OK comicGaf i'd like to take some time and put effort into a post for a change. I'm here to tell you about one of my passion comics. Like JC has his Stray Bullets, Karrupt with Doom Patrol, Kipp with Hellboy, Messi with Sunstone etc. One that is near and dear to my heart is Kabuki.
It all started in the late 90s, early 2000s when I was a regular of the IGN comic boards, and there was a great community at the time that would recommend great comics that were beyond just what Wizard, or the popular big 2 comics would provide. This is how i was exposed to things like Hellboy, Planetary, Powers, Strangers in Paradise, etc. It was a great and amazing eye opening experience of comics beyond my limited Batman & X-men focused reading.
Then one book came along that really hit a chord with me, and that was David Mack's Kabuki series. In it it focuses on a group of female pop sensations in a near future Japan who all wear Kabuki masks and also secretly are deadly assassins. On the surface it sounds like a very silly premise, but its the execution, the sincerity, and more importantly the creative fusion of art & story that make it really stand out. The first volume was black & white and from what I've read it was a college project that David Mack did. In it he wanted to tell a story that focused on his interests of Japan and his art. I would say that of all the volumes he writes & draws its the most standard comic of them all. Very excellent and has a full arc from start to finish. Really the story could have ended with Vol 1 but has threads for more if it could gain traction. And forutunatly it did. In the later volumes starting with Vol 2, he started to expand the form of storytelling and beging to fuse a number of different artistic styles together. Each new page would throw something new, sketches, oragami shapes, water colors, etc. Then he'd start embedding the dialog and words within the art. A seamless fusion of story & art that only comics could provide. Its also something i haven't seen since.
I'm sure more are familiar with his work on Alias covers, or his run on Daredevil. He was good friends with Bendis back in the day when they were both rising up in the indie scene.
I say all this as this one Indy comic has moved publishers over the years. At one time i believe it was Image, then moved to Marvel's Icon imprint, and now with Dark Horse. And the one thing Dark Horse does better than anyone are the library editions and we have the privilege to experience this series in the wonderful library editions. My copy came in from IST last week and I couldn't be happier. Bellow are some of the samplings of the first volume.
http://www.instocktrades.com/TP/Dark-Horse/KABUKI-LIBRARY-HC-VOL-01-(C-0-1-2)/MAR150017
Only
$23!! and contains the first two volumes of the series. Everyone please give this book a chance. Its one of a kind and worthy of being on everyone's comic book shelf.
Exterior
Sample Volume 1 pics
Sample Volume 2 pics
