quite understand the story, but her style is used very much in current animation. Nice facial expressions and poses.
Cortina - Fabio Moon
Fabio Moon is the author, with his twin brother, of Ursula and De:TALES, and he makes comics and tells stories all day long. He also loves to dance. He reads less than he wants to and writes less than he should. [www.10paezinhos.com.br]
A simple story, with great art.
Twenty-four Hours - Andrea Offermann
After two terrifying years at med school, Andrea Offermann found refuge at an art school and started by learning how to sharpen a pencil. Five years later she prefers pen and ink but is till in love with art of any kind. [www.andreaoffermann.com]
I chose this panel to show the line work and perspective.
The Perfect Spot - Phi Craven
Phil Craven is from Georgia. He lives in California. He draws storyboards at DreaWorks animation. He eats cereal and draws some more comics.
Simple lines, yet it conveys so much.
It's been quite some time since I last visited the library. Today I ran some errands near the Woodlands library and decided to pop in.
- 52 The Covers - a collection of all 52 series covers, including collections, unused covers. Each cover's conceptualization is briefly explained, with preliminary sketches on one page, and the final cover on the other.
- Essential Amazing Spider-man Vol 2 - I could not find volume 1, so just start with volume 2.
- Flight Volume 4 - collection of the finest independent artworks from various artists. Do check out the other volumes. The latest as of this posting is Volume 5.
Was talking to a colleague the other day, and he said Nausicaa was a great read. While browsing through, saw the middle comic by Matt Smith. He has a similar style to Mike Mignola.
Just borrowed these from the library today. I may need to visit another library as the selection does not seem to be too good.
Just borrowed these from the library today.
Watchmen
Finally managed to pick up this trade from the local library and read the story. I never wanted to buy the trade because I was never a fan of writer Alan Moore or artist Dave Gibbons, even though this series was groundbreaking and critically acclaim.
After reading it, I was not too sure what was the hype about. This series was produced in 1986, so probably the issues addressed in the story could be radical then.
Anyway, it is a nice read, and I just want to say that HEROES (the TV series) is a rip off from Watchmen.
Now, it will be interesting to see how they will pull this off as a movie, as most of the comic were flashbacks.
Top 10
The first thing that attracted my attention to this comic was the doberman in a Hawaiian shirt and straw hat by Alex Ross, but not enough to buy the comic book. So when I came across the first volume in the library, I took a shot at it. Partly also because the comic was written by Alan Moore, and drawn by Gene Ha (a very detail artist), with layouts by Zander Cannon. (Zander Cannon is a great artist, who started with his own comic The Replacement God. Check it out. You will see a plug for this in the first issue of Top 10.)
Overall, it was a good read, different from the mainstream superheroes comics.
Secret Wars
I borrowed this book just because of the artist, Gabriele Dell Otto. This Italian does very good dynamic painted scenes and poses. If you like painted art, do pick this series or the trade. Note that the trade does not do justice to the art, as it is quite dark sometimes to see all the details.
Superman: Birthright
Birthright is a retelling of the origins of Superman, but I was not interested in the story, only the artwork, by artist Leinil Francis Yu. His style is clean, much reminiscent of Travis Charest's earlier works.
After discovering the local libraries are stocking up on comic graphic novels and collections, I am able to read some of the comics which I would normally not buy. They have quite a good range, depending on the location of the local library. I was surprised to see collections like Absolute Dark Knight and Cover to Cover hardcover editions.
I picked up Desolation Jones: Made in England because I liked J.H. Williams' art. His style is similar to Jae Lee. In Desolation Jones, he displays a few other styles which is similar to Moebius, David Mack and Travis Charest.
Other Realms is a collection of 2 stories that ran in Legends of the Dark Knight # 35-36, 76-78.
The art for this first story, Destiny, is by Bo Hampton, which I did not really like. The second, The Sleeping, is by his brother, Scott Hampton. Scott Hampton draws a very good Batman. He is one of the few in my opinion that draws a good Batman. I really like the cover for Issue # 77. It has a Simon Bisley feel to it.
Having heard about the computer generated movie, I checked out the comic strip to see what the hype was about. I really liked the comic, as it has a Calvin and Hobbes feel to it. And even though the art style seems a bit rough, the artists Mike Fry and T. Lewis captures the expressions of the characters very well. Checkout the daily strips here.
