She Could Fly:The Lost Pilot #5 is a rare dud in what’s been an excellent series. It’s the second arc’s finale and it does have some stellar moments: characters you wouldn’t expect get to fly in ways you might not expect; Mayura’s family and Luna finally meet; and there are some other surprises, good and bad.
As always, Martìn Morazzo brings to life gorgeous images from Christopher Cantwell’s scripts. Together, the two of them have seemed to find a backdoor into the visual language of the subconscious and it’s led to some remarkable splash pages throughout She Could Fly.
The series also continues to do great work challenging the American stigma around mental health. Last issue, Mayura’s husband challenged the idea of anything being able to “fix” a mental illness. In this issue, more wonderful advice comes from an unexpected source: “Luna… nothing saves anyone… it’s not that easy. Trust me… I know.” The point being not that mental illness is untreatable, but rather that treatment takes time and it’s something to be lived with rather than done away with.
What’s not working, and what ultimately sinks this issue, is that Bill Meigs is delivering that advice. You may remember him as one of the series villains, who’s not shown a hint of a soft-side throughout the series. Bad guys and girls giving good life advice can be extremely powerful when it’s earned, but with Meigs it doesn’t feel that way. It feels like Cantwell shoe-horning it in.
Other characters feel slightly off as well, though you’ll need to read the issue to see who and what I’m talking about without spoilers.
It’s not clear if She Could Fly is coming back for a third arc or not, but here’s to hoping. Whether it does or not, AMC has optioned the comic book. Here’s to hoping that the third arc and the pilot come out sooner rather than later.
She Could Fly: The Lost Pilot #5 will be available on August 14, 2019 from Dark Horse Comics.
Wicked Rating – 6/10
See Our Previous Coverage of She Could Fly Here: Issue 1 / Issue 2 / Issue 3 / Issue 4
See Our Previous Coverage of She Could Fly: The Lost Pilot Here: Issue 1 / Issue 2
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