Kazu Kibuishi

Last updated
カズ・キブイシ
Kazu Kibuishi 2018.jpg
Kibuishi at the 2018 Texas Book Festival
BornKazuhiro Kibuishi
(1978-04-08) April 8, 1978 (age 46)
Tokyo, Japan
NationalityAmerican
Notable works
Flight , Amulet
boltcity.com

Kazuhiro "Kazu" Kibuishi (born April 8, 1978) is a Japanese-born American graphic novel author and illustrator. He is best known for being the creator and editor of the comic anthology Flight and for creating the webcomic Copper . He is also the author and illustrator of the Amulet series.

Contents

Early life and education

Kibuishi was born April 8, 1978, in Tokyo, Japan. [1] [2] [3] He moved to the United States with his mother and brother in 1982. [2] [3]

Kibuishi enrolled at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1996 to pursue a degree in film studies.[4] While attending UC Santa Barbara, he credits the university's newspaper, the Daily Nexus, as where his illustration career started.[4] Though he had previously drawn for his high school's newspaper, Kibuishi has stated that "[his career] all began when I started writing comics for the Nexus. I actually went to UCSB for film. I was trying to quit drawing."[4] He would ultimately serve as the Art Director for the Daily Nexus for three and a half years, and developed his comic Clive and Cabbage during his tenure.[4] He graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2000 with a B.A. in film studies.[5]

Career

Kibuishi started drawing at age five. [4] He has stated that it was "the sadness that came from no longer having cool robot TV shows like Ultraman around once we came to the States that triggered a lot of my early drawings and projects." [5] He has also noted Garfield and the magazines Mad Magazine, and CARtoons as catalysts for his love of comic books in particular. [5]

After he graduated from UC Santa Barbara, Kibuishi worked as an animator for Shadedbox Animations for two years. [6] He decided to leave animation to focus on comics, where he could spend more time writing. [7] He started producing the monthly comic Copper at his website which ran for seven years, ending in 2009. [8] Kazu Kibushi also made kids at Pieper Ranch Middle School (PRMS) happy by going by and giving signed copied of Amulet book 1 and 9, he also sketched in them too.

Flight

Flight was conceived by Kibuishi as an anthology with contributions coming from friends. [9] The project was promoted at the Alternative Press Expo, where it attracted the attention of Erik Larsen, then-new publisher of Image Comics. [10] This caused the project to explode, attracting talent from all over the industry. [10] Image published the first volume in 2004 and the anthology series concluded with the eighth volume in 2011. [11]

Explorer

Following the conclusion of Flight, the Explorer series was Kibuishi's anthology for children using many of the same contributors to Flight. [12] [13] Seen as a successor series, Explorer covered three books and concluded with Explorer: The Hidden Doors. [8] [14] [15]

Amulet

Kibuishi is the creator of Amulet , a series of graphic novels which debuted in 2008 with The Stonekeeper . [2] [3] Scholastic won the rights to publish the series after they were victorious in a hotly contested auction. [2] [3] In addition to The Stonekeeper, other titles in the series include The Stonekeeper's Curse, The Cloud Searchers, The Last Council, Prince of the Elves, Escape From Lucien, Firelight, Supernova, and Waverider. The series concluded with the ninth and final book titled Waverider, which released on February 6th, 2024. [16]

Other projects

While editing Flight Volume 1, Kibuishi created the 4-issue steampunk graphic novel Daisy Kutter: The Last Train, published by Viper Comics. [17]

Through his relationship with Scholastic, Kibuishi was asked to illustrate the covers for the Harry Potter novels for inclusion in the 15th anniversary edition box set. [18] [19]

He also illustrated the story "?" for the short story collection Machine of Death .

He illustrated Brandon Sanderson's children's book The Most Boring Book Ever.

Honors and awards

Kibuishi's Flight Volume 2 was nominated for the 2006 Eisner Award for Best Anthology. [20] Daisy Kutter: The Last Train was named as one of the 2006 Best Books for Young Adults by the Young Adult Library Services Association. [21]

His series Amulet has spent numerous weeks on The New York Times' Best Seller list. [22]

Personal life

Kibuishi is married to fellow illustrator and collaborator Amy Kim Ganter. [22] He has two children, Juni and Sophie. [22] He resides in Bellevue, Washington. [8] Shortly after the publication of Escape From Lucien in 2012, he suffered a life-threatening case of bacterial meningitis which resulted in a hospital stay for weeks and being induced into a coma for treatment. [19]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Azzarello</span> American comic book writer

Brian Azzarello is an American comic book writer and screenwriter who first came to prominence with the hardboiled crime series 100 Bullets, published by DC Comics' mature-audience imprint Vertigo. Azzarello is best known for his numerous collaborations with artists Eduardo Risso and Lee Bermejo, his contributions to the Watchmen prequel project Before Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns sequel series DK III: The Master Race, as well as for his stints on the long-running Vertigo series Hellblazer and The New 52 relaunch of the Wonder Woman title.

