I'm back, news, updates, conventions, girlfriend,Kabuki,Cote
Apr 28, 2004 9:18 pm

Been off the board for a bit but am back now.
It was great meeting Cote at the convention.
And the other boarders who stopped by my table there.

Andy Lee just arrived at my house and we will be at the Pittsburgh con this weekend. Hope to see you. Just stop by and introduce yourself. I'll have original DD and Kabuki art, prints, masks, figures, back issues, trades, hardcovers and magic tricks.

I just took my girlfriend to the airport where she will fly to Australia and travel with the Bendis. So if you see here in Sidney, tell her I said hi.

I'm too busy with Kabuki to go to Australia and New Zealand this time, but loved it last time and hope to go again soon.

I saw that the new Kabuki book is in the new Marvel Previews. So I hope those of you who have not yet read it will pre-order it from your local comic shop.

Let me know if you have any questions, or how I can convince you to try the new Kabuki. Did anyone order it so far? And let me know if any of you have picked of the other collections since last I've been here.

Best,
David

Max,
Check out davidmack.net.
It has a synopsis of what each of the volumes is about. The new story is called KABUKI: THE ALCHEMY and picks up right where Metamorphosis and Scarab left off. There's a pretty good line of what it is about in the previews book. If any one has that, they can post it here. Or I'll cut and paste my description of the new series from one of my many recent interviews about it.

Goddard,
I'm not going to be in Philly. Pittsburgh will be my only PA con of the year.
Hope to do Philly again someday, but I always love this con and they made arrangements with me in advance. I hope you can make it.

Mark,
For magic tricks, I can make you love all my Kabuki books and I can make a red hankerchief dissapear. Some card tricks. And I can jump over tables and do funny dances if you ask me too. And if none of those amuse you, I can just give you something for free.

WhoCares,
I do plan to be at the Toronto Expo again. With Andy Lee and hopfully Bendis. We had a great time last year. And Bendis and I did a really fun writing workshop panel.

Saul, Looking forward to seeing you at Pittsburgh. Who else is going?

Smashtor,
Really glad you liked the Scarab book.
The new series has some tie ins to it and Metamorphosis in a big way.

I'll post some inteview answers about the new series when I get the chance. Or someone can link to the ones I did at newsarama, tarts, x-fan, comicshopnews, or simply JD.

Thanks friends!

Sorry for the multiple posts I'm having computor problems.

Hey friends,
Glad you are looking forward to this.

Just let your retailer know that you want one cover or the other or both. Your store can order as many of each as they want. But they ALSO get an additional Maleev cover FREE if they order 10 of my regular cover.

Thanks,
David

Hey, I'm going to try to answer you all.

Cote, Thanks a lot for the kind words. It was great to meet you too. I'm really glad you loved all the trades. It was a really fun con. Andy Lee and I wish you the best in your latest duty in Iraq.

Glad you will at least get comics there!

DM

Murdocks Girl,

About the Kabuki Maleev cover and the regular cover...

Just let your retailer know that you want one cover or the other or both. Your store can order as many of each as they want for the same regular price. But they ALSO get an additional Maleev cover FREE if they order 10 of my regular cover.

So readers can choose whichever they want in any quantity they want. But retailers also get something free if they have at least ten copies for the store.

Thanks,
David

Braino,
Thanks for picking up Circle of Blood!
Let me know what you think when you read it.

It is the very first volume and I did it ten years ago. I think it still holds up, but I like to think it gets better. KABUKI: Metamorphosis is my favorite one. And the new series, picks up right where that leaves off.

PPSDRMAN,
Thanks for asking. The new series is really it's own thing and a brand new direction so you can start right with it. But if you read either volume 1 KABUKI: Circle of Blood, or KABUKI: Metamorphosis... If you could pick up just one collected volume, either one of those would hook you up with a lot of the previous foundation of the story.

Circle of Blood and Metamorphosis are probably the most important trades to read to get a sense of what it is about and though you can devinitely read the new one on its own, either of these will give you a huge foundation and let you know what it is about.

ANd just check out davidmack.net for a detailed description of what each trade is about.

Thanks!

Please let me know what you think when you read any of it!
David

I will definitely be at San Diego Comicon!

I will have a big two table booth and probably be in the IMAGE section as usual.

I will also be at the Wizard World Chicago! Very much hoping to see you there.

Other cons I'm doing this year:

Pittsburgh THIS WEEK!
Motor City con in Novi Michigan in TWO WEEKS!
Heroes con in Charlotte NC
Dragon Con in Atlanta
TOronto
Mid Ohio con in November
Portland con WITH BENDIS and Andy Lee Oct 10
Probably Wizard world Texas. Was great last year.

