KAZU KIBUISHI ON AMULET

[MattBrady]

by Zack Smith

Kazu Kibuishi has become one of the most acclaimed creators of the last few years with such creations as the webcomic Copper; Daisy Kutter from Viper, and the Flight anthologies, which he created and edits.

Now, Kibuishi is poised to reach his biggest audience yet with Amulet, a full-color original graphic novel series from Scholastic Books, whose first volume, The Stonekeeper, hits shelves this month. It’s an all-ages story about two kids trying to save their mother from terrible creatures, filled with action, pathos and almost any fantasy element you can imagine. While on vacation in Japan, Kibuishi offered some hints as to what readers will find in the first volume of this epic adventure.

Newsarama: Kazu, give our readers an idea of what they can expect from Amulet.

Kazu Kibuishi: The story is about two kids (Emily and Navin) who have lost their father in a car accident. When they can no longer afford to live in the city, their mother moves them into a house in the woods, and on the first evening she is kidnapped by a creature in the basement. Using a powerful amulet left by their great grandfather as their guide, the kids have to journey through a giant subterranean labyrinth to rescue her before it's too late.



NRAMA: Could you tell us a little bit about the main characters?

KK; I based Emily on the kind of kid I used to be. She's very serious-minded and anxious to grow up, as if being a kid doesn't suit her. Her brother Navin is there to counterbalance this as he's just fine with being a kid and growing up at the proper pace. He's a lot like my younger brother.

My wife Amy tells me that I am most like Miskit, though. Miskit is the mechanical rabbit that helps the kids on their journey to rescue their mom. He just wants to do his job right and make sure the kids get through their journey safely, so I guess he is a lot like me while working on this book.



NRAMA: There are many fantasy elements in the story, ranging from giant monsters to equally-giant robots. What's your favorite fantasy character to draw in this story?

KK: Trellis, the Elf King's son.

NRAMA: Why is Trellis your favorite character?

KK: He's not necessarily my favorite character. I love them all. He's just the most fun to draw right now. Although, I have to admit that Emily is clearly becoming my favorite character to draw in book 2.

NRAMA: How'd you get involved with Scholastic and this project?

KK: I had the idea to this project about when I was graduating from college. The concept of these kids moving into a mysterious puzzle maker's house was cool, but I didn't quite know what the story was really about (beneath the surface), so I had a lot of false starts.

Years later, after I had finished working on Daisy Kutter and a couple of Flight volumes, I had a better sense of how to do the work. And after having been through some tough times with my family since then, I also had something I wanted to talk about.



Seeing as Scholastic was looking to publish graphic novels, and this idea seemed a perfect match for them, I felt very lucky that my friend Raina Telgemeier asked me if she could show my preview material for the book to her editor at Scholastic. The folks at Scholastic also seemed to feel it was the right fit, and now here we are!

NRAMA: You set the stakes in the book pretty high in the opening sequence -- I don't want to spoil it for our readers, but it's a pretty harrowing action sequence that puts Emily through a pretty traumatic situation. A lot of the story is grounded in the very human interactions between the child characters and their mother. What were some of the challenges of writing in the voice of a young girl?

KK: Before tackling this project, I never realized how difficult it would be to write young characters. It was the first instance where I felt like I really had to distance myself from who I was at the moment and to try and remember what it was like to be a kid.



Since younger people have yet to make major decisions in their lives, and are hardly living with the weight of their past, their character portraits are like blank slates. So I had to do a lot of trial and error. I essentially drew the entire story out about 6 or 7 times until I really knew who the characters were, based on their reactions to events. Whatever didn't feel right got scrapped.

If you compared the before and after pages, you can see what a difference there is in the personalities of the kids. After a while, my characters were no longer just reflections of the author. At least to me, they became real people.

NRAMA: How did you conceive this world, and how extensively have you developed it?

KK: I just jumped in and kept churning out story sequences for about a year and a half. Whatever bits and pieces of the world that suited the story stayed in the story. I learned a lot about the world by seeing the back stories unfold. It's actually the first time that I took an active effort in doing some world-building, since most of the time I just wing it.

I feel pretty geeky thinking about how I know quite a lot about the history of Alledia, despite it not being talked about in the first volume of Amulet.



NRAMA: You were telling me how a lot of the production energy went into doing this as a full-color book. What techniques did you use to color the book?

KK: I used Photoshop for all the coloring. Most of the techniques used were things I learned while doing concept paintings for animation, commercials and games,

NRAMA: What were some of the fantasy/SF/real world elements that influenced this story?

KK: This book is really influenced by Spielberg's eighties fantasy films, especially E.T. It is also equally influenced by the films of Hayao Miyazaki, but nearly everything I do is influenced by his work in one way or another. Spirited Away and Laputa are very clearly fantasy references for Amulet. I'm also very inspired by my visits to places like Yosemite and Portland, so these real life natural landscapes show up in the book, too.

NRAMA: Jeff Smith's been a big supporter of your work, and is also published through Scholastic. Did he offer you any advice on doing a long-form fantasy story?

KK: Jeff helped tremendously. And his notes probably consisted of no more than 20 sentences. They were all just spot on observations that really helped me focus things. He's a great story editor.

