Kabuki is my first graphic novel of 2020, but is a revisit of an old favorite from back in the 1990s. In fact, the volume I have is apparently one of the originals and, as of the time I am writing this review, not able to be selected on Goodreads.Cool side story to start. I found this artist and series back in the 90s when I was in an alternative comic book phase. I say “alternative” because I was not into DC and Marvel, it was more Image and Dark Horse and any other “off brand” of comic. Howeve...

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...

For an indie comic written 25 years ago, this holds up remarkably well. At times, it feels it does want to be The Crow but I like how you can see the art evolve with each issue. It's not a traditionally drawn comic. There is little panel structure. Most pages are intended as full art pieces with poetic language used as narration. In that respect it's influenced by the early Vertigo comic writers. The transfers aren't the best, especially the text when it's white lettering on a black background,

Kabuki wants to be Sin City. Kabuki also wants to be The Crow. Toss in some Blade Runner, and we’re ready to go.Innumerable influences and references tether each other in this richly dense story of betrayal and technology in late 20th century Japan. Although it builds upon a great many other sources, it succeeds in carving out not just its own space but, it’s own highly individualized identity. As unique as the crescent moon blades our protagonist wields, so to does Dave Mack’s creation revel in...

Kabuki is an appropriate name for David Mack’s anti-hero. Like the traditional Japanese drama it draws its name, the character is a complex creation with layers upon layers of story, technique and nuance. It is a story that Mack has poured a lot of himself in to produce. He draws upon his fascination and knowledge of the Japan; its language, society and its sub-cultures, his martial arts experience and his ingenious application of various visual art media. It is a well-researched, beautifully wr...

I am so glad I found this, as it was mentioned by some reddit user in a thread about must read graphic novels. Boy oh boy, this book is nothing short of amazing. I would describe it as Sci-Fi that along the way harks back into the past of WW2 and it is told from the japanese viewpoint. If you are okay with creative artistic story telling and lay outs that break the mold you really should give this a go. Usually I only was able to find deep poetic stories like this in Manga, which makes this kind...

Very hard to characterize. Kind of a collage style of storytelling and art, with romantic styling and color and eight women assassins in a cool.sophisticated Yakuza environment in Japan. He dedicates this series to his mother, who dies young, at 49, which would seem to be a tribute to her spirit. I need to reread this to evn scratch the surface at its nuances and references….

This book is a little weird at first, a little hard to follow, but if you keep going, it fits together like a puzzle, bit by bit, piece by piece, until you get the full picture. Then the full picture comes to life and you get to watch the last few acts of the book take you on a wild ride. The detail is amazing and it reveals itself as you take a closer look. I wasn't totally into this book at first (I don't care for the mostly naked women stuff), but it finally clicked about half way through Act...

I remember seeing the Kabuki comics everywhere, all the time when I was a teenager and I remember all of the super striking covers I'd see every time I went to the comic bookstore, but I was wary of their hot asian lady exploitation and never picked one up. I recently came across this at the library though and thought I'd give it a try. I get a similar feeling reading David Mack as I do reading some of the other big male comics guys like Frank Miller, Alan Moore, and Neil Gaiman. There's just a

David Mack uses mixed mediums to create these crazy awesome pieces of art. There's also some kick ass story telling.

I tried picking Kabuki up in the middle, and it seemed intense and rich but a little opaque, in its meandering narrative and manipulation of standard comic book art and formats. I'm very glad I began at the beginning with this. David Mack's style is very, for lack of a better word, "artistic", and it's satisfying to be told a fairly traditional genre story (super-fighting woman, organized crime, secret police force that keeps the balance, paternity and origin issues) with as much freedom as Kabu...

David Mack really made me wonder, where have I been in my previous life? Where did those precious time go? Why did I always waste such productive time to develop my skill?As a struggling-amateur-comic artist-wannabe, this superb book was like a slap in my face. He created this divinely wonderful book as a dissertation in order to graduate from his art college, when he was still 22!!! Artistically drawn in B/W, with stunning accuracy in human anatomy, this book is like a radiant treasure before m...

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 pas...

The first time I read Circle of Blood, I didn't think it was that great. I was mainly turned off by the black and white artwork and over the top violence. However, upon reading it a second time, I was able to look past the lack of color to see how amazing the artwork really is. Kabuki contains arguably the best artwork you will ever see in comics. Different styles of art are used to express different emotions. An image from one scene "fades" into another creating visual connections all throughou...

I really wanted to like the Kabuki series. I'd read the Scarab book first and loved it. David Mack's art is phenomenal. However I just couldn't get into the main Kabuki issues. I just wanted to stare at David Mack's art.