And possibly a con in Canary Islands in Spain in November.

New Guy Jim,
Thanks for picking up KABUKI: Circle of Blood. Let me know what you think of it when you finish it. The last chapter of it is probably my fave of the series. I like to think the story does improve and that you can see my evolution as a writer and artist in the books just as the character and story evolves.
So I hope you will check out the others. Especially Metamorphosis. The new series really builds from what happens in Metamorphosis.

Please post your reaction and feedback when you finish Circle!
Thanks,
David

Murdock's Girl,
Glad you liked the Kabuki you have read so far. I can't wait to hear what your response is to Skin Deep and Metamorphosis!!!

Thanks for mentioning my story in the Edge anthology. It is my girlfriend's favorite comicbook work that I ever did. More of that auto biographical story will be my next story/art project that I do after the next Kabuki storylines are completed.

For anyone that hasn't seen it, I'll probabl bring some to the cons. The issue features the new story by me and Neil Gaiman, Sienkewiecs, Mckean, Steranko, and more. Really nice package complete with interviews from everyone.

Falanius, Andy,
Thanks for you interest in the Kabuki orignal art. I haven't forgotten about it. I figured Anh would have taken care of it by now, so sorry for the delay.
I think we have most of the pages you requested. I'll try to check on it and get you the info.

It will be great to see you in SD. I'm sure we can have it all worked out so that we can deliver the art to you there.
Warmest regards,
David

XsaraXpoeX,
See you in Chicago!

You too, Kryptic. I will have the DD and Kabuki original art pages there. As well as huge selection of prints that Anh sells for $10 each or two for $15. We have these at all the cons.

ALso for those interested, I think the Scarab Action figures are offered in either the current Previews catalogue or next months.

Graves,
I think there is a sex scene in Circle of Blood the first Kabuki volume. And there is a sex scene in SCARAB. You might especially like the Scarab story.

After that, I don't think there is any sex. But there is lots of romance.

As for what the new Kabuki series at Marvel is about, this cover story interview from Comic Shop News should fill you in. Also lots of info as to how/why I do comics, and more Kabuki story info, ets.

Here is the interview:

Hi, David!

We'd like to do a cover story on the new Kabuki series, if you have time for some questions!

(1) This is being promoted as a new start for Kabuki; can you offer some details on that aspect of the series?

This era in Kabuki’s life is its own story and it is not going to recap anything from the previous stories. I've made sure that all six Kabuki volumes are in print and available in paperback and hardcover collections. So I hope readers will use this as an opportunity to read the early Kabuki collections that have come before in preparation for this new series. But if they do not, they will still be able to begin with this story. Those previous stories are Kabuki's past. There won't be any flashbacks to it. No catch up.

For readers that have read all of the Kabuki volumes so far, after you read this new series, you will want to go back and read the previous stories again and you will see them in a new way that is going to make you appreciate them in a brand new dimension as well as the ways that they are already charming to you. They will still hold that charm, but you will have a brand new perspective to appreciate them from. It will be like looking at pictures of yourself as a child. You always appreciated the pictures for what they were, but now that you are grown up, you can see how those moments shaped your present life.

The new series is specifically designed to be Kabuki’s new life. And it is essentially an instruction manual on creating a NEW life, creating the life of YOUR OWN PERSONAL DREAMS AND INTERESTS, that should be practical and applicable to anyone who reads it. It is a recipe and blueprint for creating your own reality, your own career, and your own fresh start. It is a spell for creating your own magic. Taking the baggage of your life and turning it into something positive and useful. Turning your garbage into gold.

(2) How did Kabuki begin? How much of the Kabuki canon had you envisioned from the beginning, and how much of it developed as the story went along?

My work on Kabuki Began in January of 1993 when I was twenty years old. I would begin publishing Kabuki in 1994. Having decided the medium I would work with, and having worked in the business for a couple years to learn the craft, I decided that I wanted to create a comic book in which I could incorporate all of my personal philosophies, my passion for learning, and integrate my everyday personal experiences. I loved autobiographical comics, but I was not yet comfortable with that idea. I wanted to tell personal truths but at a distance. Through the unselfconscious comfort of a veil. But I did not want to fall into the trap of making the main character an idealized version of myself. So I decided that I would make all of the surface details very opposite, and that way the universal truths could shine through, and I could tell the story through metaphor. This way, instead of reading the story and seeing me, readers could find their own personal relation to the story and see themselves.

