Interview - Kazu Kibuishi, editor of the Flight series

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Born in the 80's by Juno Day.


Today is a special treat because the extremely talented and busy Kazu Kibuishi took time out of his schedule for a short interview with us. :)




[ME]1. How did the idea for Flight come about? Did you ever imagine it to be a series?


[KK]My original vision was to create a monthly magazine called FLIGHT that would feature comics exclusively. Like an all-ages Heavy Metal. So yes, I did imagine it to be a series, but not really a series of books as a regularly published periodical.



2. The concept of flight seems to be very important to this series, especially in the first book. Why flight in particular?


Flight was never a theme. It has always simply been a title. If an artist chose to pursue the flight theme, it was their choice, since the stories in the book are basically ideas that the creators have always wanted to explore but never had the chance to publish. Incidentally, artists love to write and draw about flying.




3. I also noticed a small running theme with dogs in the first one. Was that a joke, or a requirement to get in? :)


I never noticed that! I'll have to look back and check it out.




4. When designing a graphic short story, what are the most important things to keep in mind? How is it different than creating a graphic novel like say, Amulet?


Drawing a short comic story and drawing a graphic novel are not really all that different. In fact, I see each short comic story as being like a song, and creating a volume of Amulet is like producing an album, while creating Flight is like producing a compilation of similar-sounding songs, like a mix tape.


5. The first Flight was a compilation with some talented friends, is it still the same? How do you decide what pieces go in now?


Yep. Still the same. We're generally a group of friends with like-minded goals and dreams.



6. So what now? What does the future of Flight hold and hold for you in general?


We shall see. I have some plans, but the Flight project generally shapes itself while I simply act as its steward and guide. For now, it appears we'll be finished with the inaugural series on volume 8, while much of my editing focus will shift to Explorer. It's likely I will continue Flight, but I will need to change the format in order to make it work. I'm hoping, however, that my dream of making Flight into its own publishing imprint comes true. I would rather help guide a collection of graphic novels to the shelves than to print a collection of short stories. I think the artists are ready.


Thank you so much for this chance. I keep reading and hearing how busy you are. It's staggering all you are doing. But really, this series is a treasure and absolute favorite of mine.


No problem! Thanks for the interview!