Kabuki Omnibus Volume 4

Kabuki #3, 6

by David W. Mack

Immerse yourself in the inspiration for Sony's upcoming Kabuki television series!

The Noh operatives believe Kabuki has gone rogue and is now deemed a liability. With instructions to infiltrate the Control Corps installation, they have one goal: find Kabuki. If she's dead, bring back her corpse. If she's alive . . . bring back her corpse. Kabuki's fellow assassins take center-stage and face the cost of being an agent of Noh.

This edition collects the original Kabuki: Masks of the Noh and Kabuki: Scarab in an easy to read trade paperback. With extras! Includes David's work with Tim Bradstreet, Rick Mays, Michael Avon Oeming and more! Perfect for old and new fans of David Mack and the Kabuki series!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 2016

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.



David W. Mack is a comic book artist and writer, best known for his creation Kabuki and his work on the Marvel Comics titles Daredevil and Alias

The author of the Star Trek Novels is David Mack

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collects the two miniseries that were about other assassins of the Noh, Kabuki: Masks of the Noh and Kabuki: Scarab, Lost in Translation. There's also about 60 pages of extras.

Kabuki: Masks of the Noh
The other seven assassins of the Noh get a chance to shine. They are on the hunt for Kabuki. It's something of a companion piece to Kabuki: Circle of Blood. They are on her trail from the events in that book.

I like how Mack came up with this book. Each member of the Noh is illustrated by a different artist. He worked on the stories with them in the evenings after conventions and signings. They'd pull all nighters to put this together and it worked out great.


Kabuki: Scarab, Lost in Translation
Both a companion piece to Kabuki: Metamorphosis and an origin story for Scarab. There's a framing sequence with the Noh attacking the Control center Kabuki is being held in before Scarab reflects back on her origins, telling them to another Noh agent, Tigerlily. The story in this is more straight forward, abandoning most of the flowery imagery Mack uses is the Kabuki books. Rick Mays's art is fantastic. I love his look of the Japanese motorcycle gangs and Scarab as a teen.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can find my review on my blog by clicking here.

Collecting the original Kabuki (Vol. 3): Masks of the Noh and Kabuki (Vol. 6): Scarab, Lost in Translation stories, writer and artist David W. Mack sees publisher Dark Horse Books publish the final omnibus in his artistic passion project. Collaborating with multiple artists, these tales give Kabuki’s rogues’ gallery, known as the Noh agents, the opportunity to tell their own story, as readers prepare to revel in their raison d’être, and to witness these assassins’ fates unfold as they eventually, inevitably, face off against Kabuki.

In Masks of the Noh, the story is set after the events in Circle of Blood, with Kabuki assumed to have gone rogue by her fellow assassins. The rest of the Noh agents, femme fatale killers with exceptional skills who wear unique masks, thus set out to track her down and take her down once and for all. In Scarab: Lost in Translation, the story focuses on one specific Noh agent, Scarab, as she unveils her intimate part, leading up to her journey as an assassin working for a government organization.

I can now see why these two particular story arcs have been collected into this final omnibus. Unlike the previous three omnibuses, all written and drawn by David W. Mack, these stories steer in a completely different and parallel direction, serving instead as a companion piece to the main narrative. It also marks a new experimental step for David W. Mack who invites multiple artists to draw a different and specific Noh agent in their own style. In itself, the idea is noble and authentic, contributing to the overarching theme of identity, as each artist can now capture a different personality through their stylistic efforts. Even more flagrant, when it comes to differences compared to the other Kabuki stories, is the black and white artwork. While the previous volumes were staggering artistic projects, conveying emotions and thoughts in ways only art can convey, through watercolour and montage, the stories featured here are far more straight-forward and orderly.

Unfortunately, the stories here are also almost irrelevant, almost forcefully giving several antagonists a voice, trying to delve into their individual plights and tragedies to highlight a reason behind their careers as assassins. While the focus on identity remains strong, explored through love and death, none of the Noh agents truly stand out. The narrative invites readers to connect with their journeys, despite readers being quite aware of how it’ll all go down once they finally track down Kabuki. Even more regrettable is how the artwork hampers with the reader’s ability to care for these characters instead of giving us a reason to connect and sympathize. Beyond the black-and-white style, which does nothing more than establish how these characters shouldn’t be conceived as either good or evil, and nothing more, most of these female assassins often find themselves near-naked, in little clothing, and in provocative positions, making readers wonder what reasoning could justify this direction. It didn’t help that in Scarab: Lost in Translation, there’s a huge effort in trying to incorporate and explain Japanese culture through the characters. This leads to the usual problems of telling instead of showing.

Kabuki Omnibus Vol. 4 is an average black-and-white companion piece with multiple collaborating artists that explores several Noh agents’ personal backgrounds.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This edition collects the stories Masks of the Noh and Scarab, both of which explore the other Noh operatives, some of their history and personalities. These stories weave their way throughout the Kabuki stories from the previous volumes. In these stories David Mack continued doing the writing but the majority of the artwork was by others creators collaborating with Mack. Masks of the Noh was interesting in that a different artist drew each of the Noh agents with Mack drawing Kabuki. Overall I think it worked. Granted, I liked some art more than others, and Mack’s is by far my favorite for these stories. But the stories, themselves, being written by Mack, were just as good as what’s come before. And I think the ending of the Scarab story was just perfect, both for itself, for this collected edition, and for how it weaved into the larger story of Kabuki.

[Diana]

Everyone’s the hero of their own story, aren’t they?
Part of me wishes I’d read this after Volume 2 - and saved the third volume for last - cause this is a pretty devastating note to end this remarkable series on.
In his notes in the back (dated 2016), Mack indicated that he had more Kabuki / Noh stories in mind, and I don’t doubt it; I bet he’s got dozens, if not hundreds, of them kicking around inside that big, beautiful brain of his. I hope we get to read some more of them some day.
Gorgeous storytelling, beautiful art by Mack, Rick Mays, and all their other gifted collaborators

[Eric Snell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collecting Masks of the Noh and Scarab: Lost in Translation this book is a bit of a mixed bag. Masks of the Noh, while introducing the other Noh assassins, just isn't a strong enough story. However, the second half with Scarab completely makes up for it. Scarab is solid and definitely gives this book a strong backbone and ending.

Personally, If this was just the Scarab story i'd give it 5 stars.

[M.Marie.S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beautiful art, kickass heroine. But a little creepy with the sexualization of her postures in traumatic situations.