My first introduction to this extraordinary anthology series, the 15 stories in Flight Volume Six offer creators from around world employing a variety of genres: fantasy, science fiction, westerns, and slice-of-life ranging from serious to whimsical. Every beautiful story in this impressive book delights, but several stand out. Michel Gagné's charming story "The Saga of Rex: Soulmates" tells the silent tale of two cat-like creatures and their interplanetary love. In "The Excitingly Mundane Life of Kenneth Shuri," J.P. Ahonen chronicles the challenges that confront an unemployed ninja. A seemingly incompetent Viking stars in Graham Annable's funny "Magnus the Misfit." Cory Godbey follows a man's dreams in the moving "Walters." Justin Ridge's "Dead Bunny" follows an undead rabbit looking for companionship. Now to find the previous five volumes. ( )

This is the 6th book in the Flight series and I think it was one of the weakest volumes in this anthology series. Volumes 4 and 5 were absolutely spectacular and this one was a bit shorter and the content wasn’t as high quality.

Some of my favorites were: The Saga of Rex: Soulmates and Daisy Kutter: Phantoms. There were a couple other good stories as well but the majority of the stories were pretty lackluster.

You can see down below for a list of the stories in here and comments on them.

Overall an okay Flight volume but a bit disappointing. There are still some quality stories in here but it wasn’t nearly as good as the previous two volumes. I would recommend the whole anthology series to those who enjoy fantasy/sci-fi graphic novels. This was one of the weaker books in the series but it was still okay.

“The Saga of Rex: Soulmates" - Michel Gagné (5/5)
I continue to love The Saga of Rex. The illustration is beautiful and the story is touching, creative, and very engaging. This was my favorite of the bunch.

“The Excitingly Mundane Life of Kenneth Shuri" - JP Ahonen (4/5 stars)
This was a cute story about an un-ployed ninja. I enjoyed it.

“Daisy Kutter: Phantoms" - Kazu Kibuishi (5/5 stars)
I always love Kazu Kibuishi’s artwork. This was an amazing story with steampunk and western overtones to it. I really loved it.

“Magnus the Misfit" - Graham Annable (3/5 stars)
This was an okay story about the origins of Vikings.

“Dead at Noon" - Rodolphe Guenoden (2/5 stars)
I didn’t enjoy this story much. It’s pretty dark and involves drinking, implied rape, and a lot of violence. I just felt like it didn’t fit very well with the theme of these graphic novels. I also thought the artwork was hard to follow.

“Epitaph" - Phil Craven (2/5 stars)
This was very short and, although slightly ironic, wasn’t all that entertaining. I didn’t enjoy the artwork style either.

“Walters" - Cory Godbey (4/5 stars)
This had excellent artwork and told an engaging adventure story. I had a little trouble following parts of it but overall enjoyed it.

"Mate" - Andrea Offermann (3/5 stars)
Beautiful artwork in this story as well but I was a bit confused by what was going on.

"Kidnapped" - Red Sechrist (2/5 stars)
I really didn’t like the artwork in this one and I thought the story was boring and kind of silly.

"Cooking Duel" - Bannister (3/5 stars)
This was about a cooking duel between a husband/wife. It was cute but also a bit boring.

"Dead Bunny" - Justin Ridge (4/5 stars)
This was a well done and well illustrated zombie bunny version of “Are you my mommy?”. It was very cute and I enjoyed it.

"The Z's" - Richard Pose (3/5 stars)
This was a cute story about a young boy going fishing. It was decently drawn but I thought it got a bit confusing at points and was boring at other points. It was okay but not great.

"Jellaby: Hide and Seek" - Kean Soo (3/5 stars)
This was a continuation of the Jellaby story. It was about them playing hide and seek together. Honestly this was kind of lackluster and nothing all that exciting happens here.

"Fish N Chips: Even the Smallest Creatures" - Steve Hamaker (3/5 stars)
This one just didn’t hit the mark for me. It’s about a superhero duo fighting an evil clam. I read through it and thought it was kind of blah.

"Long-Winded" - Mike Dutton (4/5 stars)
This is a sweet story about a young girl and her grandpa taking a walk as he tries to explain the concept of the wind to her. It was beautifully drawn and very well done. I enjoyed reading it a lot. ( )

Summary: The Flight anthologies are collections of short stories in graphic novel form. They don't have overt themes, per se, but Volume 6 was more geared towards the choices one has to make in being a grownup. (This is a vast oversimplification; the stories are always really varied, and can just as easily feature ninjas, zombie rabbits, cowboys, or baseball players.)

Review: Now that I've gotten over my (false) preconception of "The Flight anthologies should mostly wordless" that I developed while reading Vols. 3 & 4, I enjoyed the heck out of this volume. Some highlights for me in Volume 6 were the bizarre but fascinatingly drawn "Mate" by Andrea Offerman; Bannister & Grimaldi's immediately recognizable tale of "Cooking Duel"; "Magnus the Misfit" by Graham Annable, a cute Viking story about fitting in - or not; and best of all, a Daisy Kutter story ("Phantoms") by Kazu Kibuishi! 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: These anthologies are visually stunning, full of interesting stories, and a great way to get exposed to the wide range of what comics can be, and can do. Definitely worth checking out. ( )