DAVID MACK COVERS WITCHBLADE TAKERU MANGA

[MattBrady]

<i>Press Release</i>

“<b>Superstar Painter Provides Cover Images for Issue #5-7! “</b>

<center><a href=http://www.newsarama.com/Top_Cow/WBManga/mack/WBManga_5__Mack_cvr.jpg target=new><img src=http://www.newsarama.com/Top_Cow/WBManga/mack/WBManga_5__Mack_cvr_t.jpg border=0></a> <a href=http://www.newsarama.com/Top_Cow/WBManga/mack/WBManga_6_Mack_cvr.jpg target=new><img src=http://www.newsarama.com/Top_Cow/WBManga/mack/WBManga_6_Mack_cvr_t.jpg border=0></a> <a href=http://www.newsarama.com/Top_Cow/WBManga/mack/WBManga_7_Mack_Cvr.jpg target=new><img src=http://www.newsarama.com/Top_Cow/WBManga/mack/WBManga_7_Mack_Cvr_t.jpg border=0></a></center>

<blockquote>Top Cow is pleased to announce that superstar cover artist and painter David Mack (Kabuki: Alchemy, Daredevil) will provide three new original cover pieces for Witchblade Takeru Manga.

Mack, best known for his creator owned title Kabuki, is one of the industry’s most coveted cover artists. Top Cow is proud to work with an artist of his caliber to enhance the high quality presentation of Witchblade Takeru Manga for the American audience. Originally serialized in Japan’s popular magazine, Champion Red and written by Witchblade Anime head writer, Yasuko Kobayashi, Witchblade Takeru Manga follows the story of young school girl Takeru as she struggles with and against the “Demon Claw” – the mysterious Witchblade. Takeru must come to grips with the mysterious gauntlet which haunts her dreams and she must do it quickly in order to combat the black monks and the demons which invade her monastery threatening to kill her and her love Kuo. Original series artist Kazasa Sumita also provides an original cover for each issue of Witchblade Takeru Manga.

“Each one of these covers has been more fun than the last for me. I was intrigued when asked to do it, because series artist Sumita-San gave his own covers such a striking look.,” commented David Mack, “I enjoyed jumping off from the style of the Japanese artist, and being respectful to Sumita-San's spirit, but I was also very much encouraged to bring my own sensibilities and mixture of media to the look of the covers.”

“There are very few artists working today who can do something with a style that is completely outside the mainstream while still operating within it. David Mack is one of those select few, and we were thrilled that he was willing to lend his unique vision to Takeru’s story.” echoed Rob Levin, Vice President of Editorial.

Witchblade Takeru Manga #5-7 are 32 page full color comics in a continuing series with a suggested retail price of $3.99. Additional information regarding Witchblade Takeru Manga can be found at www.topcow.com.</blockquote>

[nickmaynard]

that guy's got so much talent, it's a joke.

[DigiHal]

I would say he has so much talent, it's no joke. But I hear what you are saying. Those covers are crazy awesome.

Yes, CRAZY AWESOME!!!!!!

[Alexjh]

David Mack really is a brilliant artist - and I wouldnt even rate these ones as his best by a long shot.

[NeoGundamX]

David Mack is one of my favorites and I agree, these aren't even one of his best pictures, but these are still good.

[garou12]

Total agree with everything said about how talented he is...plus he's real humble about it too which is an added plus! Now is it me of does the first cover look like its based on Mandy Amano?

[nyhardcore]

I wasn't going to buy that series before, because I generally don't care for the Manga style, but count me in. David Mack's work is so far beyond what most artists bring to the table.

[Charlie Hustle]

I actually have kind of lost interest in Mack's art due to the overuse of models but one thing he's never stopped doing is working hard on his graphic design sense and pushing some of the storytelling boundaries. Veddy nice covers.

[raven1979]

I really dont get it with this cover artist sometimes.

Mack art is great and all, but it in noway reflects what the content inside looks or is about, the first few covers were pure manga cheesecake but they were true to what the book was about, no false advertising.

Reminds me of Greg Horn doing the super sexy and realistic Elektra covers just to find cartoony art inside on her last series.