Copper is a 2002 webcomic by Kazu Kibuishi. Consisting of a series of short stories, Copper has a very irregular schedule, with a long hiatus that lasted from 2009 to 2016. Kibuishi's webcomic was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Digital Comic, and the work was compiled into a print volume in 2010.

<i>Flight</i> (comics) American comics anthology series edited by Kazu Kibuishi

Flight is an American comics anthology series edited by Kazu Kibuishi, showcasing young and innovative artists and writers. Image Comics published the first two volumes. In June 2005 Kibuishi announced that the series would move from Image to Ballantine Books from Volume Three on in an attempt to increase sales through mainstream bookstores. Kibuishi also stated that subsequent volumes would be released twice-yearly.

Tim Fish is a comic book author and artist and playwright, known for the comics Cavalcade of Boys and its spin-off graphic novels, short stories for various anthologies and the original graphic novel Liebestrasse, which was nominated for both a Tripwire Award for Best Graphic Novel and a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raina Telgemeier</span> American cartoonist, illustrator, and writer

Raina Telgemeier (, was born on May 26, 1977 and is an American cartoonist. Her works include the autobiographical webcomic Smile, which was published as a full-color middle grade graphic novel in February 2010, and the follow-up Sisters and the fiction graphic novel Drama, all of which have been on The New York Times Best Seller lists. She has also written and illustrated the graphic novels Ghosts and Guts as well as four graphic novels adapted from The Baby-Sitters Club stories by Ann M. Martin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boom! Studios</span> American comic book and graphic novel publisher

Boom! Studios, is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher. They are headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Random House division of Penguin Random House agreed to acquire the company in July 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon J Muth</span> American writer and illustrator

Jon J Muth is an American writer and illustrator of children's books as well as graphic novels and comic books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Liew</span> Malaysia-born comic artist/illustrator

Sonny Liew is a Malaysia-born comic artist/illustrator based in Singapore. He is best known for The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye (2015), the first graphic novel to win the Singapore Literature Prize for fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Kim Kibuishi</span> American author and illustrator

Amy Kim Kibuishi née Ganter, is an American author and illustrator of original English-language manga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahmud A. Asrar</span> Austrian comic book artist

Mahmud Anjum Asrar is an Austrian comic book artist who is known for his work on American and non-American comic books.

Richard Bruning is an American graphic designer and comics creator.

Kean Soo is the Canadian creator of the children's comic character Jellaby. Born in Romford, England, but raised in Hong Kong, Soo is currently residing in Canada and was formally trained as an engineer.

<i>Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology</i> Comic book anthology

Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology is a comics anthology edited by Jeff Yang, Parry Shen, Keith Chow, and Jerry Ma that brings together leading Asian American creators in the comics industry—including Gene Yang, Bernard Chang, Greg Pak (Hulk), and Christine Norrie —to craft original graphical short stories set in a compelling "shadow history" of our country: from the building of the railroads to the Japanese American internment, the Vietnam airlift, the murder of Vincent Chin, and the incarceration of Wen Ho Lee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriel Bá</span> Brazilian comic book artist

Gabriel Bá is a Brazilian comic book artist best known for his work on The Umbrella Academy, Casanova, and Daytripper. He is the twin brother of fellow comic book artist Fábio Moon.

<i>Thor: Vikings</i>

Thor: Vikings is a 5-issue comic book limited series published by MAX Comics, an imprint of Marvel Comics for adult audiences, in July–November 2003. Written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Glenn Fabry, the series follows Thor's battle against a group of thousand-year-old undead Vikings who attack New York City.

<i>Amulet</i> (comics) Cartoon novel series

Amulet is a graphic novel series illustrated and written by Kazu Kibuishi and published by Graphix, an imprint of Scholastic. It follows the adventures of Emily, a young girl who discovers a sentient and autonomous magical circular amulet in her great-grandfather's house, and consequently is tasked with protecting an entirely new world from a ruler known as The Elf King.

