Comic Review: She Could Fly: The Lost Pilot #1

She Could Fly: The Lost Pilot #1

Dark Horse Comics

Writer: Christopher Cantwell

Artist: Martin Morazzo

She Could Fly is one of my favorite comics from 2018. The premise of the comic is interesting, and the main character is kind of relatable. There’s a mysterious woman flying over the skies of Chicago. Luna, a teenage girl, obsesses over the mysterious woman who can fly. When the machine she uses to fly explodes, Luna sets out to find out who she is. It all came to a head, with Chinese spies, corporate mercenaries and government agencies having a shootout in Luna’s home.

She Could Fly: The Lost Pilot (2019-) #1 picks up a year after the ending of She Could Fly. Luna is put back in her regular life after being in a mental institution. Luna’s obsession with the flying woman, Mayura, isn’t as strong but is reignited when she learns more about her life and her kids. At the same time, Bill the physicist is being interrogated for what he knows about the flying machine. And Verna is selling Mayura’s designs and notes to Russians.

The feels like a really natural progression for the story. I’d imagine that government agencies, both local and foreign would be chasing after this kind of technology. And that’s what’s happening in the story. When we last saw Luna, she’s getting help for her mental health. In here, she’s better, but not quite. That’s something I really like about this issue, the events from the last series affect everyone in some way. Luna’s Dad is obsessing over his mom (with good reason). The story cuts to different people, all in different situations, but all revolving around the flying woman and her machine. It’s a little disjointed, but it falls in line with how Luna sees the world in this book.

Martin Morazzo is definitely up there as one of my favorite artists. I love his work in Image Comic’s Ice Cream Man and it’s great here. This story is kind of grounded in the real world, and the art helps with that feeling. Characters and backgrounds have a realistic design to them. And then whenever Luna has some intrusive thoughts, things get less realistic with what she’s imagining. And the style and everything works whenever that does happen. I also like the colors and shading from Miroslav Mrva in this issue. It makes the art stand out and differentiates Luna’s wilder thoughts from her reality.

I really like this issue. It’s technically a sequel, but it’s a direct sequel to the first mini-series. The story feels like a natural continuation from where it left off. There’s a time jump, but it doesn’t take any huge steps of logic with where it picks up. I feel like most people, on some level, can relate to the characters. If you’re a fan of the first mini-series, then I don’t see any reason why you wouldn’t want to read this one. If you haven’t read the first series, you should, and then you should definitely read this one.