WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Usagi Yojimbo

6 Comments | Posted: August 6th, 2009 | Filed under: What I've Been Reading

I’ve just finished the fourth Usagi Yojimbo trade and the fifth is sitting next to me. I’m pretty sure I’m going to get two a week until I’m all caught up on the series and then — get this — I might actually buy the singles. Frankly, I’m embarrassed that it took me this long to get on board and I want to thank America’s Greatest Stuffed Bull for sending the first two books to me a couple of weeks ago.

If you’re like me, throw away your preconceptions about anthropomorphic comics and get on board. As a fan of samurai fiction (to the point of having a Seven Samurai tattoo) and comics, I can’t recommend Stan Sakai’s beautifully drawn, note-perfect reinvention of the genre highly enough.

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6 Comments on “WHAT I’VE BEEN READING: Usagi Yojimbo”

  1. 1 Ray Cornwall said at 2:18 pm on August 6th, 2009:

    You’re in for a treat.

    Question- have you read Lone Wolf and Cub? I hadn’t read it before I dived into Usagi. Now that I’ve read LW&C, I’m looking forward to rereading Usagi when the big Fanta book comes out…

  2. 2 Kevin Church said at 2:28 pm on August 6th, 2009:

    I’ve read Lone Wolf And Cub, yes. It’s really terrific stuff and it, along with material like the Musashi Miyamoto Samurai films really provide a broader context to what Sakai’s doing, even if his work holds up well without any foreknowledge of what he’s doing.

  3. 3 Brian Smith said at 8:09 pm on August 6th, 2009:

    I’ve just finished Craig Yoe’s “Boody,” which isn’t particularly related except it *also* came to my door with the assistance of the aforementioned stuffed bull. I’ve thanked him privately, but I’d like to state it publicly: The little guy is a national treasure.

  4. 4 Bully said at 10:43 pm on August 6th, 2009:

    Aw, shucks, thanks, guys. (looking down shyly, shuffling my hoof)

  5. 5 Phill said at 3:09 am on August 7th, 2009:

    I’ve said it before: Usagi Yojimbo is the best comic story of its duration ever. 25 years! One man! One rabbit! (Okay, maybe there are other rabbits, but you know what I mean.) Stan “The Man” Sakai is soooo awesome.

  6. 6 standardman said at 11:13 pm on August 8th, 2009:

    I read this, sat back and thought ‘Why the fuck haven’t I read Usagi Yojimbo?’ it looks like exactly my kind of thing and I’ve never read an issue.

    TO THE COMIC BOOK SHOP!

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