Info on new Kabuki series for this January!
Oct. 08 2003,03:03

I mentioned some info about the new Kabuki series that I am writing and painting in response to a post on my Kabuki message board at wfcomics.com.  I figured I would include it here too in case there are readers here who are looking forward to the new Kabuki series or in case there are people here who have not yet read Kabuki.
Kindest regards,
David

Wow! David, I've gotta say that I had a great appreciation for your work on this serious before, as I'd read most of them as they came out from the very beginning. But towards the end of the Image series as well as the end of the Scarab series, I missed an issue or two. Well I finnaly got them and I sat down and read everything over one weekend.

This entire series is simply one of the greatest stories I've ever read...not just comic-wise either sir. There wasn't a single issue that I could "ho hum" nor a single panel of art that I could deem bad. Literally every single issue meant something to the larger tale and the mixed media-style art by you (especially once the series hit color) is so inspiring...you make me want to build a canvass and attempt my own work!

Even all over your letter columns were great reads, with their photos of you and Andy Lee (someone I've met a few times now, as well as bumping into you too once) and your incredible honesty about where your ideas for Kabuki's journey come from. I usually don't get all "fan boy" over comics, but I just wanted to tell you that you're someone that truly makes me breathe deeply when I read your stories and oftentimes I find myself looking at issues for what seems and hour or so.

I can't tell enough people about your series and I'll forever tell more people to read this incredibly deep story that you're taking us on. I never write to creators, but I'll be damned if I can contian the excitement I had once I finished that last issue of Kabuki Agents: Scarab! I literally had the goosebumps. Keep up the work sir and I'll keep buyin! You've got a reader for life.

JD

The new series is a brand new era in Kabuki's life.  It is NOT going to recap anything from the previous stories.  I've made sure that all six Kabuki volumes are in print and available in collections, so I hope people will use that as an oppertunity to read everything that has come before and hopefully read it all at once like you did.

In the new series THAT is all Kabuki's past.  There won't be any flashbacks to it.  No catch up.  But it is still a great place for new readers to start because it is a brand new start for Kabuki that is very much it's own story, not dependant on previous stories.  You don't need to read the past to understand the primary thrust of the new story.  But if you do, you will love the contrast and the oblique and subtle hints at her past.  And you will see the fruition of many of the seeds planted in previous issues!  Seeds that you didn't know were seeds, but now you will see them blossom into something spectacular and mindblowing.

The truth is, after you read this new series, you will want to go back and read the previous stories again and you will see them in a new way that is going to make you appreciate them in a brand new dimension as well as the ways that they are already charming to you.  They will still hold that charm, but you will have a brand new perspective to appreciate them from.  It will be like looking at pictures of yourself as a child.  You always appreciated the pictures for what they were, but now that you are grown up, you can see how those moments shaped your present life.

But the new series is specifically designed to be her NEW life.  And it is essentially an instruction manual on creating a NEW life, creating 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.
KABUKI: The Alchemy is scheduled to ship in January and will be the cover of the January Previews.
We won't be overprinting, so please make sure your retailer orders ahead of time from the catalogue.

It is going to be great to have the Kabuki letter collumn again!  I'm going to cram this issue with all that I can.  Sketches, etc.  It will even have Brian Bendis’ early drawings of Kabuki!  Most people may not know that I only intended to write Kabuki.  I met Brian in 1993 and he was going to draw Kabuki from my script.  This will be the very first time that I have ever published his Kabuki drawings from TEN YEARS ago!

Please read the previous Kabuki stories like JD so you are ready for it!
Bestest,
David

Here is an update on my new gallery show at the NKU main gallery.  I will be giving a lecture, speaking, Q&A at NKU on October 22.  It will be at 8pm held in Greaves Concert Hall in the first floor of the NKU art building.  This is the same concert hall at NKU the Neil Gaiman spoke at last year.  So if you went to that you know where it is and how fun this will be.

I will keep this a very interactive forum.  Please feel free to express yourself and ask the questions about the details that you want to speak about.  The lecture will also be filmed and included with the gallery receptions, and other workshops I’ve done this month on a DVD that the school is making for educational purposes.

Before the lecture there will be a reception and cocktail party in the actual gallery where my work is on display.  This will be from 6:30 to 8.  There will be food and drinks (including wine and alcohol if you indulge).  The entire Cincinnati Art Directors Club is hosting the reception and will be in attendance.  The gallery is on the 3rd floor of the art building.  At 8 we will go to the concert hall on the 1st floor.

The art critic from the Cincinnati Enquirer has hailed the show as one of the five must see fall shows of this year.  The Cincinnati Enquirer that ships on the 21st will have a detailed profile of the show and my work and makes reference to the Kabuki message board and some of the posters here.

Read on to hear the details of the show that I posted in the previous updates:

I have close to 400 original art pieces in the show.  It is a one man show and has the ENTIRE main gallery of the university that I graduated from.  My biggest show ever.

Included are:  The original art from the entire issues of Daredevil #51-53.  33 original art pages from the Daredevil Wakeup story I did with Brian Michael Bendis.  Hundreds of Kabuki pages from Metamorphosis, Skin Deep and Dreams (including the entire Ghost play art, and entire Kabuki One Half art).

Four figure sculptures at real life scale.  Large full figure paintings at real life scale and larger.  Many, many personal figure drawings, sketches, studies and doodles.  A brand new never before published black and white autobiographical 8 page story called “Self Portrait”.

The original cover art to selected published covers of Kabuki, Daredevil, Alias and more.  The Tori Amos painting I did for her upcoming calendar.

Handmade artbooks including “My Invisible Friend” (as seen in pages of Kabuki), Father Hymn Book, Mother Her Book.  Child hood robot sculpture and first childhood oil painting and more.

Also included are many books and books will be available for sale to the public at the night of the opening reception.

Also free posters and post cards with the show art are free to public at the night of opening reception.

Reception will have free food and drinks.  Including SUSHI! Yum. I hope I have time to eat some.

Previous update below will have other info dates, times and lecture night info:

I have a new gallery exhibit of my artwork in October.  It will be held in the art gallery of the University that I graduated from and will extensively feature original pages from Kabuki, Daredevil, Echo, and many non-comic related works and paintings.

The opening night reception of the gallery will be Thursday October 2 from 5-8 pm.  It will be held at the main gallery of the Art Building at Northern Kentucky University.  Right across the river from Cincinnati Ohio.

It is a one man show and my work will be up throughout October but I hope people can make it on the opening night, as there will also be a signing held, a free poster for the gallery show, and books available.  On Friday October 22 I will be having a lecture/discussion at the University. Last year NKU had Neil Gaiman do this at the University, and If you attended that you know how fun and interactive this can be.

The last two years the NKU Literature dept hosted something like this.  I did it the first year, and Neil Gaiman did it the second year.  This October the art dept is sponsoring my show and working hand in hand with other departments of the University including the Literature dept, and book stores in the area.  Both events are free to the public, and everyone is welcomed to attend!

Thanks for asking.  But no, I always do the Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus on that weekend after Thanksgiving.  But I will be attending the National in NYC in the spring of next year.

I hope to see you there.  Check my Kabuki message board at wfcomics.com for dates and updates of all my signings and con appearances.

Best,
DM