<i>The Stonekeeper</i>

Amulet: The Stonekeeper is a 2008 children's graphic novel written and illustrated by Kazu Kibuishi. The book concerns the adventures of Emily Hayes, who must try to rescue her kidnapped mother with the assistance of her younger brother Navin, a mysterious amulet, and helper robots such as Miskit.name=Karp2012>Karp, Jesse (2012). Graphic Novels in Your School Library. Chicago: American Library Association. pp. 70–71. ISBN 978-0-8389-1089-4.</ref> it is the first book in the Amulet graphic novel series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvel Press</span> Prose novel imprint for Marvel Comics

Marvel Press is the prose novel imprint for Marvel Comics jointly published with Disney Books.

<i>The Stonekeepers Curse</i> Fantasy comic by Kazu Kibuish

The Stonekeeper's Curse is the second volume in the Amulet series. The fantasy comic is written by Kazu Kibuishi, and is a successful bestseller. It was written in 2009.

Marley Zarcone is a Canadian comic book artist who works primarily for Image and DC Comics. Along with Corey Lewis, Brandon Graham and James Stokoe, she's a part of a studio/collective called "Yosh Comics". In 2015, she launched Effigy with Tim Seeley for DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. In 2016, she launched Shade, the Changing Girl with Cecil Castellucci for Gerard Way's Young Animal imprint.

References

  1. "The Cloud Searchers". boltcity.com. December 21, 2009. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Scholastic to Publish Amulet By Breakout Graphic Novelist Kazu Kibuishi". PR Newswire. August 9, 2005. Archived from the original on September 17, 2017. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "SCHOLASTIC GETS KAZU KIBUISHI'S 'AMULET'". ICv2 . August 9, 2005. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  4. Smallwood, Carol (April 9, 2015). "Kazu Kibuishi – Making Comics and Graphic Novels". akasl.org. Alaska Association of School Librarians. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  5. 1 2 "CREATIVE SPOTLIGHT: EPISODE #9 – KAZU KIBUISHI". japancinema.net. December 30, 2010. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  6. Heidari, Nader (April 30, 2008). "Former Nexus Artist Captures Movie, Novel Deals". Daily Nexus . Santa Barbara, California . Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  7. Hunter, Travis (April 30, 2004). "Animator to Return for Career Panel". Daily Nexus . Santa Barbara, California . Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  8. 1 2 3 Beaver, Ty (March 12, 2015). "Graphic novelist Kazu Kibuishi to work with young Tri-City writers". Tri-City Herald . Kennewick, Washington . Retrieved July 6, 2015.[ dead link ]
  9. Weiland, Jonah (February 6, 2004). "Taking 'Flight': Kazu Kibuishi talks new indy anthology". Comic Book Resources . Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  10. 1 2 Weiland, Jonah (April 15, 2004). "Kazu Kibuishi and friends takes "Flight" at Image". Comic Book Resources . Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  11. Dueben, Alex (July 7, 2011). "Kazu Kibuisihi Takes a Final "Flight"". Comic Book Resources . Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  12. May, Michael (June 20, 2013). "Did we know there's a new 'Explorer' anthology coming?". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  13. Alverson, Brigid (June 21, 2012). "Kazu Kibuishi's Latest Anthology, 'Explorer: The Mystery Boxes'". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  14. Dueben, Alex (September 5, 2014). "Kazu Kibuishi Continues The Saga of "Amulet"". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  15. "Explorer: The Hidden Doors". boltcity.com. October 8, 2014. Archived from the original on April 12, 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  16. Tantimedh, Adi (Jan 13, 2024). "Amulet 9: Waverider End's Kazu Kibuishi's Fantasy Epic in February". Bleeding Cool . Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  17. Weiland, Jonah (June 9, 2004). "Kazu Get Your Gun: Kazu Kibuishi talks "Daisy Kutter"". Comic Book Resources . Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  18. Liu, Jonathan H. (February 13, 2013). "New Harry Potter Covers by Kazu Kibuishi". Wired . Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  19. 1 2 Hall, April (August 15, 2014). "5 Questions With… Kazu Kibuishi (Amulet series)". www.reading.org. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  20. "2006 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards". www.hahnlibrary.net. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  21. "2006 Best Books for Young Adults with annotations". www.ala.org. 30 July 2007. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  22. 1 2 3 "Kazu Kibuishi and Raina Telgemeier". www2.bookstore.washington.edu. September 25, 2014. Retrieved July 6, 2015.