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Structurally, Kabuki is a fascinating book.  How does a story in Kabuki come together?

DM: I write a full script for each issue.  First I figure out the overall architecture of the story, and then write as full of a script as I can for each chapter at once.  Then I write each one separately and shape and finesse it further.  All the while making visual notes in the script of the various visual solutions that I may choose from when drawing it.  Then I spend quite a bit of effort with the layout and the panels and storytelling.  That is a very key part and a lot of the intensive work.

Once I have that worked out the drawing is kind of the fun part.  And then the most fun part is finessing and integrating and re-cutting and editing it all together after it is all mostly done.  Those final polishes are where I can make it really sing.  Every level has a lot of design to it, but each stage allows room for improvement and spontaneity.

How has bringing Kabuki to Icon changed how you produce the book?  What has the change in publisher meant to you?

DM: The move to Icon at Marvel hasn’t had any influence on my various work methods.  The only change is that when I send the book to Marvel, after I have finished it, is that I talk with Marvel production editor Jeff Youngquist about the printing details.

Kabuki has been running as a webcomic on Newsarama.  What kind of response have you gotten from that additional exposure?

DM: That has been a big delight to hear from so many new readers that are enjoying the very first volume of Kabuki that I ever did.  I was twenty years old when I did that first Kabuki story that fans are reading on Newsarama right now.  I did that story in University and turned the published graphic novel in for my senior thesis in writing.  I was pretty young when I did it and I was wondering how readers experiencing it right now for the first time would react to it.  And the response has been great.  The hits on it are HUGE. And it has been the gateway drug to readers picking up the rest of the Kabuki volumes.

Some readers just wanted to start from the very beginning and they tried it right there and have posted responses that it compelled them to go out and buy all of the other volumes.

Which is great, because I think it improves in the later volumes.  Metamorphosis being my favorite of the collected volumes.

Later on this year, you have Shy Creatures, a children’s book coming out.  It looks more like Dr. Seuss than Kabuki or Daredevil.  What can you tell us about this project and its origins?

DM: The Shy Creatures originated in an issue of Kabuki. In KABUKI: The Alchemy #3.  I use quite a lot of different art approaches in Kabuki and Daredevil.  Employing a different visual style for each story.  In that issue, I contrasted the surface story, by having a children’s book story in it as well that kind of acted as a subtext to the them of the story.  So I chose a very whimsical and simple artstyle to contrast the look of the story as well.

For The Shy Creatures, I wrote the entire story of it while I was writing the script to KABUKI: The Alchemy.

I had set a premise in the Kabuki series of incorporating children’s stories into the narrative of the story.  And the story itself as a retelling of children’s stories.  For instance, the first KABUKI volume KABUKI: Circle of Blood is a retelling of Alice and Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass by Lewis Carrol.  In that story, like in Looking Glass, each of the characters corresponds to a piece on the chess board.  And like Carrol’s stories, Circle of Blood was the story of a child’s journey to an adult consciousness, or to use the Chess metaphors of both books, the journey across the Chessboard from Pawn into Queen.

Volume 2 of KABUKI, called Dreams, alludes to some Japanese folk stories for children, including the Japanese Book of Hells.

In Vol 4 KABUKI: Skin Deep, where Kabuki is incarcerated into a maximum security facility for reprogramming or containing defective government agents, Dr. Suess was the central Kids book reference.

And In KABUKI: Metamorphosis, I had introduced My Invisible Friend to underscore the themes of that story.

So when I was writing KABUKI: The Alchemy, where Kabuki is looking for a new line of work, I knew this was going to be the series that all of the references to those children’s stories paid off and came to the forefront of the story and not just as subtext.

There is a moment in the story when Kabuki is given some children’s books that are said to have a hidden meaning beyond the surface layer.  And that the story and themes in the books have a deeper ripple effect to their readers than just pure entertainment for children.

So I knew I was going to feature one of these books in full in the context of the story.  That book was The Shy Creatures.  And I wrote it in full while in the course of writing the second issue script of The Alchemy.

