David Mack has been doing his creator owned series
KABUKI for over 10 years now. Since 1999 he's done
some work on DAREDEVIL for Marvel. David is one of
the rare, few artists that can and do draw & paint
in a wide variety of styles and mixes them into a
story to add more depth and meaning to it. His
work has been nominated for 6 Eisner Awards and
The Harvey Awards, The Kirby Awards and the
International Eagle Awards. KABUKI in particular
is a world wide seller available in seven
different languages. With this interview, David Mack talks to
us about Kabuki, Daredevil, a character he created
for the Daredevil books called Echo, his movie
deal, future work, being called one of the cutest
comic creators by female fans and much more.
Jamie Coville:
Your style of art and storytelling is very
different than standard comics, both superhero and
indy. I suspect there was some reaction to the
switch in styles within Daredevil. How did people
react?
David Mack:
I had a blast working on each of the three DD
arcs that I was involved with. Writing DD after
Kevin Smith with Joe Quesada doing the art was a
very rewarding experience. The style he used on
it, blended well with the layouts I provided and
brought a new look to the book, and I remember
people being very happy about it.
From the first issue of DD that I started writing,
#9, there was a definite change in the
storytelling than in the Smith story before it,
and I remember readers responding to me that they
really enjoyed the new approach.
For each of the three DD arcs I worked on, I used
a different kind of storytelling to fit that
particular story. That only makes sense to me.
No reason to treat each story exactly the same.
And I was happy to see the readers rise to the
occasion with the feedback I received from them at
signings and in letters.
I guess the biggest effect of it that I felt, was
that after I began writing and then drawing DD
(with Bendis), is that the DD readers began
hunting down my Kabuki books. It is amazing how
many letters I've received for Kabuki, from
readers who said they first began reading Kabuki
because of my work on Daredevil. So I can't ask
for a better reaction than that.
Jamie:
Are you at all concerned about how other
creators might use Echo in the future?
David Mack:
No. That is the nature of the game. Whenever
you work for Marvel, you do so in the spirit of
collaboration. And I know that Echo is in
extremely capable hands when Brian Michael Bendis
is writing her. He was nice enough to ask me if I
minded if he included her in his stories ahead of
time. He didn't have to ask, and he did. He is a
very considerate and class act. And of course, I
trust Brian's writing. He's an amazing
collaborator, and I look forward to working with
him again in the future.
Jamie:
Do you consider Echo a mutant?
David Mack:
I've never thought of it like that. I'm
really not into labels. I just saw her physical
skills as a logical progression to her learning to
read all movement and all visual stimuli as
language, and being able to learn to physically
duplicate and speak that language.
Jamie:
Did you have a model for Echo?
David Mack:
Not one specific model. I made a file of
references from images that had the flavor I
wanted for her, and sort of used that as a
composite.
Jamie:
Both your latest Echo story in Daredevil and
Kabuki deals with finding oneself and change. What
inspired this?
David Mack:
The current KABUKI: The Alchemy series from
Marvel is essentially an instruction manual on
creating a new life, 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.
I suppose part of it was inspired by so many
people asking me how I chose to do what I do, and
upon that decision, how I brought that dream to
fruition. Upon reflecting on that, I began to
realize certain principles and practical
applications that can be useful to anyone in any
line of work for enacting their dreams, and I put
that into the story of Kabuki discovering those
principles in the way that I did. A layer of the
story operates as a condensed sequence of
epiphanies that reveal themselves when you commit
to an action.
Jamie:
Did you do something else prior to becoming a
storyteller?
David Mack:
As far as working for a living? I did all
kinds of things. In college I had all kinds of
jobs. I worked for a printer, as a tutor, as a
painter's assistant framing paintings, newspaper
layout, manual labor, and all kinds of stuff. I
tried to narrow those jobs to art related jobs.
And then I tried to narrow the art related jobs to
comic book and fine art related work. And then I
continued to narrow that down to just the personal
work that I wanted to do.
