Comic Book Report Amulet: The Stonekeeper
Keyan Marshall
Amulet: The Stonekeeper by Kazu Kibuishi is a great story about Emily and Navin who early in the plot move to a new town due to the loss of their father find a room in the basement of their new home that leads to a new secret world of steampunk and monsters. The mother of these two gets dragged into a this new world by a monster and so the two kids set out looking to find their mum in a new place.
Early in the novel you see how Kibuishi is not afraid to play with the side and shape of panel bordered to help express the intended emotion. On page 10–11 we see the scene of the kids loosing their father to a car accident. Two panels in particular stand out to me on page 10. Two hands slipping away from each other. In this instance Kibuishi has elongated the frames to quarter page borders. The slight physical difference in between the two panels creates a feeling a stretched time. By the context of the page we know that this action is happening fast, but by changing the frame size as well as creating such little movement Kibuishi has suspended time for the reader as the characters feel in the story.
Around page 90 into the story there is a full art page that does a great job showing how this comic works so well with McClouds techniques. In this page we see a more Soft pallet. While there is the introduction of a charter who would normally be considered intimidating. This overwhelming soft and warm feeling tree inside of the house counters any suspensions and makes everything on the page feel trustworthy. I in particular like this page because it stands out of one of the most organic pages even though the scene is set inside of a great room of metal and steampunk metal works. In a way I also feel like the tree in this scene is similar to Em and Navin. Put in a place that they would not have been normally, but still flourishing because of the help of others.
In General this book does a really good job of defining space with the art style. Whenever you look at a panel that has a storm or rain in the background, Kibuishis’s art style keep the main focus of the panel as solid color. For instant Em will be defined even when she is not in the middle of the frame, when any background art looks like it was drawn with the sponge or artisan brushes (Comic was drawn digitally). We can see a really good example of this on page 139. The scene goes by in a fast pace, and while the background art is drawn in a linear horizontal style, the characters art styles don’t change. This is a great way of separating the protagonists from more minor charters.
There is one page that i want to walk through. Page 169 is a huge decision making moment in this book. Where Em has decided to go against the will of the amulet and spare the life of the elf prince in her rage fueled by the amulets rage and need for revenge. At the start of the page we can see a blown out white panel expressing Em’s eminence , but as we continue through the page the rage dies out and Em comes back to her senses and after three silent panes we get one work “no.” Em covers the amulet up suppressing its rage. The stone tries to talk Em back into it but Em has already decided to forgive the elf prince for kidnapping her mother from her. Lastly in the bottom right corner of the page we see the elf prince cowering in the corner looking up at Em. Just like in the story the panel is small and in the corner of the page. The prince is weak and powerless at this moment. His panel is gray scale showing there is no power at his disposal, he is at nothing but the mercy of Emily.
After reading this Novel I am super excited to read the rest of the books in this series. The art is a big portion of what Kibuishi prides on and it shows in this work.