Shy Creatures appears to be a radical shift from your comics.  How do you pick and choose what projects you want to work on?

DM: I start with what story I want to tell.  And then I consider the best way to tell it.  Whenever I am doing any kind of book, I think of myself as a writer first, and use the art as another tool of the writing.  I wanted the art of The Shy Creatures to be very simple and expressive.  And I wanted it to contrast the painted approach of the rest of the Kabuki issue.  So I rendered The Shy Creatures entirely with brush and ink.

Each double page of The Shy Creatures, is actually one horizontal page of 8 1/2 by 11 typing pager.  I sketched it in pencil loosely, and then drew it directly in ink with a brush so it would have a spontaneity and expressiveness to it that I get from the quick rich strokes of a brush and ink.

On the Alchemy of Art DVD from herovideoproductions.com it shows each and every page of The Shy Creatures in its black and white original form.  One of the extra features on the DVD is me doing a reading of the book, directly from the original pages that are filmed page by page.

It is just a really quick and simple and expressive way to work.  I felt like it was a good way to express imagination, and would be effective in activating imagination in the reader.  And imagination is much of what the story is about.

Moving over to your upcoming Daredevil: The End project, how are you and Bendis splitting the writing duties?

DM:  We start with a conversation.  And lot of the ideas spring from that conversation.  And it kind of fleshes out what will happen in each issue.  And then I write my version of that, riffing off of our ideas in the conversation, and I send it to Brian.  And he riffs off of that.  Sometimes what I sent him so far, is what I think is a full finished script, and other times it is my ideas for the broad strokes and scenes.  And each of those allows him to bring what he brings to it.  It is actually quite a new a fun way for me to work.  Each of us has our projects that are completely self-generated, so it is great to approach this is such a symbiotic spirit of collaboration.

How is this project different from the other times you’ve worked on Daredevil?

DM:  Certainly when I started working for Marvel as the writer of Daredevil, I was writing on my own with Quesada drawing it, and that was a blast.  Aside from the working method, it is different in that we are imagining a Marvel Universe ten years into the future.  So we get to re-imagine the characters and entire Marvel U.  We get to not only see how the world has changed in that time, but also how each of the Marvel characters has changed.  That is a great spin factor to this story. The story features not only Daredevil’s entire rogues gallery and gallery of ex-girlfriends, but also a great handful of other Marvel heroes.  And you get to see where they are ten years from now.  Who is president, how things have changed, fallouts from various current things happening that tie into other projects we have worked on and are working on.

Daredevil is a character you’ve come back to a number of times now.  What about this character draws you to his stories?

DM:  It is a great character with a rich history.  And I read it as a kid.  So it is the adult version of me collaborating with the kid version of me that read it.

You’re taking on more writing projects lately. How is a project that you just write different from something like Kabuki where you do everything?

DM: It is a lot less time consuming.  And it is a pure joy to collaborate with other artists.  It is a real joy to write for that artist.  To take advantage of the wonderful and unique skills that artist will bring to the project.  I’ve been fortunate to write for some of the most talented artists.  Writing for Joe Quesada on my first Daredevil run, and now, with this Daredevil series, writing for Bill Sienkiewicz, Klaus Jansen, and Alex Maleev.

How did you get involved writing Seven?

DM: Based off of my writing in Kabuki.

At Cape, you’ll be participating in thee live art show.  For people who have never been to one, what are these events like?

DM: There is a live DJ, and a real atmosphere to the place and an energy from the crowd watching and enjoying themselves, and Jim Mahfood and I and the other artists will be on stage making large paintings.  It is a pretty “in the moment” kind of fun.

After the interview David sent me this message.

This is just in from the newly finished art for the SE7EN book.  Feel welcome to post this link in the article.  I think readers will love to see this step by step process:

After seeing his approach (he draws, letters, and colors the issue) I think you see why I hand picked him for this issue and look forward to working with him more in the future.

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