Usagi Yojimbo celebrated a 30th Anniversary in 2014. In our first single-creator spotlight episode, we celebrate Miyamoto Usagi and his creator, Stan Sakai.
Special Guests
Stan Sakai created Usagi Yojimbo, and is at once a master storyteller and holder of the title "the nicest person in comics".
Diana Schutz has been Stan's editor at Dark Horse for years, and moderates the San Diego Comic-Con panel excerpted here.
Kim Jung Gi (twitter) is a world-renowned Korean artist whose website, Facebook, and Tumblr are full of jaw-dropping, no-sketch finished art (as seen in motion here).
Andy Ihnatko (twitter) is generally best-known as a writer who covers technology, but his not-so-secret identity is that of a man with a marvelous appreciation for great artwork across a variety of media.
Sergio Aragonés, a legend in his own right, created Groo the Wanderer, which Stan still letters to this day.
r. to l.: Stan with Kim Jung Gi and one of Kim's collaborators, posing with the original art used for the limited-run San Diego Comic-Con shirt
Reading List
I've broken this into a few categories, since we're covering 30 years of content with some very focused recommendations and a three-decade publication history with a bit of mixing of terms and the fact there are multiple "issue #X" in various cases.
Publication Guide/History
In general, Usagi Yojimbo is great if you go right from the beginning with The Ronin (Book 1), but you can "jump ahead" to some of these classics among classics to get a good, broken-in taste.
Usagi Yojimbo Trade PaperBacks are collected in "Books", which stay the same across all different publishers, regardless of what "volume" (1, 2, or 3) of Usagi a given issue is from. Book 1 is Book 1 and so on, period.
Books 1-7 collect all issues published by Fantagraphics. There is a now out-of-print Special Edition oversized hardcover that includes all seven in two big slipcased books, with a special introduction by Stan Lee. I wish Fantagraphics would put a version of it back into print.
Books 8-29 (and beyond) collect the comparatively few issues from the Mirage era, as well as the longest continuous volume of Usagi, still-running from Dark Horse.
The recently-released "The Usagi Yojimbo Saga" Volume 1 from Dark Horse collects Books 8-10 (which includes Daisho).
Three more "The Usagi Yojimbo Saga" volumes are already scheduled for release this year, collecting three Books each:
10 March 2015 (Volume 2: Books 11-13...which includes Grasscutter)
I'm pre-ordering the Limited Edition hardcover versions (2, 3, 4), but fair warning: they currently run ~$60-70 as compared to the ~$20 paperbacks.
If you are one of the little monsters who buy those and scalp them, I will come for you with a very sharp sword.
Regarding digital: Dark Horse exclusively sells their comics digitally from their own app as a non-comiXology signatory publisher (which is fine!).
Last I checked, many or all of the Usagi Yojimbo issues from the Dark Horse run are available digitally alongside a few "Classic"-branded reprint versions of older issues.
All the Dark Horse TPBs (Book 8 onward), in digital form only cost $9.99, which isn't bad at all.
Taste-Testing Recommendations
Stan Sakai loves "A Kite Story" from Lone Goat and Kid (Book 5).
Andy Ihnatko and Moisés both recommend Grasscutter (Book 12) and its sequel Grasscutter II: Journey to Atsuta Shrine (Book 15), as well as Daisho (Book 9), which includes the story of how samurai swords are made, of which Andy makes particular note.
Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai is a gorgeous standalone, all-watercolor special from the 2009 25th Anniversary.
Not mentioned on the show, but a great early volume: Moisés also likes The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy (Book 4), whose TPB features an introduction from Alejandro Jodorowsky.
More Usagi Discussed on This Episode
"Broken Ritual" is included in Gen's Story (Book 7), which includes an introduction by Sergio Aragonés.
"Crows" is included in Duel at Kitanoji (Book 17), which will be part of The Usagi Yojimbo Saga Volume 4: Books 17-19 on 8 September 2015
Sergio Aragonés feels around for a pen while Moisés tries to not bump the recorder
Samurai + Sci-Fi
Space Usagi jumps forward to the far future, following the descendant of the original Usagi. Spread across multiple miniseries from the 90's, all are now collected in one TPB.
Usagi Yojimbo SENSO, which jumps ahead in time and transplants an HG Wells-War of the Worlds invasion into the world of Usagi arrives in hardcover May 2015.
Also by Sakai
47 Ronin, written by Mike Richardson and illustrated by Stan Sakai, tells the "great story of Japan".
The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper and Hermy was released last year, featuring the characters Sakai originally thought would be his breakout favorites. It's more "very young reader"-friendly than the Samurai Violence of Usagi is.
L. to R.: the first comic Stan ever bought, and two that he just picked up on the rack as a kid.
Stan Reads and Loves
The Sixth Gun by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt is one of the best ongoing series out there, and is the best TV show not on TV. The Volume 1 TPB collects issues #1-6, but the Volume 1 Deluxe Hardcover collects #1-11 in oversized format, plus various extras. (Deluxe Volume 2 is out in April and includes #12-23)
Bone by Jeff Smith is one of the great comics ever made, and you can get all of it for around $30
Mouse Guard by David Petersen starts in Mouse Guard: Fall 1152
From Stan's childhood favorite movie, Satomi Hakken-den (1959)
Foundational Influences
Nansō Satomi Hakkenden, the source material for one of Stan's favorite childhood movies, was a 100+volume epic published over nearly 30 years.
Satomi hakken-den (1959, IMDb) is impossible to find on DVD, and is generally overshadowed by the 1983 second remake, starring Sonny Chiba.
The writing of Ed McBain
Additional Links
Take a look at this proof-of-concept for an animated Usagi feature-length movie, made on a shoestring budget by industry visual effects pros.
