disclaimer: this is totally hearsay. This wasn’t a recorded conversation or event, it was just casual conversation that I thought was interesting enough to share here!
I’m a bookseller, and my store was lucky enough to have Kazu Kibuishi stop in to sign our stock of Amulet on the tail end of his Book 9 tour, after MBBE got announced. I got to ask him a few questions while he was there about his partner work with Brandon. He said that it was Brandon and Dragonsteel who reached out to him about 3 years ago to do it, and he was hesitant because of how busy he was with Amulet, but that his agent talked him into making an exception because the chance to work with Brandon doesn’t come around everyday. Kazu also said that supposedly Brandon had a ‘long’ list of artists that he thought could illustrate the book, a list that was solely comprised of Kazu’s name. He said the script was so amazing that he thought “this feels like it was written for me” and later found out that it was, because Brandon and his family are big fans of Amulet. Kazu also said there’s tentative plans for him to be at Dragonsteel 2024 and on tour with Brandon next fall.
Again, this is total hearsay, I’m just a random guy lucky enough to meet Kazu and ask a few questions. I’m excited for MBBE, and I hope we get to see Kazu on some panels at Dragonsteel 2024!