So I made the main character the opposite gender. I set the story in a different part of the world, with a different language, different history, and different culture. I was in university at the time, and I was taking the Japanese language, and learning Japanese history and mythology in my classes and in my own travels. So I used that as a framework for the story. The structure of the story is the traditional structure and metaphors of the traditional Japanese Ghost Story that is the subject of many of the Japanese Kabuki plays.

Much of the first Kabuki story is me as a 21-22 year old dealing with the death of my mother, just as Kabuki is coming to terms with the relationship and death of her mother in the story.

I knew the structure that the story would follow. So I had a skeletal outline of some of the major points very early on. And through the process of working on it, the rest came alive for me. When I was working on KABUKI Circle of Blood, I knew the main structure of most of the other books up through Metamorphosis. But the real life of the story occurred in the process. And when I was doing KABUKI Metamorphosis, most of the high points for KABUKI- The Alchemy occurred to me and I made notes for it then and also outlined my ideas for the next few Kabuki stories.

(3) For some of the Kabuki-related books, you worked with Rick Mays and other artists, didn't you? What made you decide to come back to doing full art for this project? And for that matter, how do you decide which books you write and which you write & illustrate?

KABUKI- Masks of the Noh (volume 3 of the Kabuki collections) is the first time I collaborated with other artists. The idea behind this story is that the Noh is searching for Kabuki. And though Kabuki is the central character to this story, and holds the story together, she is mostly absent, and it is the fleshing out of these secondary characters that becomes the humanity of the story. So in introducing each of these characters, I write them each with a different tone and voice. But I also wanted each one to have their own distinctive visual personality that contrasts from the other. So that idea was that each of the characters would be drawn by a different artist. That way, each time they appear in the story, the reader immediately sees their own unique perspective. It was a bold experiment and a logistical nightmare, but in retrospect, it worked out very nicely. Each time Kabuki appears, she is drawn by me. Rick Mays draws Scarab and Tigerlily every time they appear, Dave Johnson and Mike Oeming drew Ice, Andrew Robinson drew Snapdragon, and so on.

Then for the next two Kabuki volumes, Skin Deep (vol 4) and Metamorphosis (vol 5), I drew everything as Kabuki was the central character. Then in Scarab (vol 6) Rick Mays reprised his role as artist of Scarab to keep with continuity of that character’s visual personality. It is a story that chronicles her life from childhood to adult like Circle of Blood does with Kabuki.

Eventually I will do a series for each of the Noh characters. And for their stories, I intend to write them and work with an artist. And for all of the Kabuki stories I will be doing all of the artwork myself. And these will continue to alternate. I draw KABUKI- The Alchemy, then the next series will be a biography of Tigerlily with Rick Mays doing the art. That will give me plenty of time to gear up for the next Kabuki story that I paint myself, and so on.

(4) For readers who aren't familiar with Kabuki, could you offer a rundown on the series and the concept?

It is a mix of Japanese historical mythology, political intrigue, corporate espionage, and familial duty wrapped up in the retelling of the Japanese Ghost story. It is also a retelling of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. In that each of the characters in Kabuki corresponds to iconographic characters in that book and to pieces on the chessboard. Both stories are about the pawn’s journey to queen, or a child’s journey to an adult or evolved consciousness. Just as that book was a social commentary in the guise of a children’s book, Kabuki has it’s own themes that operate on several levels. Some are only apparent in repeat readings.

The story evolves as the character does in each of the succeeding volumes. KABUKI- Metamorphosis is described as this: “In an institution for renegade government agents, a horribly scarred woman faces a psychological showdown with her interrogating analyst, meets the other “defective” inmates, discovers the nature of identity, quantum physics, time, and the meaning of life. But can she escape her captors before her former comrades track her down to silence her?”

(5) Is all the earlier Kabuki material available in trade paperback now, or are there still some stories uncollected?

(6) Speaking of the trades--am I correct in remembering that you reworked and expanded some of the material when it was collected in trade paperback?

(7) This is a fully painted series, right? How much of a time commitment does that demand from you? How long has the book been in production, and how far along are you in the series currently?

(8) Erik Larsen has said that he prefers to focus most of his efforts on his creation, Savage Dragon. You've alternated, in a way, doing some Kabuki material, then taking a break and doing other stuff, including Daredevil; do you prefer working this way rather than dealing with the same character month in and month out? Is it a creative decision, a financial one, or both?

I have done three Daredevil arcs and the covers to the entire run of Alias. But I had already done seven years of straight Kabuki at a pretty break neck bimonthly pace before I worked on DD. After doing Kabuki straight for seven years, it was a fun switch to work in a collaborative effort with creators that I respect on a character that I read when I was a kid.

