Blythe is a flight attendant with a fear of heights - and she's flying deep into uncharted territory. Plucked from the secure, sterile world of jumbo jets and airport terminals, she's been launched into a stratosphere of conspiracies, terrorism and technology so advanced it may as well be magic. And she's been taken under the wing of the world's most famous, and mysterious, pilot: Amelia Earhart, alive and soaring after all these years...

Flying Machine is the second volume in the Air series of graphic novels, collecting issues #6-10 of the comic book series which began its run in 2008. Sadly the series was cancelled in August 2010, after only 24 issues, due to disappointing sales. I'm not sure whether or not the series is wrapped up or things are left hanging in the air (if you'll excuse the pun) as so far we've only received the first two volumes for review.

This volume asks the questions how did Amelia Earhart survive her disappearance? What is the centuries-old secret behind the device that enables her to travel the known (and unknown) world using nothing but dreams for fuel? And what is her real agenda for Blythe? The answers will find Blythe charting a course for the edge of reality - and the heart of the man she loves...

After the less than riveting first volume, volume two continues to stretch the narrative to breaking point. Instead of building on some of the issues in the first volume, volume two just seems to waffle on about nothing. And the final pages, where the "action" flashes back to Aztlan AD 1063, almost had be slipping into a coma.

I had a real job struggling through this volume. I stopped caring about the characters or what was going on. In fact, to be honest, I had to reread it when I realised I wasn't really paying attention. Not that a second reading made much difference - it still had a paper thin, and rather dull, plot. The artwork is also average, at best.

From what I've seen so far, I can't really recommend this collection.

2

Darren Rea