Scholastic Snares A Viper

Independent graphic novelists getting snapped up by larger houses is an even bigger deal in that world than in the prose one, as per Douglas Wolk's feature in this issue. Phenom Kazu Kibuishi is the latest vivid example.

First, the author's anthology of color comics by young artists, published by indie outfit Image, so impressed Ballantine that the house signed him for two more volumes. Now his own work—a debut, the space western Daisy Kutter, published by indie Viper—has gotten sufficient attention that Scholastic has signed him for two new books, the first of which is called Amulet. The house will publish via its Graphix imprint, which did Jeff Smith's acclaimed Bone. Amulet's got a fantasy feel, and who knows better about the viability of fantasy these days than Scholastic.