I like the world building of Mack’s world and the artwork is on another level but I have issues with the story which feels very dated and I don’t just mean the musical references.While I appreciate what Mack is doing as far as the connection between individuals and government and the cultural observations he makes about Japan, the character of Kabuki feels like a caricature.Interesting but I didn’t care for it enough to read any more of the series.

The first volume of the acclaimed Kabuki series is nothing less than an impressive, inimitable work of genius. Stunning panel work, a beautiful story of revenge, and symbolism out the wazoo make for the perfect intro to an iconic series. The fact that the work is in black and white only makes the effort all the more impressive. This is the one that started it all; one read and you'll be begging for more.

One of the most appalling and depressing things to me about the movie industry is that this comic has STILL not been made into a film. It would be hands down the greatest, classiest, most cerebral action movie ever made, putting even "The Matrix" to shame (In fact, I'm rather surprised they bothered making something OTHER than this film in the first place, as I doubt they weren't inspired by it, and wouldn't be surprised if they did some day; maybe they just didn't want to be too obvious...?P It...

KABUKI Series is my greatest inspiration to everything I do. I was gifted with this book by my then boyfriend, who said I reminded him of the character of this book. Oh boy, he was right. The best part of my realisation is that this story is written by a white guy from a Japanese girl first person point of view. That is amazing, for someone to understand write so deeply from a asian female perspective. I was more curious about the author after reading this series. That was the beginning of my qu...

My issue is that I don't really know how to read graphic novels effectively. I feel this novel would have been a lot better and a lot more symbolic, had I gotten the deeper meaning by better combining pictures and text. The artwork is gorgeous, which was my original reason for reading this nook! The text, too, is very insightful."You can't kill time... without injuring eternity. Time always catches up with you."Basically, this book is about a young woman's struggle being stuck in between politic...

I kinda went about reading this series backwards. I randomly picked up The Alchemy (which is the last book) at the library and ZOMG it's so good! Like amazing and maybe the most beautiful graphic novel ever. Just loved it. So now I'm starting at the beginning and it's a great start. It's just black and white yet still has so many pages I could just rip out and frame. The complex story is told with relatively few words and great artwork. It's not so complicated that reading the last one was a tot...

I recently read this for the second time and was much more impressed, especially when I later learned that Mack did this as an undergraduate for a class project! It certainly inspires me to put my own words and images together in the near future.

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!

I don't even know where to start with this book! I was reluctant to read it. It was recommended to me by a patron at the library. Generally, I am not a fan of just black and white comics. It took me a while to actually pick it up and start it. Once I did, I could not put it down.

A troupe of assassins lean heavily on Japanese tropes. I got disinterested pretty quickly.

I first read this book when I was a teen and I remember being deeply impressed by it. Some of the moments have stuck in my head ever since. I looked it up recently because I've been thinking about the books that have really impacted my life and I wanted to see if the experience of reading it was different as an adult. It was, but mostly because I understood it better and could see more clearly the depth of art and thought had had gone into making this book.In a futuristic/sci fi Japan, a group o...

This review covers volumes #1-5 of these series.Sometimes I want to give this comics story "1 Star". The art is constantly incredible and really, it's not the story. In fact, very little time or plot occurs over these initial five volumes. David Mack's Painted Art is Hauntingly Beautiful. This an extremely different use of the medium--instead, focusing on memories, thoughts, and meanderings with a dreamlike quality. Many scenes are revisited with new perspective (approached through a new lens an...

I very deeply love me some near-future cyberpunk and so there were things about this I liked a lot -- the style, in particular, good setting, good linework, the integration of lettering, a lot of it was great. But that style was mostly applied to naked women and violence against same. None of the lady assassins ever get to wear clothes (but don't worry, their skintight skincolored silk is bulletproof!!) -- I seriously do not think there is a single spread without a hot naked woman -- and there a...

Fantastic noir graphic novel. It is a tale of murder and political intrigue, only slightly marred by some of the over-the-top nature of the villains (like the Japanese cowboy wannabe). It feels very much like The Crow with a Japanese twist - and uses a similar black and white stylization, but it is also its own thing. The true plot is masked behind layers, and the deep and intimate knowledge of Japanese culture shines through without making it appear touristy or kitschy.Mack's brilliant and unco...

This is a soft four but it does seem like a bit better than a three.Gorgeous and imaginative but dense and convoluted. It really is at heart a simple tale, but with excess flourish and plenty of extraneous content you feel like you’re being led around an excessively elaborate labyrinth to the obvious conclusion. Insights into Japan and some of its history were appreciated but all the other side roads were immaterial. It is a gorgeous ride though.