Usagi Yojimbo turns 25
Purchase Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai HC
Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai cover
by Roger Ash
This year we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Usagi Yojimbo and I, for one, am darned pleased about that. The fact that a black and white comic starring animals that has gone through five publishers (that I can recall) has made it this long is a testament to the quality of creator Stan Sakai’s work. Let’s think about this for a moment. For 25 years, Sakai has been writing, drawing, and lettering his own comic. That’s impressive and puts him in very rare company (Dave Sim on Cerebus is the only other person I can think of who’s done that). I haven’t been reading Usagi since the beginning, but darn close. I first discovered him in the pages of Fantagraphics’ anthropomorphic anthology, Critters. I’ve been a fan ever since.
For those of you unfamiliar with Usagi Yojimbo, let me give you a brief overview of the book. The story takes place during the Edo era in Japan. Usagi is a ronin, a masterless samurai, who roams the countryside living by the samurai code, sometimes hiring himself out as a bodyguard, and helping those in need. He is sometimes joined on his travels by Gen, a bounty hunter; Tomoe Ame, chief retainer to Geishu Lord Noriyuki and a star-crossed love interest; Kitsune, a con-woman with a heart of gold; Jotaro, his son; and many others. Oh yes, they’re also all animals. Usagi and Jotaro are rabbits, Gen is a rhino, Tomoe is a cat, and Kitsune is a fox. The stories can be action-oriented, supernatural, slice-of-life, pretty much whatever kind of story Sakai chooses to tell. He often works actual historical detail into the stories, but it’s always done naturally and he doesn’t knock the readers over the head with the information. If you want to know more about the book, the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo is an excellent web site with tons of information.
Usagi Yojimbo: Grasscutter cover
Aside from thinking this is just a great book, there are a few things I really admire about Usagi and creator Stan Sakai. One is the pleasure of watching Sakai mature as an artist and storyteller. While the early stories are enjoyable, they look and read very differently from a modern story. He continually strives to improve the book and it shows. Secondly, Sakai does a great job of balancing long and short stories. He’s done some fantastic longer stories such as The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy and Grasscutter, but as soon as they’re done, he does a handful of one or two-issue stories so new readers can come on board. This makes the book great for both longtime and new readers. I wish more comics today took this approach. Finally, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Stan on both a professional level and as a fan. In both instances, he has always been extremely nice and very modest. It’s cool when a favorite creator turns out to be just as nice as you could have hoped.
I know some people don’t like the fact that the book’s in black and white, but I do. It shows off Sakai’s beautiful line work to full effect. Usagi was in color for a couple specials as well as when it was published by Mirage and it just never looked right to me. Others complain that it stars animals. I say “so what.” It’s a well drawn and well written comic and I look forward to reading every issue. I look for a good story and I don’t care if it stars animals, superheroes, or the family down the street.
Usagi Yojimbo #123 cover
If you haven’t guessed by now, I really like Usagi Yojimbo. In fact, it’s my favorite comics being published today. If you haven’t tried Usagi Yojimbo before, this is the perfect time. Coming from Dark Horse this month is a new issue of the regular series that begins a new story. In addition to that, Sakai has created his first-ever Usagi Yojimbo graphic novel, Yokai. Give them a try. You won’t be disappointed.
Now let’s hear from you. Are you an Usagi fan? If so, what do you like about the book? If not, why do you feel that way? I’m interested in hearing what you think.
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:12 am
Great article, Roger!. Usagi Yojimbo is the only reason I read or collect comics currently. And whe I look at the comics on the shelves when I go to the local comic shop, I don’t see that changing anytime in the near future.
Sometime before I finished high school, I had lost interest in comics and quit reading or collecting them. then, a couple years after graduating, I stumbled upon Sergio Aragones’ new comic book series Groo the Wanderer at a friend’s place. Since I use to read and collect Conan comics, I was quickly hooked on Sergio’s fantastic version of the barbarian swordsman.
That’s when I discovered that there were still some good comics worth following, but Groo was the only comic which I enjoyed reading for a long time.
Finally, after moving within close proximity of a comic shop, I started noticing issues of Usagi Yojimbo on the shelves. Of course I knew Stan Sakai’s name from his contributions to Groo, but I had never seen any of the Usagi comics before.
Needless to say, I finally broke down and read some of Stan’s stories and very quickly became hooked. I have been buying, reading, and collecting Usagi Yojimbo comics for something like fifteen years now, having started around the time that Usagi made his move to Mirage and the run of color issues (which I really enjoyed since I love Tom Luth’s color work).
While my interest in reading Groo stemmed from having previously read Conan, my reading of Usagi actually spawned my interest in both samurai manga such as Koike and Kojima’s Lone Wolf and Cub, and in Samurai genre films such as Seven Samurai and Yojimo (to name just two of the more widely known).
Five years ago, when Usagi Yojimbo’s twentieth anniverary was being celebrated, Dark Horse released the totally fantastic Art of Usagi Yojimbo coffee table book.
This year, for the twenty-fifth anniversary, us fans get Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai, the twenty-third collection of stories titled Usagi Yojimbo: Bridge of Tears, the awesome two volume slip-cased hardcover omnibus from Fantagraphics called Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition which collects the first seven Usagi Yojimbo books.
Also, Dark Horse has issued a great Twenty-fifth Anniversary Usagi Yojimbo promotional poster which is supposed to be available at all the conventions which Dark Horse is attending this year.
After twenty-fifth years, Usagi Yojimbo (and Stan Sakai) have fially made their first straight to the internet web-comic appearance with the short story “Saya” published on the MySpace Dark Horse Presents web-site. And the short story “One Dark and Stormy Night” marked Usagi’s first appearance in a “Free Comic Book Day” publication back in May.
So much going on this year to celebrate twenty-five years Usagi Yojimbo, but then again, why shouldn’t there be? A black and white anthropomorphic comic about samurai and ninja? Too bad more comcis weren’t this good!
(Sorry for the long rambling comment)
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Steve,
Thank you for your kind words as well as letting us know more books and such that are part of Usagi’s 25 Anniversary celebration. I hadn’t heard about the special poster or the MySpace comic. They both sound fun.
Roger