Flight is an anthology of episodic comics, written and drawn by a variety of artists and edited by Kazu Kibushi (author of Amulet, Copper (2002) and Daisy Kutter). The collected works range from lighthearted and irreverent to deeply introspective and melodramatic; art styles run the gamut from simplistic or cartoonish to realistic or painterly; and the content of the stories ranges from bizarre to moderately sane. Known for its inventive compilation of different styles, Flight has been well-received by critics and readers alike. To date eight volumes have been released, with the earliest in 2004 and the latest in 2011.
Flight provides examples of:
- Animal Motifs: From the above story: Gladys Perna sells fresh clams. Sandy Balgan sells fresh fish. This is taken to an extreme later when the two transform into their products.
- Armor-Piercing Question: In Svetlana Chmakova‘s "Show and Tell", after Nathan's bullying of Jeannie results in her accidentally badly injuring herself, Nathan encounters Jeannie's father at the hospital and tries to deal with his guilt by shifting the blame to Jeannie's eccentricities - "It wasn't my fault!! She's crazy! She thinks she's from Pluto!" Her father simply gives the boy a sad look and asks "Why does that matter?" Nathan is still thinking about this weeks later when Jeannie has recovered enough to return to school, and ultimately starts making an awkward but sincere effort to be nice to her and make amends even as she persists in her fantastical claims.
- Badass Normal: Sandy Balgan when she was human.
- Body Horror: "Food From the Sea", in which the protagonist and her rival become so obsessed with their businesses(Fish and Clam), that they start to morph into them.
- Cool Old Lady: The face Gladys Perna wears for her customers.
- Driven by Envy: Sandy Balgan is an ambitious young fisherwoman who's jealous of Gladys Perna's clam market, and tries to compete with her fresh fish. It doesn't end well for either of them.
- Evil Old Folks: The face Gladys Perna reveals for her rival. She's a spiteful, selfish woman who refuses to allow competition for her Clam fishing business, even though she's old enough to be Sandy's grandma.
- Eyepatch of Power: Gladys Perna has one eye and is a seasoned Clam fisher who practically rules her island home with her business. She doesn't take kindly at all to competition either.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: In "Food From The Sea", Sandy and Gladys engage in a brutal and bloody fight in the island shore, during which Gladys shoves her hand through Sandy's chest to her heart, which Sandy does to her in turn, and the two drag each other beneath the waves and sink into the sea to die. Had they not been giant Sea beasts, this probably would've been even more gruesome.
- Fiery Redhead: Sandy Balgan in "Food From the Sea" is an ambitious, hot-headed young girl who loves fish, wrangles a giant fish on her own, and is determined to make everyone on the island see it's delicacies. Also deconstructed, as Sandy's temper ends up literally changing her into a monster, and ultimately leads to her demise.
- Intergenerational Rivalry: "Food From The Sea" has the young, high spirited Sandy Balgan go up against the seasoned, elderly Gladys Perna for control of the island's seafood market.
- Mood Whiplash: Sweet, lighthearted cartoons can be placed right next to bloody Speculative Fiction and down-to-Earth drama.
- Spoof Aesop: "The Maiden and the River Spirit
" by Derek Kirk Kim directly references the eponymous fairy tale, then completely subverts it. - Tragic Monster: Sandy Balgan wanted to share her love of fish with the world and it ended up costing her humanity.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Phil Craven's "The Chase" has a gentle, shape-shifting beast fleeing hunters with a little boy helping it. It morphs into whatever it eats part of, which lets it become a tree from a twig and a boulder from a pebble. The twist reveals that the "boy" is actually an elder beast who assumed the real child's form after biting off his thumb. However, it's implied the kid was helping the two creatures, and he saves the young beast from a hunter before the pair flee into the woods.
