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Finally here it is...
Posted By: french tbolt <mailto:tbolt@caramail.com?subject=Finally
here it is...> ...here is the ComicBox interview with Mr Mack... Thanks to zemo and to Xavier Fournier for their cooperation...;)
So:
1) Your two main « creator owned » projects (Kabuki In collage I was competing in Japanes style of 2) Your paintings are actually pieces of art that I certainly am. I try to learn from everything that I 3) Did you ever try to expose/sell your stuff in the I use to do that more when I was in college. There 4) Comic Books often reflect a mostly negative image I think most of them are silly.
5) The «Noh» in your Kabuki is supposed to be some Not Japan specifically. The stories in Kabuki are set 6) Most «american made» japanese characters, like One of the things that I enjoyed doing in Kabuki is to 7) During your time in France, you showed us a great I have read many books on the subjects. Probably Well, Kabuki takes place in Japan, so pretty much As far as Echo in Daredevil, I wanted her father to be 9)… Or don’t you think that your use of women who I suppose there may be somesthing to that as well. I 10) What is the worst japanese cliche that you ever It’s just the same old stock stéréotypes over and 11) With the illustration that you recently did for I enjoy writing. And I enjoy telling a story visually. respectfully
Date: SAT, 5/5/01, 12:28 p.m.
enjoy!
and Scarab) are
infused with japanese culture. How did
you find yourself involved with this
specific culture.
Why this one and not another one ?
Karate. I then met a
friend (Takashi Hattori) in my
painting and dring classes who happend to be
a
teaching instructor in a similar style of Karate, So
we started
practicing together. Eventually I met the
rest of his family and the rest of
the Japanese
sub-culture at the school. Since a lot of my friends
were
Japanese, I decided to learn the language. So I
then took the Japanese
Language courses for the rest
of my university years. This also lead to more
immersion in the history and culture and several trips
to Japan. As my
brother was also friends with my
Japanese friends, he married a girl that
was gong to
my school and he went to shcool in Japan, so I now
have an
extended Japanese family. He eventually began
teaching Japanese classes when
he came back to the
states. I guess it just started because of the friends
I met in collage.
could be seen as comics
pages (or covers) but wouldn’t
be out of place in a art exhibition. Are you
influenced by classic painters, both americans,
japaneses or europeans ?
observe and
experience.
market of art
exhibitions ?
isn’t really a need
for me to do that right now. I
still show my work in some art exhibitions,
but my
focus is on putting it in books. I can reach a much
larger
audience that way.
of Japan, with
Yakusas and cyber-samurais everywhere.
What do you think of the stories
using Japan or
Japaneses that can be found in the american market ?
kind of balance
between organized crime and a
legitimate (but sometimes corrupt) commercial
system.
Do you see Japan like a land divided between those two
extremes
?
in Japan and the
cultural and historical détails are
spécifique to Japan, but most of the
truths in those
stories are universel and I think reflect situations,
metaphors, divisions, extrêmes and balances that
people can relate to
around the world.
Kabuki are visually
linked to the traditional aspects
of Japan, with references to the japanese
antic era.
At the same time, japanese mangas and video game are
increasing their use of asiatic men and women with
modern attires, punk
colors in the hairs, who’re
fighting while listening to some techno rave
music…
Why do you think that american creators are less
interested with
this more modern aspect of the
japaneses ?
put the
traditional and the modern together. In Circle
of Blood and the Scarab
story, there is a very urban
feel that reflets a lot of the philosophies and
sub-cultures of the youth culture in present day
Japan. That is
somesthing that I’m fascinated with,
and it reflets in the story. Japan is a
country that
is rooted in tradition, but the new génération in this
modern global world has a very different point of
view.
knowledge of
Oriental philosophy. Do you read
particular books or are you following
particular
oriental rules/disciplines ?
hundreds. I’m fascinated
with the a range of
philosophies and disciplines.I’m fascinated with Zen
and Toaism. I’m someone that has a passion for
creating things and for
integrating things. So my
whole Outlook on life if through a lense of
creation
and integration. When i was leasrning Karate, there
came a
point in which I realized that the basic
principles of learning one art or
discipline is the
same for learning all other arts and disciplines. And
that you need to learn it in a way that it is useful
at all times and in
all things. So this is how I
approach everything and it wasn’t that I
learned it so
much in books, as from the in action and experience in
martial arts. And then I real time that martial arts
and all the other
arts that i did were actually the
same thing. Then I real time that my goal
was always
to unify art and action and make them
indistinguishable. Then
after learning more about
Zen, I was able to understand these ideas in an
even
broader range.
Kabuki and Scarab are both women from a
non-american culture. And
in your recent Daredevil run
as a writer, the main woman, Echo, has an
amerindian
lineage. Do you have something particular against «
white
american » womans J ?
everyone is Japanese.
The main racism that is
displayed in Kabuki, is based on fallout effects of
the racism involved in the Comfort Women situation. In
hich Japan
subjugation women from neighboring Asian
countries. And the fact that Kabuki
does not quite fit
in because her mother was Ainu. So she is not full
Japanese in a society that looks down on anything less
than that.
Because the race issue in Kabuki is not
polarized by black and white, I find
that this is an
efective way for us to view the situation from a
different point of view and see the absurdities with
out being blinded
by the trappings the kinds of racism
that we are used to in the west. If we
see the
ridiculousness in this situation, it can help us to
further see
the absurdities in our own situation.
somewhat of an
outsider. So the Kingpin could relate
to him more. He is more of a loner if
he could not fit
into one of the more traditional ethnic groups in New
Yourk City. So I figured looping very Amerindian in
NYC would make him
not fit in his little world so
much. He and Fisk team up as they are both
outkasts in
apparence and personality. I imagined that Echoes
mother was
Peurto Rican. Hence the name, Lopez.
aren’t from the «white
american majority», wich issued
both the male heroes (like Daredevil) and
the majority
or the (male) readership, is some kind of
reimforcement of
how both sexes, from any country or
origin, are a cultural mystery for each
other ?
did want Echo and DD
to be very different from one
another. To be a mystery that the other wants
to
explore.
seen in an american
comic book ?
over.
Daredevil, Swamp
Thing and the already «famous» secret
Marvel project where you will also do
the covers,
you’re setting up some kind of parallel career as a
cover
artist. Is that something deliberate for you ?
But I also really
enjoy focussing on one single image
painting. I like to do all of these
things and after I
do one of them for a bit I need to do something in a
different format for a change. So far I can do all of
this in the realm
of comics !
french tbolt
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