I would really like for comic companys to at least bring a guy to do art that resembles what the covers looks like or vice versa. I know that for example and Alex Ross cover (or by other artist) is supposed to be the cherry on top, and extra if you will, but how many times have you buy a book because the cover just grabbed you , not knowing the names of the creators of the book, just to find horrible art inside and feel completly rip off.

Now that I have the internet and know how that works and I am even familiar with the names on the cover that dont happens, but how about the people that are really starting in the hobby.

I have heard how some comic book artist say covers are not the movie poster for the book , but the trailer, I guess in that sense they keep with Hollywood and their trailers >>>>the movie .

I even question if Mack art will actually do something to the books target audience? Or is Top Cow trying to pass the book as a more intellectual creation than it is, when in reality is just a combination a shohen with hentaish touches.

That was something I had to put out of my system, kudos to Mack for his talent .

[capjr]

David Mack is one of my, if not my, favorite artists....


I may get this just for his art....

[ejulp]

but how many times have you buy a book because the cover just grabbed you , not knowing the names of the creators of the book, just to find horrible art inside and feel completly rip off.

Now that I have the internet and know how that works and I am even familiar with the names on the cover that dont happens, but how about the people that are really starting in the hobby.
.

I never completely understood the problem with this...especially if someone was starting out in the hobby, wouldnt they just open up the book? Most people wouldn't buy a comic without opening it first...uless their comic store put 'em in plastic and was strict about opening. I mean if the cover grabs someones attention...business wise its successful, even if the inside is disapointing, and most people won't be ripped off if they actually open the book.

[Kolimar]

Very nice covers.

[raven1979]

I never completely understood the problem with this...especially if someone was starting out in the hobby, wouldnt they just open up the book? Most people wouldn't buy a comic without opening it first...uless their comic store put 'em in plastic and was strict about opening. I mean if the cover grabs someones attention...business wise its successful, even if the inside is disapointing, and most people won't be ripped off if they actually open the book.

Comic book stors in my area dont let you put the books out of the plastic, ruins the collector mint factor or something.

[raven1979]

I mean if the cover grabs someones attention...business wise its successful, even if the inside is disapointing

And yes business wise is succesful, just by looking at the variant craze and how well Alex Ross doing a cover.

But I still question the artistic value of having a completly misleading cover, and I quote the fact that some artist said the cover is not like a poster for a movie , but the trailer, now by looking at Greg Horn cover to Elektra and the finding Pagulayan art in the arc he did, you can see there are completly different in tone , there was people that bought the issue for the sexy women to find cartoony art, and people that stayed away from the book because they tought it was a dirty book, same for the Emma Frost wich was a book that was supposed to attract female audiences but you will never know by the covers.

This case is the opposite, we have a action manga with erotic touches drawn in a anime style with covers that are too stylish for the content.

The covers are great art standing by their own, but I question if they are great art judging how it relates to the whole book.

[Redmond]

Another great photo traced face of a cute asian girl in purple orange and white with some random lingerie bits thrown around. Very original.

[Dave Cummings]

I mean if the cover grabs someones attention...business wise its successful, even if the inside is disapointing

And yes business wise is succesful, just by looking at the variant craze and how well Alex Ross doing a cover.

But I still question the artistic value of having a completly misleading cover, and I quote the fact that some artist said the cover is not like a poster for a movie , but the trailer, now by looking at Greg Horn cover to Elektra and the finding Pagulayan art in the arc he did, you can see there are completly different in tone , there was people that bought the issue for the sexy women to find cartoony art, and people that stayed away from the book because they tought it was a dirty book, same for the Emma Frost wich was a book that was supposed to attract female audiences but you will never know by the covers.

This case is the opposite, we have a action manga with erotic touches drawn in a anime style with covers that are too stylish for the content.

The covers are great art standing by their own, but I question if they are great art judging how it relates to the whole book.

Well, I don't know about you or anyone else, but there are plenty of times where the cover got me interested in the book and ended up with me being a regular buyer of that book. David Mack's covers are one of those factors. His collaberative covers with Joe Quesada got me to pick up the DareDevil arc which David Mack wrote. Because of that, it got me interested to check out Kabuki, which I ended up loving. Not only that, but because of that cover, it got me inadvertantly to be a fan of alot of other books. Since that arc got me reading Kabuki, I started picking up the single issues of the book, starting with which was at the time, the newest issue which was issue 9 of the image series. I was reading that issue and read his letter column. In there, David suggested that readers check out a new book by a friend of his. That book was Powers, and because of Powers, I ended up becoming a big fan of Bendis work. So because of one cover, I ended up becoming a fan of David Mack and Kabuki as well as a fan of Bendis' work.

