Air Vol. 2: Flying Machine

DC/Vertigo

G. Willow Wilson

Oct 09, 2009 Web Exclusive By Jeremy Nisen Bookmark and Share

Air, written by journalist G. Willow Wilson and illustrated by M.K. Parker, is very quotable. There are many, many cool lines. Example: "Maps speak to maps... signposts to signposts." 

Blythe, this airline attendant, is caught up in some sort of weird mess involving terrorism, airplanes, Amelia Earhart, strange artifacts, and Quetzacoatl. It sort of defies easy description—there's a lot going on here. We're talking travel—both distance and time—through devices powered by strange mechanics, manipulated by applying concepts such as: "Symbolism as technology; technology as symbolism." Heady stuff. And weird. Strangely chaotic. Blythe seems to rise to the occasion; as a reader, I had a little trouble doing that.

Did I enjoy Air? Why, yes—but Wilson's strengths seem to be complex characters, their backgrounds, and their relationships. The crazy concepts are positively Morrisonian (as in Grant), but the explanations surrounding them didn't quite work for me. It's a comic—sometimes things just work because they work. I was most captivated by the time Blythe spent trapped back in time, inside a one-time lover's body in the past, where she experienced his upbringing as a boy from the Middle East. But when I got thrown into all the random disappearing, and was subjected to almost self-help mantra-esque metaphysical stuff, I was skyrocketed out of the material and into my own head. (www.dccomics.com/vertigo)

Author rating: 6/10

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Average reader rating: 7/10

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pillar drill
May 2nd 2010
4:47am

It’s a comic—sometimes things just work because they work. I was most captivated by the time Blythe spent trapped back in time, inside a one-time lover’s body in the past.