She Could Fly #5: She Can Fly, Too

Mental illness is at the forefront of She Could Fly which I love. Christopher Cantwell took on the incredibly difficult task of accurately depicting mental illness. The comic medium may be the perfect place for. In an industry dominated by superhumans and sagas spanning the universe, a story about a mental ill girl obsessed with a mysterious-jet pack-wearing woman is not the easiest sell. Luna’s intrusive thoughts are often violent and many times just outright impossible such as her eyeball talking to her. Despite Martin Morrazo’s art depicting panels worthy of horror comics, they show exactly what someone with Luna’s condition goes through. Extreme OCD, possibly bipolar disorder and schizophrenia plague Luna. These disorders are often misrepresented in media.

Mental disorders are major characters in She Could Fly. The whole series follows Luna searching for answers regarding the flying woman. Her search becomes obsessive and it becomes obvious that Luna views the woman as the hope of overcoming her ailments. Luna discovers in The Lost Pilot that the woman most likely killed herself. Whether it was intentional or negligent, the woman’s jet pack contained a flaw that led to it exploding. The flying woman’s husband confirms to Luna that he knew she did it on purpose. The revelation of this causes Luna’s hope to fly away.

It is a hard pill to swallow (and Luna has to swallow many) to accept a mental disorder. It may take years or even a lifetime to accept one’s circumstances. Luna is constantly questioning herself as to whether she is getting better or worse. Her delusions often overlap into real life, such as wanting to cut out her eye because it won’t stop talking to her.

Medications alone cannot cure her because there is no cure. The Lost Pilot concludes with Luna undergoing experimental brain surgery which seems like such a deus ex machina, which I think was intentional by Cantwell. Luna wakes up from the surgery asking if she died then faced with a room of the series’ characters all standing in her hospital room. This leads to the question of whether the surgery worked or not. It is unclear whether Cantwell will continue Luna’s story, but for now, I am happy that he is continuing to work within the comic medium where he is currently writing Everything which is also under Dark Horse Comics’ Berger Books imprint.