G. Willow Wilson and M.K. Perker's Vertigo series Air is the definition of "unexpected". For some reason, being a title under the Vertigo imprint of books often gives the impression that it's a book with sex, drugs, violence, or all of the above. And though I know that's entirely untrue, as there are plenty of books that have been published by Vertigo that contain none of these things, it's a stigma that remains. Air is an adult comic to be sure, but adult in themes and ideas rather than debauchery. The second trade paperback of the Eisner-nominated series was released last week, and collects issues #6-10.

Flying Machine finds our heroine Blythe under the tutelage of the long thought dead Amelia Earhart, who is somehow tied into the giant conspiracy involving a mystery lover man named Zayn, a country that disappeared off of every map on Earth, and some sort of power that she houses to control a device that all of the involved parties are after. Saying it all aloud makes you sound a bit daffy, but Blythe's world is very much one of classic fantasy applied to the world we live in today; an unsuspecting/incapable human is given the chance to save humanity, forcing them to walk the hero's path and realize their previously unseen potential.

Having read Wilson and Perker's Vertigo OGN Cairo, I expected to find similar themes in Air, but it wasn't until this second volume that I found myself being able to correlate ideas between the two works. Aside from the obvious art comparisons - which Perker gets to expand upon in these issues - Wilson revisits the concept of fate, a theme that was relied upon heavily in Cairo and is now proving to be a very large part of Blythe's new career as a hyperpract pilot (the term for the trippy powers we discover during the course of the series). She also toys with the interconnectivity of human beings through the circumstance of her main characters, something she did in Cairo as well, that also ties back around into fate.

There are certain issues of this collection that stand out beyond the others - the issue that features Blythe's extended stay inside of Zayn's memories comes to mind - but as a whole the trade gives a lot of clues as to a definite direction to the series, something that Air had been missing up to this point. The final issue of the collection that features a trip back in time to the Aztecs is quite jarring, and perhaps would have been better suited as being left for the next volume, though I give it credit for sending the reader off on a certain note of curiosity.

Early in this series, Blythe is a truly interesting character that continues to grow with each passing issue. It's remarkable to consider that in issue #1 she was a relatively annoying acrophobic flight attendant, and by the end of this volume, issue #10, she's genuinely a world apart with the ability to control one of the most powerful devices in existence. Just as Cairo before it, Wilson and Perker are able to create an imaginative world that is set firmly inside the existence we know, pushing the walls outward until we have no choice but to accept the fantastical elements as reality.

Yet again, Vertigo delivers a book that needs to be on your bookshelf.