Kabuki: The Alchemy #8
Creator: David Mack
Company: Marvel Comics (Icon)
“Art can do things force and politics cannot.”
People who say comics aren’t art should read Kabuki. Any volume, any issue will do- it really doesn’t matter, because each one is a work of art. David Mack doesn’t just draw, or paint. He doesn’t just lay panels out and fill them in. No, Mack carefully considers each page as a composition of its own, a collage of shapes, colors, and imagery best suited to deliver the visceral feelings he wants. Oh, every line, image, and photo has a storytelling purpose- Kabuki is a story, after all, and a spectacular one. But it’s the melding of that storytelling with an amazing vision of artistic expression that makes this such a beautiful book.
This particular issue serves as a bit of an ending to what has come before. Kabuki finally mets her confidante and friend Akemi face to face, only to discover that perhaps all of Akemi’s wild ideas were more palatable on paper. In a beautiful dream sequence, Kabuki describes seeing herself in panels on a page, her entire world a part of someone’s head. A breach of the fourth wall, in a way, but done as a dream, and not one where characters address the reader. Rather, this is more of a spiritual awakening, an expansion of the mind.
In a wraparound to the entire series, Akemi convinces Kabuki to publish her story as a series of comic books. By doing it this way, with someone else actually creating the comics, Kabuki can release the information she has about the inner workings of the Noh without fear of reprisal. It uses the Noh’s trick against them- hiding truth as entertainment. This serves the dual purpose of helping stop the Noh, and helping Kabuki complete her transformation from who she was into who she is becoming. A catharsis in print, as it were.
I have no idea where Mack is going to go with Kabuki from here, as this issue seems to have tied up most of the loose ends. I do know that wherever he goes, I’ll be there. The man is an artist.
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You know call me a philistine but I could never get into Kabuki, great art, but the storytelling seemed hard to follow at times, too convoluted, too avant-garde for me maybe and this coming from someone who’s a big Grant Morrison fan.
Oh and David Mack created Echo, so I hold that against him too.
01 Feb 2007 at 1:01 pm
QuoteI agree word for word. Can’t deny the art of the book, but nothing else really compelled me to read more than 2 issues.
01 Feb 2007 at 4:56 pm
QuoteI like Kabuki, but I have to admit that the glacial rate at which it comes out keeps me from ever getting too enthusiastic about the book.
And don’t hate Mack for creating Echo, hate Bendis for putting her in a man-suit. Seriously, I don’t care what the explanation turns out to be, nothing will be good enough.
01 Feb 2007 at 9:38 pm
QuoteI didn’t think I was going to enjoy Kabuki. David Mack’s other work always made me feel like I was struggling to enjoy something way out of my comfort zone. But I started with the move to Icon and I have been loving it… a lot of that is from a creative standpoint. He has just been very personal in the process of writing, and the beauty of creativity. A book that I was ready to toss out at a moments notice has become one that I love. And I gladly wait for month in and month out.
It won’t be for everybody. In fact, I am willing to bet that at some point it is not going to be for me… but right now, it is touching me on some insanely unique level. I am actually grateful that I gave it a chance.
01 Feb 2007 at 10:12 pm
QuoteYeah the man suit thing was just perplexing. Almost makes me wonder if it was a last minute change because everyone figured out it was Daredevil. It’s not like they’ve done anything with Ronin since, kinda weird after all the build-up, though I guess both a new Ronin and Echo this time sans man-suit, are going to be on one of the teams soon.
But Echo just struck me as a hackney concept, hey Daredevil is disabled so let’s give him a foil that’s also disabled, but it’ll be female instead of male and we’ll make her deaf instead of blind, and instead of radar to compensate for blindness she can have the Taskmasters powers to compensate for being deaf, cause she like super observant.
01 Feb 2007 at 10:49 pm
QuoteCouldn’t disagree more. Kabuki is my favorite comic series, and I love the art as much as the story. The plot itself is very good, with plenty of twists and misdirections. And the characterization is top notch. Mack manages to convey emotions like nobody else I know of.
His panel juxtaposition is unconventional, very experimental, which is what I am guessing many have problems with. It works for me.
01 Feb 2007 at 11:18 pm
QuoteI agree with the earlier posts. Mack is one hell of an artist and a storyteller but his work always leaves me cold. He gave me a few older issues for free at a con and I really tried to get into them but I never could.
02 Feb 2007 at 12:23 am
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