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Finally here it is...

Posted By: french tbolt <mailto:tbolt@caramail.com?subject=Finally here it is...>
Date: SAT, 5/5/01, 12:28 p.m.

...here is the ComicBox interview with Mr Mack...
enjoy!

Thanks to zemo and to Xavier Fournier for their cooperation...;)

So:

1) Your two main « creator owned » projects (Kabuki
and Scarab) are infused with japanese culture. How did
you find yourself involved with this specific culture.
Why this one and not another one ?

In collage I was competing in Japanes style of
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.

2) Your paintings are actually pieces of art that
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 ?

I certainly am. I try to learn from everything that I
observe and experience.

3) Did you ever try to expose/sell your stuff in the
market of art exhibitions ?

I use to do that more when I was in college. There
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.

4) Comic Books often reflect a mostly negative image
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 ?

I think most of them are silly.

5) The «Noh» in your Kabuki is supposed to be some
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 ?

Not Japan specifically. The stories in Kabuki are set
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.

6) Most «american made» japanese characters, like
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 ?

One of the things that I enjoyed doing in Kabuki is to
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.

7) During your time in France, you showed us a great
knowledge of Oriental philosophy. Do you read
particular books or are you following particular
oriental rules/disciplines ?

I have read many books on the subjects. Probably
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.

8) 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 ?

Well, Kabuki takes place in Japan, so pretty much
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.

As far as Echo in Daredevil, I wanted her father to be
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.

9)… Or don’t you think that your use of women who
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 ?

I suppose there may be somesthing to that as well. I
did want Echo and DD to be very different from one
another. To be a mystery that the other wants to
explore.

10) What is the worst japanese cliche that you ever
seen in an american comic book ?

It’s just the same old stock stéréotypes over and
over.

11) With the illustration that you recently did for
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 ?

I enjoy writing. And I enjoy telling a story visually.
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 !

respectfully
french tbolt

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Messages In This Thread

NEW: Finally here it is... -- french tbolt -- SAT, 5/5/01, 12:28 p.m.
NEW: Re: Finally here it is... -- MACK! -- SAT, 5/5/01, 3:03 p.m.
NEW: Re: Finally here it is... -- french tbolt -- SUN, 5/6/01, 7:45 p.m.
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