It was a conscious decision to narrow it down to
just my dream jobs, while using the other jobs for
scaffolding to make a living from, until I could
make a living from only the dream career.
Jamie:
Why did you switch Kabuki from Image to
Marvel's ICON imprint?
David Mack:
Joe Quesada was kind enough to offer to bring
Kabuki and Powers to Marvel some years previous
this, but we were very committed to our home at
Image for specific reasons. But a situation
occurred that made that difficult. And Quesada
was good enough to offer us a solution by letting
us know his offer still stood and we formed ICON.
Jamie:
Can you tell us about the difficult situation
at Image?
David Mack:
No. As far as I know, it has been completely
resolved now. I imagine it was some wrinkle of
business and it was completely ironed out since.
And it doesn't reflect badly on anyone at Image
that I have ever worked with. I've always had a
great relationship with everyone I have ever
worked with at Image and I still do. Larsen,
Valentino, and Stephenson and everyone that was a
part of the working relationship with me all have
my utmost respect and my continued business.
You'll notice I've continued to do covers and work
on Image books, such as RUULE: Ganglords of
Chinatown and Ronin Hood. And continued to keep
Kabuki in print in paperback and hardcover. And
Mike Oeming has continued to release his books
there as well. In fact all of the Kabuki paperback
collections and hard covers are still available
through Image and we just went back to print with
KABUKI: Metamorphosis which had been sold out of
its previous printing.
Metamorphosis is the Kabuki story that the current
Alchemy continues from. I urge people who have
not yet read it to pick it up. Of all of my comic
book work that is collected, I'd say the KABUKI:
Metamorphosis is the best example of my work as a
writer and as an artist.
Jamie:
In Kabuki you show a wide variety of art
styles. Do you do commercial art as well?
David Mack:
I'm not even sure I know what that means. I
suppose you could say that I do fine art, in that
I sometimes have gallery shows. I prefer to do the
art and story that I personally want to do, rather
than work for someone else, and through comics, I
have a way to communicate that story to a wide
array of readers around the globe.
Jamie:
I mean advertising art or covers of books, DVD,
posters, etc . . . the stuff that pays REALLY well
compared to comics.
David Mack:
I've done some book covers and CD covers and
art for DVDs. I did a cover for Charles DeLint's
book The Road to Lizdoonvarna. I've done some CD
covers for American and Japanese labels. I've
done a painting of Tori Amos for everyone of her
RAINN charity calendars. I was commissioned to do
a painting for the Daredevil DVD and the Spiderman
DVD. For a recent He-Man DVD collection.
Recently I did quite a lot of paintings (around 25
I think) for MTV for their MIPCOM presentation at
Cannes in France. They made an animation out of
it, and were great to work with. And I did quite a
lot of writing for Fox with the Kabuki stuff.
Jamie:
You've mentioned in another interview that
you've already mapped out Kabuki's death. How many
more volumes do you think is left in the Kabuki
series?
David Mack:
Well I plan to do a volume for each of the Noh
operatives as well. Like I did for Scarab which
is volume 6. Tiger Lily will probably be next.
It will focus on her life as a comic artist, as
she interacts with other real comic creators and
she'll be a sort of fly on the wall in many real
life situations. A sort of tell all behind the
scenes story in a way.
Jamie:
Lately you've been working on the Kabuki film.
How is that going for you?
David Mack:
It is an adventure. See next question . . .
Jamie:
Do you have any Fortune and Glory type stories
to tell?
David Mack:
Tons!! Lots of bizarre behind the scenes
stuff. In the film adventure as well as the comic
world. I'm looking forward to including this in my
future auto biographical story project.
Jamie:
Do you have any desire to drop the paint brush
and just pencil?
David Mack:
I just use whatever medium or look I think is
best appropriate for each particular story. I let
the story dictate the medium and approach.
Jamie:
You are clearly well versed in Japanese culture
and there is a big Manga boom going on now. Do you
have any interest in doing the type of Manga
that's being published here?
David Mack:
I don't have any interest in trying to fit
into any kind of niche or conforming to any set
template. I like to do original stories from an
original place, with whatever look I think that
story calls for. My style is the absence of style.
Jamie:
Speaking of other companies, you've worked for
yourself and Marvel. Do you have any desire and
play with the toys at other publishers?
David Mack:
I look forward to writing more Marvel
characters. And I'd like to write some DC stuff
in the future. I've had some offers to write
Batman and some Vertigo stuff, which would be fun
to do when I fulfill the other project commitments
that I've lined up for myself.
Jamie:
You mentioned that you will be doing a straight
autobiography comic soon. Can you tell us what
type of story you have in mind?
David Mack:
Yeah. Besides the "Fortune & Glory" type
stuff we already discussed, there is a lot of
child hood stuff I want to put into it. I had a
very adventurous childhood with some experiences
that may be foreign to many readers, and I'm
looking forward to getting that out.
There are some far out survivalist-Armageddon-type
religious upbringing experiences among other
things. Also, an eight page preview of the
auto-bio stuff was included in KABUKI: The Alchemy
#4. So you can look at that to get a sense of
what it is like.
Jamie:
Will The Art of David Mack be a showcase of
your art or will there be some instruction in it?
David Mack:
Both. I want to have my complete cover work
in it. About 100 Kabuki covers. My DD covers.
The Alias covers. And much more. As well as
sequences of the stages of the covers in process.
And commentary of the work by Brian Michael Bendis
and myself.
Jamie:
Will this be published through Marvel's ICON
imprint?
David Mack:
Yeah. The plan is to do it with ICON. It
was originally on the schedule for late 2005. But
we moved it to 2006 so I can complete the Alchemy
story first.
Jamie:
You are regularly said to be the cute comic
creator by female fans. How do you handle that
attention?
David Mack:
I try to keep the focus on my work. And to tell
you the truth, I think it is in part the work that
makes people susceptible to thinking that. It
seems like people relate to the stories on a very
personal level. And when I meet people I enjoy
listening to their interpretation and reaction to
the stories. And I enjoy being kind to them. And
I think the combination of those things gives
people the illusion that I am "nice" or "cute".
When in reality, I'm just enjoying being kind, and
they already have a personal connection to the
work or the story.
Jamie:
Have you had any bad experiences from female
fans going to a bit too far?
David Mack:
As long as people are respectful to my
girlfriend then I am fine. If someone acts like
my girlfriend isn't there or acts in a way that
could be construed as disrespectful to her, then I
tend to draw back a bit.
Jamie:
Do you have any martial arts training?
David Mack:
Yes. One of my best friends is a Kung Fu
instructor. Ean. A friend of Andy Lee and I. So
I join his class when I can. But in college I
competed in a Japanese style of Karate. When I
was a 17 year old Freshman, I won first place
competing against upper classmen. And before that
I also took Tae Kwon Do when I was younger but
only for a bit. The Japanese style is what I took
most and the only thing I competed in. I do it now
for enjoyment and exercise.
Jamie:
Last year you were at the Paradise Comics
Toronto Comicon, but not the Toronto Comic Book
Expo. Is there a reason for that?
David Mack:
Yeah. I did the Toronto Expo two years in a
row and it was great. And I had never done the
Paradise show even though Peter Dixon asks me
every year. I just did not have the schedule for
it before. But this year, Bendis was going there
and asked be to go to. So I did it to try the
Paradise show and to spend time with my friends,
Bendis and Andy Lee. And the Paradise show
arranged to transport my stuff there, as I've had
problems and delays with bringing my books through
customs before. This year Paradise fit my work
schedule better than the Expo.
I hope to return to Toronto again but not sure
when or which one.
News, art, and much more info about David Mack can be found at
http://www.davidmackguide.com
