Kabuki Volume 1: Circle of Blood

In this first book in the series we learn about the origins of the Noh operative known as Kabuki. Kabukis mother Tsukiko (Moon Child) was from an Ainu farming family. She was one of the thousands of women taken by the Japanese military to be " comfort women" for the soldiers during WW II. She found herself on an island base under the control of The General. The General commanded that the comfort women be used only to perform Kabuki plays. Tsukiko performed in a play about the ghost of a woman out for vengeance. There were no costumes so she wore the flag of the Imperial Navy as a gown. After the war the General plans to marry Tsukiko. His son, Ryuichi Kai, is enraged. The night before the wedding he attacks Tsukiko in the temple, show more leaving her for dead. She lingers in a coma and is later found to be pregnant. She dies in childbirth. The child is named Ukiko -Girl of the Rain - and raised by the General.When Kai becomes aware of Ukikos existence he attacks the girl, on her mothers grave, carving the kanji "Kabuki" onto her face. He believes she is dead. She actually dies for nine minutes and a death certificate is signed. The General takes advantage of the death certificate. He lets the world believe that she is dead. He grooms her as an operative in the Noh agency. The Noh is a secret government organization designed by the General to balance the scales of corruption between organized crime and the government. Ukiko is trained until her body is a living weapon. She receives a new face (mask) and the name Kabuki. In honor of her mother her costume uses the pattern of the flag of the Imperial Navy and her weapon is the farmers sickle. One night Kabuki disobeys orders and takes revenge - for herself and for her mother- against the directors of the Noh.
A great beginning to the series. The story and the art are amazing. The black and white graphics have multiple layers. I had to use a large magnifying glass to make sure I caught all the details. Macks repeated use of certain panels and their positioning with similar panels ( a technique he uses throughout the series) frames the story and adds depth. He uses numerous allusions to Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass throughout the story. "Alice" imagery is used -- decks of cards, cheshire cat smile. The story takes place during Japans rainy season so the majority of panels depict rain. Fitting, since Ukikos name means Girl of the Rain. The first line: The rainy season has begun.
Highly recommended 4.5/5 stars show less

I'm reading this series in completely the wrong order - #6, #3, and now #1. But it's kind of like filling in the gaps, in a series where gaps are the staple diet.

A nearish-future tale of Japan that Quentin Tarantino could easily have spun Kill Bill back through time from. The story is enough to be interesting, and not complicated enough to be confusing. But the real joy, the 5 stars for this review, is in the telling. The temporal flicks and running themes tie directly into the amazing artwork. Blood in black and white.

#2 next.

Kabuki is a series about transformation. Yes, it has beautiful art. Yes, it has great writing. And while the central theme of the narrative is transformation, what I found even more powerful is the way the art of the stories transforms from collection to collection, seeming to mirror the character’s evolution.

I have met David Mack a couple times at Comicon, and I’ve been meaning to ask him if he always intended from the beginning for the story to be about transformation and to move from standard comic style to collage. I like to think that it’s something he came up with as he went along, and the writing of the story transformed as he developed it. That the book evolved him as the story itself evolved.

On a plot level, the story show more begins in rather mainstream comic fashion. Kabuki is set slightly in the future, primarily in Japan. The main character, Kabuki, is one of a group of eight female assassins called The Noh who wear iconic masks and stylized costumes. They are a team managed by the government and sent out to instill fear and kill gangsters and various corporate criminals. However ... not all is as it appears. A multi-layered conspiracy ensues. Seven graphic novels complete the story.

[b:Kabuki Circle of Blood|89816|Kabuki, Vol. 1 Circle of Blood|David Mack|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1349072657s/89816.jpg|1027]. Mack wrote and drew. Black & white. Has a grim, raw style. The art seems a bit underdeveloped to my eye. Has a bit of Sin City tone but more surreal. With more emphasis on emotions. The story is overall, fairly straightforward to this point.





[b:Kabuki Dreams|89813|Kabuki, Vol. 2 Dreams|David Mack|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347783408s/89813.jpg|86681]. Mack wrote and drew. Takes a huge leap forward in style and has more of the Mack signature look. Collage style begins, color is introduced. Blends pencil sketching, ink drawings, painting and even photography. This is a book of interior monologue and, as the title would lead you to believe, is trippy.







[b:Kabuki Masks of Noh|743521|Kabuki, Vol. 3 Masks of the Noh|David Mack|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347473675s/743521.jpg|729672]. Mack writes and draws some scenes, but this is primarily guest drawn. The style returns to black & white, but overall more refined, precise and graphic than Circle of Blood. Rick Mays draws a pretty phenomenal Scarab. The various artists seem to be chosen to help represent the style of each of the assassins. This sequence consists of short stories introducing us further to the other members of the Noh.







