MACK!
02-10-2007, 02:33 PM
I had posted this on a thread on the Fanboy radio boards (the WHAT'S KABUKI ABOUT? thread), and thought some people here may find it useful.
So here is a brief little response. Feel welcome to let me know what you think of it or if there is something I should add.
best,
david
Hi Jimmy,
Thanks for your interest in Kabuki. I’m glad you are considering trying it.
I’ll give a quick run down on some of what it is about.
The first volume (KABUKI: Circle of Blood) is kind of a crime story/espionage story.
It was me doing a kind of updated version of a George Orwell 1984 story where the media has become a mouthpiece for corporations and government to influence the culture. The (multi-national) corporation super-cedes the nation state as the real power in the world and used the media and what we used to call the news to maintain its true interest- making money and keeping control by exerting a state of fear and constant war about something.
I wrote it in 1993 and began publishing it in 1994. I thought I would take some of what was beginning to happen in the media then and turn up the volume of it, exaggerate it, to make a point. It doesn’t feel as exaggerated when I read it now.
In the story, there is a kind of interdependence between the organized crime, corporations, government, and media. And there is a government agency that polices that interdependence. It is an agency called the Noh. The Noh also has its own television channel called Noh TV in which it exerts its influence by soft power or cultural power. With characters clothed in nationalistic iconography and cultural masks. The general populace believe these characters to be kind of media idol talking heads about the daily propoganda.
But there are also rumors that the masked animations on the news are also operatives of the media that keep the scales balanced between the organized crime corporations and the political pundits if they go too far in either direction.
Kabuki is one of these media icons of channel Noh. At a certain point, her personal family obligations supercede the nationalistic propaganda that she grew up believing and she embarks on a path that puts here against the powers that she formerly served.
The current volume (KABUKI: The Alchemy) from Marvel’s Icon line, follows the same main character, but it is after she has left her former line of work and has decided to start a new career. It kind of starts in that place people can sometimes find themselves after graduating high school or college, or switching jobs where you ask, what am I really here to do? How do I figure that out? And after figuring that out, how do I make it happen?
It is about practical applications of making that happen, and about the nature of ideas and creativity in general (about practical applications for turning those ideas and dreams into reality). And specifically, how to turn the problems of your past, into something useful and practical for your future. How to turn your garbage into gold.
Each of the volumes has a different theme to it and uses a different storytelling style.
Between these descriptions for the first and most recent volumes, I hope you get a sense of the themes of the story and if it is something you might want to try.
Davidmackgudie.com has preview pages for each and every issue, so you can see how each one has its own approach,
Kindest regards,
david
So here is a brief little response. Feel welcome to let me know what you think of it or if there is something I should add.
best,
david
Hi Jimmy,
Thanks for your interest in Kabuki. I’m glad you are considering trying it.
I’ll give a quick run down on some of what it is about.
The first volume (KABUKI: Circle of Blood) is kind of a crime story/espionage story.
It was me doing a kind of updated version of a George Orwell 1984 story where the media has become a mouthpiece for corporations and government to influence the culture. The (multi-national) corporation super-cedes the nation state as the real power in the world and used the media and what we used to call the news to maintain its true interest- making money and keeping control by exerting a state of fear and constant war about something.
I wrote it in 1993 and began publishing it in 1994. I thought I would take some of what was beginning to happen in the media then and turn up the volume of it, exaggerate it, to make a point. It doesn’t feel as exaggerated when I read it now.
In the story, there is a kind of interdependence between the organized crime, corporations, government, and media. And there is a government agency that polices that interdependence. It is an agency called the Noh. The Noh also has its own television channel called Noh TV in which it exerts its influence by soft power or cultural power. With characters clothed in nationalistic iconography and cultural masks. The general populace believe these characters to be kind of media idol talking heads about the daily propoganda.
But there are also rumors that the masked animations on the news are also operatives of the media that keep the scales balanced between the organized crime corporations and the political pundits if they go too far in either direction.
Kabuki is one of these media icons of channel Noh. At a certain point, her personal family obligations supercede the nationalistic propaganda that she grew up believing and she embarks on a path that puts here against the powers that she formerly served.
The current volume (KABUKI: The Alchemy) from Marvel’s Icon line, follows the same main character, but it is after she has left her former line of work and has decided to start a new career. It kind of starts in that place people can sometimes find themselves after graduating high school or college, or switching jobs where you ask, what am I really here to do? How do I figure that out? And after figuring that out, how do I make it happen?
It is about practical applications of making that happen, and about the nature of ideas and creativity in general (about practical applications for turning those ideas and dreams into reality). And specifically, how to turn the problems of your past, into something useful and practical for your future. How to turn your garbage into gold.
Each of the volumes has a different theme to it and uses a different storytelling style.
Between these descriptions for the first and most recent volumes, I hope you get a sense of the themes of the story and if it is something you might want to try.
Davidmackgudie.com has preview pages for each and every issue, so you can see how each one has its own approach,
Kindest regards,
david