Kabuki #4

David Mack's Kabuki was earning comparisons to "a dazzling collage of visual media" from SPIN by 1998, and this fourth issue makes that case visually before you even open the cover. A small, painterly image of two figures in an intimate kiss — rendered in soft purples, blacks, and muted greens — floats against a striking expanse of white, accompanied by the phrase "A Kiss Before Dying" spiraling around it. It's a quietly arresting design that signals Mack's confidence in letting restrained, art-forward presentation do all the heavy lifting.