Similar to the previous seven books (Volumes 1-6 plus [b:Flight Explorer, Volume 1|1803934|Flight Explorer, Volume 1|Kazu Kibuishi|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266899483s/1803934.jpg|1803136]) of this extraordinary anthology series, the 16 stories in Flight Volume Seven offer creators from around world employing a variety of genres: fantasy, science fiction, and slice-of-life ranging from serious to whimsical. While not as impressive as the [b:previous volume|6347969|Flight, Volume 6|Kazu Kibuishi|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266651020s/6347969.jpg|6534400], which I included among the Nexus Graphica Top Ten for 2009, most of the always beautiful stories rise far above others in the medium. Justin Gerard's anthropomorphic tale "Live Bait" relates the interesting search for a swampland killer. J.P. Ahonen's unemployed ninja returns in the amusing "Kenneth Shuri and the Big Sweep." "Premium Cargo," magnificently envisioned by Kostas Kiriakakis, recounts the emotional final days of an airship captain with his winged foster son. Kate and Steven Shanahan rely on over the top shenanigans for the humorous "Fairy Market." The lovable monster Jellaby delivers some sage wisdom in Kean Soo's "Guardian Angel." As with the earlier volumes, Flight Volume Seven deserves a place in any finer collection. ( )

This is the 7th volume in the Flight graphic novel series. This book contains another set of interesting graphic novel short stories that are all supposed to have some aspect of Flight to them. While this collection was better than Vol 5 and 6; it still wasn’t nearly as strong as some of the earlier volumes.

You can see below for brief comments on the included stories and what I thought of them. My favorites continue to be Gagne’s “Saga of Rex”, Kazu Kibuishi’s stories, and the Jellaby stories. I additionally really liked “Live Bait” by Justin Gerard and “Sentinels” by Jason Caffoe.

Overall a solid collection of graphic novel short stories. I enjoyed them and plan on reading the final book (8) in the Flight series. I would recommend to those who enjoy sci-fi/fantasy graphic novels.

“Saga of Rex: The Harvest” by Michel Gagne’ (5/5)
This explains why everything that happened, happened to Rex in the previous installments. Gorgeous illustration and a sweet story.

“The Courier: Shortcut” by Kazu Kibuishi (5/5)
This was another wonderful addition to the Courier story and of course was beautifully illustrated.

“Live Bait” by Justin Gerard (5/5)
More fantastic illustration with a story that at first seems predictable but has a touching twist to it at the end.

“Kenneth Shuri and the Big Sweep” by JP Ahonen (4/5)
This was a continuation of the Kenneth Shuri (unemployed ninja) stories that have been in previous volumes. It’s a cute story but the illustration style is not my favorite.

“Premium Cargo” by Kostas Kiriakakis (4/5)
This was a cute story that had a fun twist to it. The drawing style was unique and interesting but the story was a bit hard to follow.

“Sustain the Song” by Lenland Myrick (3/5)
I didn’t really like this story or the illustration style; it was okay but not great.

“Overhead” by Stuart LIvingston (4/5)
I enjoyed this story and the illustration style but the story felt very incomplete.

“Onere and Piccola” (4/5)
This was a beautifully done mythology themed story. I liked the illustration as well and enjoyed it.

“Fairy Market” by Kadi and Steven Shanahan (3/5)
The artwork was very cartoony and sketchy for this story (not my favorite). I also thought the story was goofy and a big silly. It was okay but not great.

“I’ve Decided to Become a Skeptic” by Dave Roman (2/5)
Very short and silly story. I didn’t enjoy the artwork or the story.

“Jellaby: Guardian Angel” (5/5)
I always love the Jellaby stories. In this one Jellaby is determined to make everyone’s life better and the shenanigans that ensue are very entertaining.

“Career Day” by Bannister and Grmaldi (3/5)
This was a cute story but I wasn’t a fan of the artwork. The story was about a boy who follows around his older brother (who is a knight) on career day.

“Sentinels” by Jason Caffoe (5/5)
This was a very thought-provoking story and had amazing artwork.

“King of Beasts: What’s Yours is Mine!” by Paul Harmon (3/5)
I liked the color in the drawings and the story would have been neat but it got pretty confusing and was hard to follow.

“TT Challenge” by Dermot Walshe (2/5)
Very short story about a TT Champion. I didn’t like the story or artwork and wasn’t sure what the point was.

“B.L.T” by Drew Dernavich (3/5)
This was an okay story about a man who orders a BLT but the place he orders from is out of bacon. This leads him to consider endless possibilities for his sandwich. ( )

Summary: Flight is a series of comics anthologies that feature short pieces, on a variety of subjects but mostly all in the fantasy / sci-fi realm, from a variety of young graphic novel creators. Stories in Volume 7 include the last/first part of Michael Gagne's The Story of Rex, another of JP Ahonen's "Kenneth Shuri, Modern Ninja" stories, a Kazu Kibuishi story featuring the courier, as well as a number of one-off stories featuring everything from monsters to motorbike races, soldiers to sandwiches, fairy markets to forest spirits.

Review: This volume was solidly enjoyable, with lots of good-to-very-good stories, but nothing that really blew me out of the water. My favorites in Volume 7 were "Premium Cargo" by Kostas Kiriakakis, about an airship captain who has been tasked to deliver a very special child, and "Sentinels" by Jason Caffoe, a short piece that manages to effectively capture the terrors and the wonders of the power that dwells in the woods. There was also some lovely artwork in some of the stories in this volume, particularly Justin Gerard's "Live Bait", a story of some rodents and a horrible creature that has taken up residence deep in the swamp, and Cory Godbey's "Onere and Piccola", an Orpheus-like creation myth.

Recommendation: The Flight collections are an amazing outpouring of creativity, and well worth picking up whether you're just getting into graphic novels, or if you're an established comics reader who wants a sampling of what's out there. ( )