Godzilla makes an appearance – for no discernible reason other than Sakai really liking Godzilla. Everything from his movement, to his gaze, to his very thoughts says violence.Įarly on Sakai was obviously writing stuff he wanted to draw – so we got bits from Seven Samurai and Yojimbo (naturally), as well as clear homages to Zatoichi (a blind swords-pig) and Lone Wolf and Cub (Lone Goat and Kid). In one early tale we see Usagi aping a particularly familiar gesture, made famous by Toshiro Mifune-scoundrel character from Seven Samurai (later Usagi is more likely to act in the vein of Takashi Shimura’s noble Kambi from that same film). In these stories he is more cynical, prone to violence.
Usagi in these stories is not only more animal-like in appearance, but also more of a bastard.
Usagi yojimbo fantagraphics series#
The series is a journey not so much to change the character, but to better understand what he is.Įarly Usagi Yojimbo stories, the ones collected by Fantagraphics rather than Dark Horse, feature a cruder idea of the character and the world he inhabits: Easily recognized for what he will become eventually but still distinct enough in the difference to be noticeable (think of the early Peanuts stories, as Schultz was getting a handle on Snoopy). While the series has kept the same level of quality pretty much from the get-go (indeed if there is a ‘bad’ Usagi Yojimbo story I have yet to encounter it), you can still see Stan Sakai slowly figuring things out in the early stories. It’s tempting to say that Usagi is a constant, that he is as he always was. The wandering Rabbit-Ronin, on his eternal warrior-pilgrimage in a land much like historical Japan (if it was populated exclusively by anthropomorphized animals), is today very much as he was in first appearance in the furry-comics anthology Albedo Anthropomorphics #2 (November, 1984). Seeing as we are at an end of era, it is time, once again, to give the series its due. Usagi Yojimbo has been at Dark Horse for over twenty years and about 170 issue, not including one-shot specials and short stories. Even if it does not mean the end of the series as a whole (it has already moved to a new publisher in IDW – home of 1980’s cartoons and the masters of European comics) even if Dark Horse is not Usagi Yojimbo’s first home (the character premiered at an independent anthology, started an ongoing at Fantagraphics and spent a short time at Mirage). Usagi Yojimbo has ended its run at Dark Horse. Features Usagi Yojimbo’s Neverending Story
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