The Written Nerd

Man, I've been hitting the graphic novels hard lately. Here's a rundown on recent reading. Flight, Volume 1 edited by Kazuo Kibuishi (Villard, April 2007) Don't let the publication date fool you -- the Flight project is one that has been building and gathering steam for a long time, and just recently burst unavoidably into the consciousness of folks like me (i.e. "mainstream" readers). The anthology, first published by Image Comics in 2004, gathers short works by dozens of young (sometimes VERY young) independent comic artists and writers. Many relate, more or less, to the "theme" of flight, whether it's a boy and his dog building a dirigible to traverse a fantasy world, a nerd and a popular girl bonding over kite flying, or a penguin who finds a way to transcend the whole flightless bird thing. As with any collection, it can be a bit uneven -- some of these artists were in their late teens when they did this work, and a few feel a bit teen ang...