Comic Book Review: Air #7

Air is an ongoing comic book series published through DC’s Vertigo imprint. Air is written by G Willow Wilson, with art by M.K. Perker.

Air #7 acts almost like a stand-alone issue, and caps the first story arc of the series perfectly. It is also a fantastic jumping-on point for new readers, because at the start of the issue, G. Willow Wilson gives a very neat one-page precis of the events that occurred in the first six issues of the series. This summary is quite wonderful in itself, as it is presented as if the main character of the book, Blythe, is an associate of G Willow Wilson’s, and Wilson is worried about her safety, due to some events which have recently happened in her life. It’s a really original way to introduce people and get them on board.

In the previous issue of the series, Blythe met with Amelia Earhart, who told her that was a Hyperpract, that is, she has the cognitive ability to operate a special type of space-time engine, which enables Hyperprax flight. At the end of the issue, Blythe “freaked out”, and began thinking of her mysterious lover, Zayne. Suddenly she woke up in the body of Zayne, as a ten year old boy.

The events of this issue take the form of being trapped inside the mind of Zayne, and watching his life, through his eyes, as he experiences it. We share in Blythe’s confusion and disorientation as the mysteries of Zayne’s origins are slowly revealed to us. We see him growing up in Saudi-Arabia, before being sent off to school in the United States. In the United States he struggles to fit in, and make friends, and find love. He realizes eventually that his strict Saudi upbringing separates him from others in many ways, so he joins a Madras, and ends up becoming an Islamic fundamentalist. We then fast-forward to his first meeting with Blythe, and there is a really poignant scene where Bylthe feels Zayne’s emotions for her, as if she were living them herself. Eventually Blythe comes back to “reality”, but I am trying to stay a little vague, so that you will still go out any buy the comic Also, it really is quite a complicated, and multi-faceted, story to summarize in any succinct fashion.

This comic was wonderfully executed, and possibly the best issues of the series thus far. It was a really inventive way to show us the origins of the Zayne character, and managed to answer several questions, whilst also raising several more.

I would recommend this comic to anyone looking for something new and thought-provoking. This is the type of comic book that the Vertigo imprint was created for. It is original, alternative, literate, and breathtakingly illustrated, and I would rank it in the same class as titles such as Sandman, and Fables. G. Willow Wilson is an incredibly talented writer, and I believe this is just the start of a very promising career. Air is one of the most fantastic, and refreshingly original series to be published this year.

This issue of Air is on sale for the special price of only $1. A TPB is also now available, collecting issues 1-5 of the series.