[b:Kabuki Skin Deep|89814|Kabuki, Vol. 4 Skin Deep|David Mack|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347219865s/89814.jpg|440299]. Mack returns to both draw and write. In Skin Deep his incredible artistic skills beginning to shine. He can morph like a chameleon from cartoonish renderings to realist representational paintings to pencil sketches.




[b:Kabuki Metamorphosis|89815|Kabuki, Vol. 5 Metamorphosis|David Mack|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347660123s/89815.jpg|18787]. Mack writes, draws, letters and designs. For the sheer brilliance on display, I think Metamorphosis is the most beautiful of the series and my favorite. The diversity of techniques is breathtaking.






[b:Kabuki Scarab Lost in Translation|98454|Kabuki, Vol. 6 Scarab, Lost in Translation|David Mack|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347752395s/98454.jpg|94908]. An action-packed side-step featuring everyone's favorite assassin, Scarab. Illustrated in graphic black & white by Rick Mays, the coolest artist from the Masks collection. Just as the art harkens to outstanding comic illustration style, it doesn't push the envelope in content or technique. A fun diversion.




[b:Kabuki The Alchemy|3155976|Kabuki, Vol. 7 The Alchemy|David Mack|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347738255s/3155976.jpg|3187674]. Mack takes his signature collage style even further, using cut up items and diverse materials including envelopes and letters sent to him from fans of the series to tell the existentialist, inspirational conclusion of Kabuki's epic story. Although visually, I prefer Metamorphosis, I truly admire The Alchemy for showing the potential of comics. Yes, many artists like R. Crumb and Chris Ware have achieved fame for non-superhero stories. But Mack essentially demonstrates the potential before our eyes to move beyond the dictates of the superhero form. A series that begins with ultra-violent superhumans fighting battles for stereotypical reasons ends with artistic explorations of our inner potential as creative beings. Kabuki moves beyond standard comic book “hero” tropes into a story of heroic action as self-transformation, moving beyond the dictatorship of the system, the fear of change and the psychological control of the past. The hero is one who evolves not one who kills everything. And Mack says we each have the potential, regardless of what has come before, to evolve. Perhaps best of all, the transformation that takes place goes much further than within the narrative; it is a transformation of the form of graphic storytelling. Now that is truly inspirational.








Highly recommended! show less

This book kicks ASS. With strong influences of Alice in Wonderland, Mack tells the story of Kabuki, a secret agent working for a shadow organization called the Noh in Japan, who comes face to face with her own dark past.
Kabuki's mother was an Ainu girl, shipped to a Japanese base to be a "comfort woman" during WWII, and though she escaped the horrors that many such women faced at that time, her story ends in a brutal tragedy and the birth of Kabuki, who trains from childhood to be a warrior-girl. There is an epic scope to this story that is both ambitious and wonderfully realized.
Five well-deserved stars.

SOfar I have only read this book, but it sucked me right in. There's so much going on, and it's also interesting and fascinating. I'm rather picky about my graphic novels and manga, so I was surprised to enjoy this book so much. I will be buying the rest of the series!

This was a decent graphic novel that reminded me a lot of the Kill Bill movies. The story basically looks at Japanese government and the yakuza. There is a secret organization that has a number of women assassins that work for them, one of these assassins is Kabuki. The story alternates between the yakuza/government scenes, the assassination scenes, and more intimate scenes where we learn about Kabuki’s past and how she ended up as she is now.

I enjoyed the scenes where Kabuki talks about her past and her thoughts. She is really the only character in this book you get to know at all and these scenes were a bit surreal as well as very engaging.

I didn’t enjoy the yakuza/government scenes as much because these involved the quick show more introduction of many many characters that honestly weren’t around long enough to care about.

The artwork is all black and white and has a very sci-fi noir vibe to it; lots of sleek lines and 80’s looking sci-fi costumes. Generally the artwork made the story easier to follow; although some of the action scenes got a bit confusing.

I appreciated the whole uber-violence as art and the commentary on the fine line between government and organized crime. However, it’s not something I found all that engaging and not the type of thing I would read again.

Overall a well done sci-fi uber-violent femme fatale type of graphic novel. There is some excellent artistry here and some interesting (if seen before) social commentary. It’s all well put together. I found the parts focusing on the government and organized crime to be a bit hard to follow at times (just too many characters that looked too similar) but really enjoyed the more ambiguous chapters where Kabuki comments on her past and present. show less

Kabuki takes place in a futuristic Japan where government and crime work together to form a sort of corporate feudalism. There's a secret organization within the government that tries to keep the balance of power even. If a politician or a crime lord becomes too powerful, an assassin is sent to take care of things.

The main character of the story is one of these assassins. A woman who is still haunted by the death of her mother, she bears the name Kabuki.

Kabuki reminded me a little of the movie Blade Runner. Not the plot, but the feeling of the story. It's a kind of philosophical noir that moves you through emotions more than through plot. It's dark and violent, but I was still intrigued by the characters and their world.