It’s hard to justify to people why I love comic books. This is a medium that has long been marginalized, often for valid reasons. It’s pulp, often inconsequential and very rarely qualified as art or even artistic.
The mid-90s changed all of that. A variety of independent artists and writers became singularly focused on developing creator owned characters and allowing them to go to places that the major publishers wouldn’t allow. While the first creators to go this route were often less than critically successful, mostly in the cases of Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld, there was one who grabbed everyone by being, of all things, quiet.
David Mack was singularly interested in Japan and he crafted the “Kabuki” series as a nightmare mash-up of contemporary Japanese society, “1984,” World War II scars, the influence of 24 hour media and branding and the mental health profession. In the process, he created a series that bypasses the medium and defines what graphic novels are capable of.
The rise of Kabuki and the hiding of Ukiko.
The seven-volume series starts conventionally with “Circle of Blood,” essentially a mob story mixed with international espionage. We’re introduced to an organization known as “The Noh,” who maintain the careful balance of power between the Japanese government and organized crime, and their agents, including Kabuki. Kabuki is a tough as nails assassin and public figure who has been permanently scarred as a result of her mixed heritage. She bears the physical scars from the assault as well as the abuse her displaced mother suffered from and her struggle drives the brutal novel to a particularly graphic conclusion. Initially, it seems to be a self contained but very satisfying Asian-noir story. Luckily, Mack was just getting started.
Without giving away details, Mack delves into Kabuki’s story as well as her rebirth and details the lives of the other agents of the Noh. The story develops organically, slowly breaking away from the violent story the series started with. That being said, the true development in the work is the way that the art naturally evolves.
Mack's break from black and white comics allowed him to get into painting and several visually stunning pieces.
Mack’s evolution as a creator is something that is the true joy of exploring the “Kabuki” series. Even when artists change on the volumes “Masks of the Noh” and “Scarab: Lost in Translation,” the influence of Mack’s vision is distinctive and overwhelming. He was creating a story, but more importantly, he was creating a multimedia presentation.
In "Lost in Translation," artist Rick Mays helped to create a world that combined manga, neo-noir and complex multi-media textual messages.
The ultimate piece of the series, as well as the finale of the work “The Alchemy,” Mack both writes and illustrates a stunning meta-conscious narrative that flows between metaphorical, literal and symbolic storytelling. Most of the work takes place in a single house where the influence of those who live within it, slowly but dramatically change the structure of the building.
The captions may spoil some of the story but the page design is gorgeous without being overly symbolic or literal.
Mack is able to hold the tension throughout his narrative with the cunning hook in a mystery, potentially imaginary character that influences several volumes of the narrative. He manages to sew the entire work together without answering several of the series’ biggest questions. For me, this works resoundingly well. I would rather not know the details of Akemi’s connection to Kabuki or who it was that died in the Control Corps bedroom so Kabuki could escape. I am happy with what I’ve got.
This all begs the question of defining what it is that David Mack does and what “Kabuki” is. Is it a comic series? Is it a graphic novel? Or is it something more, is this art? With his deep focus on cultural identity, shame, genius, self-transformation and adversity as well as an ever-changing and experimenting style, I would have to say that this series is art. What that means for the rest of the medium, remains to be defined.
The Edge News 