It was a creative decision. I make a comfortable living from doing just Kabuki. This is because the Kabuki collections continue to sell more and more each year. Kabuki Circle of Blood sells more now than it did when it came out ten years ago. Same for all the other collections. The Kabuki books have a Sandman type life as paperbacks and hardcovers in that new readers continue to buy them year after year. And after a new reader buys one Kabuki collection, they go back and buy all of the rest of them.

So I felt like it was the right time for me to stretch my creative muscles in a different way. And this did pay off in Kabuki readership as well, because readers of my DD stories began buying all of the Kabuki collections in large amounts and have stuck with the books as new Kabuki readers. Each Kabuki collection has went through several printings and continues to stay in print.

And I continued to have published Kabuki for most of the time that I worked on DD. The first DD story I wrote, I did it between issue #7 and #8 of Kabuki Metamorphosis. Then I painted the Wake Up story with Bendis while I was publishing Kabuki Scarab. Then I did the Alias covers and the Echo story after Scarab. That was all a lot of fun and a great shift in creative muscles, but now it is a joy to be back to my own creative focus with KABUKI- The Alchemy.

(9) By promoting this as a "jumping on point" for new readers, Image has conveyed to some the impression that Kabuki will be appearing more regularly from here on. Is that the case?

(10) You've maintained pretty tight control over Kabuki thus far; have you considered inviting other creators, like Brian Bendis, to play with your toys--that is, letting others write and draw stories set in the Kabukiverse?

(11) There was a rumor recently that a Kabuki-Daredevil crossover project might happen at some point in the future... pipe dream or real possibility?

(12) Where do you go after The Alchemy is done?

And I’m collaborating with Brian Bendis in writing Ultimate X-men. But this new chapter of Kabuki will be my main focus for the foreseeable future. I make a conscious effort to improve with every issue and to break new ground and evolve as a writer with each Kabuki story as the character is evolving. The Alchemy does this in spades and operates on several levels.

My dad used to live in the basement of a veterinarian clinic.

Sometimes he'd assist the vet in animal surgery. And when my brother and I visited we'd let all the animals run free in the night.

More about this in Kabuki #2.

Hey Brian Babyock,
Good to hear from you. Looking forward to seeing you at the show. Hope you are doing great!

Who cares,
Glad to hear you will be picking up the Kabuki trades!
I appreciate it.
You won't be disappointed.

I'll make you a guarantee, AND THIS GOES FOR ANYONE, any and ALL Kabuki trades or KAbuki books that you buy from me, I GUARANTEE that you love them. And if you do not, I WILL BUY THEM BACK FROM YOU.

If anyone wants to pick up some books from me at a con. Read'em the first day, and see what you think. Come back the next day of the con and decide if you want to pick up the rest of the books or if you want me to buy them back from you.

I fully believe that all you have to do is read the Kabuki collections and you will continue to follow it.

Thanks for the kind words! And for deciding to pick it up! Looking forward to hearing what you have to say about it.

Speaking of having stuff to say about the Kabuki books when you read them:
The letters collumn is a big part of the issues. Every Kabuki issue (especially the upcoming series from Icon) will have a very hearty amount of letters pages.

Some of the people I've seen on this board have made it into the letters pages in the first three issues.

After reading the Kabuki books, you are all welcome to write or post a response to that you would like me to include in the letters pages.

Hey Denny and Cote,
Thanks for the first person support and tesamonials about Kabuki!
I appreciate it!
DM

Hey Cth,
My confirmation being at the Heroes con and hoping to see you there was meant to be my response to you

I probably won't be able to make it too your personal event, but I thank you for the kind invitation, and you have my blessing!

Dan,
Thanks a bunch for PRE- ORDERING the new Kabuki issue. That really does mean EVERYTHING for a personal book like mine. If retailers don't get the reader reaction in advance, they just don't order as much to start with.

I really appreciate it.

And the Maleev cover looks GREAT!

Loco,
See you there! It is going to be a fun 3 day show!

Denny,
Thanks for the PRE-ORDERING suggestion for the new Kabuki #1.
This is the time for it, while retailers have the preview catalogue in their store. This is the CRUCIAL time when they are ordering the books. So it will be hugely helpful to let them know if you want them to order it.

Dan,
Yes, besides the new Kabuki, there is an amazing project I am writing for Marvel. I really want to speak of it! But I'm supposed to let Marvel break the news. But it is BIG, BIG, BIG!!!

And the artist is AMAZING!