Kabuki, Volume 4: Skin Deep

Publishers Weekly

In a sinister, futuristic Tokyo, an assassin named Kabuki wakes up wounded and incarcerated. She's a member of an agency that keeps the forces of government and crime in balance. Events covered in preceding Kabuki volumes have separated her from her sister agents and landed her at Control Corps, an agency that rehabilitates impaired or rogue agents and gets them back in the field. But Kabuki discovers her associates are out to kill her for a murder she's allegedly committed. Not much else happens in this slow-moving volume, which is called a prequel to another volume by the author. At its core is Kabuki's clandestine friendship with Akemi, an unseen individual claiming to be a fellow detainee, who sends tiny notes folded into exquisite origami creatures through a vent in the cell. Mack has a talent for eye-catching composition, color and texture, and an excellent grasp of anatomy. Each image has a high-labor finish and his inventive layouts are unconfined by a traditional panel grid. But his affection for melodrama and his overly exotic treatment of all things Asian (particularly women) or superficially Asian often makes the book seem like soft-porn science fiction. His women are all half-dressed, continually pouting and flawless. Add a tendency toward a pretentious "literary" tone and you might mistake this book for Asian-fetish erotica. But the work is saved by the intelligently rendered psychological intrigue Mack generates between two characters forced to establish trust and support under tremendous duress. This edition includes a bonus short story, sketchbook drawings, handwritten manuscript pages and photographs of Mack, his buddies and his models. (Jan.)