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Season 5 - Show 20
Furry in Spirit, Not by Definition
Amulet
by Kazu Kibuishi
Scholastic Books
If there’s anything my partner and I have learned from repeated visits to comic conventions, it’s that there are a whole lot of comics out there featuring animal-people that do not identify themselves as “furry” because the creators don’t. We’ve long been aware of Kazu Kibuishi’s beautiful and charming webcomic Copper, the story of an adventurous boy and his more cautious canine companion (also available in collected form from Scholastic—just sayin’). A few years back, we picked up the first volume of Kibuishi’s new story series Amulet, and were hooked.
Amulet is the story of Emily and Navin, who are moving with their mother to an old family home after the death of their father puts the family in financial stress. The house was the property of Emily’s eccentric great-grandfather Silas, so it’s not long before the kids discover an old workshop where Silas built his many toys. And it’s not much later before a creepy monster that looks like the offspring of an octopus and a lamprey swallows their mother, leading them back through a magical passage in the house’s basement to a strange world.
If it weren’t for the odd amulet Emily found in the workshop, the kids would not have survived their fight with the octolamprey (technically called an arachnopod). But the amulet speaks into Emily’s mind and gives her the power to fight off the creature, if not to free her mother. The amulet then leads them to a house and a strange collection of friends, and the quest to recover their mother becomes something much greater.
The furriest thing in volume 1 (“The Stonekeeper”) is a stuffed pink rabbit named Miskit, who’s been built by Great-Grandfather Silas to be Emily’s companion and guide. But in volume 2 (“The Stonekeeper’s Curse”), the kids arrive at the city of Kanalis, and meet its inhabitants, who, Miskit explains, “are very slowly being altered by an ancient curse. It is what gives them the appearance of animals.” Emily says how terrible that is, and Miskit replies, “I don’t believe they see it as anything quite so negative. This curse has affected them for so many years that the new generations see it as simply a fact of life.”
And yes, the book is full of animal-people. Mammals, birds, even mollusks and other, odder creatures. But it is not spoiling anything to tell you that the most important one is a fellow named Leon Redbeard, who is a fox (he’s on the cover, see, not just of the second book, but also of the third, “The Cloud Searchers”). He understands the power of Emily’s amulet and knows much more about the shadowy figures now hunting her because of it.
Even without the furry element, these books would be recommended. Kibuishi has a good sense of storytelling and an even better sense of art and design. His style is a lovely, simple fusion of Japanese and European comic styles—think Moebius drawing manga. The simplicity of the characters makes them appealing and distinctive, and although his art tends to simplify, Kibuishi is certainly capable of rendering lush, gorgeous backgrounds.
The coloring really stands out as well. Like the art itself, it’s deceptively simple. Kibuishi is a master of light and shadow, in which even the simplest panels take on life. Though the story is worth reading, I often found myself just flipping through the comic to look at the art in some of the more detailed panels.
And the story complements the art well. Emily’s rapport with her family is shown very nicely in a few pages, and although her story is somewhat reactive at the start (her mother is kidnapped and she must give chase), Emily is given plenty of choices to think about and make along the way. The amulet promises power, but makes no secret of its price (though it does not tell the whole story all at once, of course). And the mysterious stranger stalking the children as soon as they arrive in the new land has his own story, which proves to be intertwined with theirs.
Amulet is accessible to children, but the stories are complex enough to be enjoyed by adults, too. If it takes a heroic fox to get you to look at the book, so be it. You won’t be disappointed.
(You can still find Copper online, as well as Kibuishi’s other projects, at http://www.boltcity.com/. )
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Click below to listen:
http://www.unfurled.net/episodes/UnFurled_-_Episode_22.mp3Click to download | Open Player in New Window
A new segment debuts in this episode. I hope you all take a listen and enjoy!
Sent from my iPad
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