NRAMA: Amulet has a very interesting sense of pacing -- there are a lot of decompressed scenes that are allowed to play out over several pages, but it's also a very fast-paced story with many action sequences. How did you work out how the storyline would be paced, and did you work with an editor in shaping the story?

KK: I had a couple of editors, but I was probably my own harshest editor. I kept making myself redraw sequences because they just weren't good enough. In the end, I cobbled together pieces from several different drafts and smoothed out the transitions to make the final book. It's this organic style of working that I think gives me and my editor ulcers, but I know I just can't work any other way.



NRAMA: What's it been like coordinating this with your other projects?

KK: It's been difficult, but I'm getting better at managing multiple projects. Sometimes it's nice to be able to work on something completely different for a short while to keep myself from overworking Amulet.

NRAMA: How many volumes do you see Amulet running?

KK: Five books, but I do see a conceivable ending at three. I'll just let the story itself decide how long it wants to be.

NRAMA: Any hints for future volumes? When is Volume 2 coming out?

KK: It will be out in the fall of 2009. The second one will be pure fantasy entertainment, and I can't wait to see how it turns out. The first book ends with a promise of some high fantasy, and I'll work hard to deliver on that promise.

NRAMA: What's next for you?

KK: Besides Amulet 2 and 3, I'm currently working with the artists on Flight 5, 6, and Flight Explorer 2. Aside from comics, I'm also working on a feature film project and an animated TV show with some friends of mine who I really respect. I'll be talking a bit more about those projects when things are a little more concrete.

[FIG]

Beautiful work as always Kazu. I'd say good luck but you don't need it, this looks stunning. I can't wait to pick this up.

[mikey_danger]

Kazu's work is breathtaking. His sense of pacing is amazing.

All of this couldn't happen to a more genuine and honest man.

[creatorman]

Wow! Very nice artwork. Will have to check it out.

[StorytellerSJK]

I have already purchased and read this book and let me be the first to say it was well worth twice the price. This is everything I've come to love from Kazu's shorter works married to a larger and more epic narrative. This story is all ages in the best sense of the words, much like the Pixar films or Mike Kunkel's comics. The book open with one heck of a sucker punch to the emotions and only grows in exuberance and excitement from there. It leaves you with one of those classic ending that makes you simultaneously want to scream from frustration and laugh with delight at the possibilities to come. Of course as any fan of Kazu Kibuishi knows the art is beyond reproach with some of his best design work yet. I love me that little bunny. I was somebody who got into both Akiko and Bone from practically the ground floor. To this day I get a warm feeling when I at my collections. I especially await the day I can share there magic with children of my own. I now add The Amulet to that collection. Reading the first book of The Amulet reminds of when I first discovered those wonderful stories. Give this book a chance. I doubt you will regret it.

[J.D. Lombardi]

WHOA! This book looks excellent! It makes me happy that, unlike Wizard...Newsarama covers "smaller" books just as much as they do the hundred thousand sellers.

Without an interview like this, I'd never have known this exists...and wouldn't have written down the title to go out and buy this week. (like I just did!)

[Blackbeard]

Sold, sold, sold!

I can't wait to pick it up!

I wonder... will Diamond be distributing this as well? In other words: can I buy it at my LCS?

[CitC]

I have a copy sitting next to me that I plan on reading this weekend. It was nice to be able to read this before i did though.

[Blackbeard]

Originally Posted by CitC

I have a copy sitting next to me that I plan on reading this weekend. It was nice to be able to read this before i did though.

Guess I'll need to make a trip to Barnes&Noble's tomorrow.

[David Bird]

We ordered a couple of copies in before Christmas and they were immediately picked up. We reordered (more copies this time). Again they were immediately picked up. Not many books sell out the day you get them, and I can't think of another that did it twice.

[Gordon McAlpin]

Originally Posted by David Bird

We ordered a couple of copies in before Christmas and they were immediately picked up. We reordered (more copies this time). Again they were immediately picked up. Not many books sell out the day you get them, and I can't think of another that did it twice.

That just means you didn't order enough!

[David Bird]

Our order was comparable to most new titles -- and more than some.

[davidhopkins]

I purchased the soft cover in December. I want to go back and get the hardcover version. (I love Amulet that much.) Kazu has always been one of my favorite storytellers. Don't want to spoil anything, but the first twelve pages are intense! Looking forward to more Amulet.

[Blackbeard]

I just ordered the hardcover on Amazon. Can't wait for it to get here.

[space81]

Great interview. I've read the book and it's fantastic!

Kazu Kibuishi will be making an appearance, with Flight alumni Kean Soo, at Toronto Public Library's Keep Toronto Reading program this February. Here are the details. Hope you can make it and spread the word!

Tues. Feb. 5, 2008.
6:30 to 8 p.m.
North York Central Library (5120 Yonge. St, North of Sheppard)
Presented with The Beguiling (beguiling.com)
With thanks to Scholastic Canada

Enter an online contest on keeptorontoreading.ca - when the full site launches soon - to win a copy of Amulet.

Join the 'Keep Toronto Reading' Facebook group, too. =)
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19746872808

[GLX]

Just picked up the paperback edition and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Good stuff.