DAISY KUTTER: THE LAST TRAIN
by Kazu Kibuishi
This project started off with drawings of a cartoon cowgirl named Daisy Kutter in an online forum called The Drawing Board in 2003-2004. I posted them to share with fellow cartoonists, many of whom were professional heroes of mine, and people began asking if I intended to draw a story about her. One such person was Jessie Garza, owner of Viper Comics, a small independent publishing company in Dallas, Texas. When Jessie asked if I wanted to draw Daisy Kutter comics for them, I told him I only had one comic book’s worth of story to tell. One comic book issue later, I told Jessie that I needed 3 more issues to tell the rest of the tale. Daisy Kutter took on a life of her own.
Along with fellow Viper Comics artist/writer Josh Howard’s Dead at 17, Daisy Kutter drew rave reviews. Popular website at the time Ain’t-It-Cool-News called Daisy Kutter “the best graphic novel since Watchmen.” Daisy graced the cover of The Horn Book Magazine and was selected by YALSA as one of the Best Books For Young Adults in 2006. Combined with award-winning work as editor of the FLIGHT comics anthology, these early efforts led to an opportunity to work with Scholastic Graphix, for whom I began work on the Amulet graphic novel series.
Daisy Kutter: The Last Train was reprinted for fans in 2012 as a graphic novel by Bolt City Productions. The book was funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign. Despite interest from publishers, I have since decided to keep Daisy Kutter out of print in order to focus on Amulet. Daisy Kutter: The Last Train is the first part of a trilogy that I hope to complete one day. Seeing how difficult it is to find this book in stores or libraries, I present the entire 4-part story of Daisy Kutter: The Last Train as a webcomic:
