David Mack's Kabuki is a very interesting and
immersive comic book tale. The initial story, titled "
Circle of Blood", is about one young
Ainu woman (named Kabuki), who is a member of a
secret government organization called the
Noh whose aim is to wipe out the
criminal underworld in
Kyoto. There are eight of them:
Kabuki,
Scarab,
Ice,
Tiger Lily,
Snapdragon,
Butoh, and
Siamese, who are two
siamese twins joined at the shoulder and given a
mechanical limb when separated by
surgery. They receive their orders from
Oni, who wears the
mask of a demon and whose face they never see.
The story is largely concerned with Kabuki's mother, who, as a girl, was abducted by
Japanese soldiers during
WWII to be sent to a
military outpost to live as a "
comfort woman", essentially a
slave to the soldiers. But the
wise and respected general at the outpost she is sent to prevents the soldiers from
using the women for
sexual gratification. Instead he has them perform
Kabuki dramas for the soldiers.
Circle of Blood is a
beautifully rendered and wonderfully intricate comic story with elements of many different
genres of story added in. Part
sci-fi and
cyberpunk, with the
future Kyoto looking like everything it should be. Part
ghost story, with echoes of
Kabuki's past and her mother
rising to the surface of the tale more frequently
as the plot moves along. It is also a
brutally violent and
hypnotic drama, with
layers of intrigue and action scenes that leave
walls and floors of buildings
soaked in blood.
As stated in the original writeup, there is also an enormous amount of
symbolism. From the story's opening lines ("
The rainy season has begun") to the repeated images of
suns and moons flowing into other objects, the
seasonal / astrological metaphor is used extensively. The way
David Mack plans out and combines his writing with
symbolic and powerful imagery is amazing to behold. While I don't know enough about the aspects of
Japanese culture used in the story to criticize
Mack's work, I believe, from what I
do know about Japanese culture, he
captures the spirit fairly well.
Overall,
Kabuki: Circle of Blood is an incredible story that I think everyone should read. It is readily available in
graphic novel format - I bought it for
$14.95, an excellent price considering the
length and scope of the
brilliant story. It's
one of those books that reaffirms your faith in the comic medium.