The covers are what got me interested in Planetary and ended up getting me addicted to the book.

Never underestimate the power of a striking cover, despite whether or not the art inside is the same. I've bought books with really striking covers just for that cover because I loved the general composition of the cover.

[Redmond]

But, while being professionally rendered, all those covers are really dull / generic, none of them even tell a story. People are most likely to buy Maxim or Playboy if they want a proper wank mag. Not some random comic.

[ryancody]

Another great photo traced face of a cute asian girl in purple orange and white with some random lingerie bits thrown around. Very original.

as an artist that I really like, I'm surprised to see you say that Martin. I don't know David personally but I don't see them looking traced, not like in a Land/Bradstreet sense. I'm pretty sure he uses models as photo ref, but no different than a million other artists.

[DAVID-MACK]

Total agree with everything said about how talented he is...plus he's real humble about it too which is an added plus! Now is it me of does the first cover look like its based on Mandy Amano?

Thank you for the kind words about my work from so many of you.
I appreciate it.

Yes Garou12, I was thinking of my girlfriend Mandy Amano as soon as I was offered these covers and was sent the Japanese art to the series. The Japanese artists rendition reminded me of her, and I continued with that vibe to these covers, even though the editor, Rob Levin expressed that I was free to approach the cover style in my own way.

FYI, she just e-mailed me this ad thing she did for mac's right here, and she even mentions comics in the interview.

http://macenstein.com/default/archives/636

Again, thanks for the kinds works of these covers and of my work in general.

[DAVID-MACK]

I actually have kind of lost interest in Mack's art due to the overuse of models but one thing he's never stopped doing is working hard on his graphic design sense and pushing some of the storytelling boundaries. Veddy nice covers.

Thanks for the kind words about my graphic sense and effort to push storytelling boundaries. I do make a conscious effort to do that.

Especially in the current Kabuki story from Marvel, called KABUKI: The Alchemy.
In fact you may really enjoy that more than some of my older work as most of the art in it is drawn free-hand without models.

Occasionally I'll take a photo reference of friends to act something out if I think it will help, but I make sure to fit it into the context of the story and design.

I think if you pick up some of the recent issues of The Alchemy you will see what I mean.

[DAVID-MACK]

Well, I don't know about you or anyone else, but there are plenty of times where the cover got me interested in the book and ended up with me being a regular buyer of that book. David Mack's covers are one of those factors. His collaberative covers with Joe Quesada got me to pick up the DareDevil arc which David Mack wrote. Because of that, it got me interested to check out Kabuki, which I ended up loving. Not only that, but because of that cover, it got me inadvertantly to be a fan of alot of other books. Since that arc got me reading Kabuki, I started picking up the single issues of the book, starting with which was at the time, the newest issue which was issue 9 of the image series. I was reading that issue and read his letter column. In there, David suggested that readers check out a new book by a friend of his. That book was Powers, and because of Powers, I ended up becoming a big fan of Bendis work. So because of one cover, I ended up becoming a fan of David Mack and Kabuki as well as a fan of Bendis' work.

The covers are what got me interested in Planetary and ended up getting me addicted to the book.

Never underestimate the power of a striking cover, despite whether or not the art inside is the same. I've bought books with really striking covers just for that cover because I loved the general composition of the cover.


Thanks for taking the innitiative to try my book Kabuki and for continuing to follow it after all of these years!
That is a great story, of how you learned of Powers from it and with starting of my story on Daredevil.

For the others of you here, I should also mention that newsarama has the DAILY KABUKI that has just about the entire first volume of Kabuki archived so far that you can view absolutely free.

I think it is on the next to last issue of the very first volume right now, and it will give you as sense of my storytelling and of what the book is about.

It is also my earliest work that I keep in print. The story up there right now is one I did when I was 21-22 and turned in for my college senior thesis in literature.
So it still has some quirks that I would finesse differently now, but has its own charm from that age as well.

Let me know what you think.

Kindest regards to all of you, and thank you so much for the kind responses to my work.
david