Kabuki Dreams (VOL. 2)

Rating:
Summary: Visual intensity
Review: Sanity is not always called for. This story explores one alternative. It's a dark alternative, but it's an alternative to an even darker reality.

This is another of Mack's lavish painted comics. To call it 'painted', though, is faint praise. Drawing, lettering in a few different hands, collage, painting - the visual layering and intensity are incredible. The story itself is stark, physically static the with dynamics all in Kabuki's mind. Somehow, Mack conveys and sustains that moment when even desperation fails.

Mack's images are filled with deconstructed text. My eye instinctively tries to read it all, but that would defeat the purpose of the imagery. On the other hand, ignoring it defeats the purpose of the writing. This is a book I'll come back to, to give it all the different readings it deserves.