Interview with David Mack

Somewhatnerds, boy do I have a treat for you. I have accomplished a milestone in my interviewing career. I know I have interviewed comic artists in the past, but this man is a national treasure when it comes to comics. Some of you die-hards will know him from his creation and work with Kabuki, while others may just know him from his work on Daredevil: End of Days. Regardless how you have heard of him, you have heard of him. It was a true honor to interview and learn from this amazing comic artist/writer. Ladies and Gentlemen, my interview with David Mack.

1. First of all, let me begin by saying this is a real honor. Most of our fans will know your work for Kabuki. How did you create this wonderful character?

DM: I created the first volume of Kabuki in collage as my senior writing thesis in Literature.

2. Besides Kabuki, you have done some illustrations for Marvel as well as DC. My favorite comic cover of yours is Daredevil #51 with Echo as the cover. Do you have a favorite cover that you have done?

DM: Of that Echo story in Daredevil, my favorite of that story is cover #55. That original hangs in Joe Quesada’s home next to a Kirby.

A more recent favorite cover I did for Marvel is Psylocke from 5 Ronin series. I really enjoyed making all the covers of ALIAS that Bendis wrote, in particular I like the four cover sequence that is designed to look like the diary of the runaway girl in the story. Of Kabuki, I enjoy the covers of The Alchemy with #1, #4, #6, & #7 being my favorites of that. I’m enjoying making the variant covers of each issue of Daredevil End of Days, the #1 issue, and the face motif that developed on the others.

3. You are also a very talented writer for Marvel. I love the Daredevil: End of Days storyline. Did you pitch the idea or did Marvel come to you?

DM: I believe I was talking with Brian Bendis about projects and he told me that Marvel editor Warren Simons suggested this idea as a series, and Brian suggested that he and I should write it together.

4. Getting back to your first creation, what does the future hold for Kabuki?

DM: So far there are seven volumes of Kabuki. With The Alchemy being the newest one, having been published by Icon and Marvel Comics. I enjoy writing Kabuki so much, that I’m very much looking forward to working on it again. The next volume will probably be a story on one of the other characters like Siamese or Tigerlily, their life and how it intersects with the other volumes, like I did with Scarab.

5. I know that besides comics, you have done some art for various projects. Which one was your favorite to work on?

DM: I worked on the last two seasons of Dexter: Early Cuts for Showtime. I contributed album art for Amanda Palmer’s new album. I collaborated with Neil Gaiman on a project last year. I created a visual storytelling for a poem of U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins. Last month, I acted as assistant director, storyboards & set designer for director Allan Amato on a music video for the band Dead Can Dance for their song: “Children of the Sun”. Hard to pic a favorite but that was a blast to work on.

6. Being a master of illustration yourself, does that help with your ability in writing a great story?

DM: I imagine thinking visually, is a great asset to writing comics or any visual storytelling.

7. Which is easier for you, drawing or writing?

DM: I don’t know that I would call either of them easy. For me, each of them take a certain amount of finessing and tinkering to get just right as far as pacing and tone in the context of the story. Some parts of the process can flow very quickly, and other parts of the process, particularly endings, can take a lot more time as far as working out the right pacing and details for it to have the right feel.

8. Do you have any other hobbies besides your art and writing?

DM: As a kid I used to raise mice and rats. I won a Science Fair Award for my exhibit, documentation and research into Mouse Genetics. In college I won some awards for martial arts competitions. I still have an interest in Science and theoretical physics, as you may guess from the physicist character in the Kabuki stories (M.C. Square). I love music & film and enjoy collaborating with musicians and filmmakers.

9. Do you have any future projects that you can share any details about?

DM: I should have a new book of my art available soon. Dream Logic was four issues at Marvel, and I’d like to get that collected with new material as well. I have a creator-owned project with Brian Bendis planned. I have a few more children’s books in the works and one of them in the plans of being adapted into film.

10. Where can our readers keep updated on the wonderful world of David Mack?

DM: I update my Facebook page daily. Davidmack.com should link you to it. There are a variety of art albums on it and info. I update my twitter daily @davidmackkabuki.

11. What advice can you give to anyone who may want to illustrate or write comics as a career?

DM: Do it. Start it, finish it, show it to people, repeat that sequence for each different project. Make the project or story that you are passionate about. Imaged the story that you would like to see and then make that real.

12. This question is just for fun really. If you were not a comic writer/artist, what do you think you would be doing for a career?

DM: When I was a kid I wanted to be a stunt-man but I got negative reinforcement for jumping out of moving vehicles and more positive reinforcement for drawing things. If I was not working in comics, I would probably be telling stories in other formats, prose books, paintings, film, music.