ICv2 updates their graphic novel schedule with an unexpected announcement:
The most important news is that Amulet, the new graphic novel by Kazu Kibuishi (editor of the Flight anthologies) has been delayed from its originally scheduled fall release date to an early 2008 release. Only the continuing graphic novel series based on children’s books (Babysitters Club and Goosebumps) are currently scheduled for release in 2007 under the Graphix imprint.
Over on his blog, Kibuishi offered a possible explanation for the delay:
Amulet has been an experiment in treating the graphic novel with the standards of filmwatching and novel reading in mind, and I have to admit that it’s been an incredibly exhausting project. I’m currently in the middle of redrafting and redrawing nearly half the book to bring it up to snuff. The book already reads well, but I think Scholastic’s incredibly high expectations and my own (possibly foolish) ambitions want the book to work like a very well-oiled machine.
I’ve actually burnt myself out several times now, and I just took a much needed break from the extreme deadline pressures to refocus the narrative and build up enough energy to go back at it. I’ve already drawn well over 300 pages (penciled, some inked) to produce a book that will be about 200 pages in length, and I’m about to draw at least 70 more. One thing that I am realizing is that I am not naturally a good writer. I have to work hard at it. But I do know good writing when I see it, so I just have to keep throwing stuff at the wall and hope I see something that sticks.
