Usagi Yojimbo is a samurai rabbit, a ronin wandering old Japan in an historically faithful world where the characters just happen to be animals. His stories run the gamut, with gifted cartoonist Stan Sakai hitting all kinds of emotional beats. This issue starts a particularly ambitious run, a seven-issue story called The Hidden about the persecution of Christians in the country. It’s the end of the sixteenth century, and the land is run by feudal lords. There’s a text page […]

Stan Sakai’s samurai rabbit has been a part of comics for over 30 years, longer than a number of readers have been alive. It’s easy to take it for granted as a result, but every time I read an issue, I’m impressed by the clarity of the stories, the insight into the characters, and the accomplishment of the artistic storytelling. The most recent three issues, all stand-alone stories, cover a range of emotions, too, demonstrating the wide scope of what […]

Although I enjoy each new Usagi Yojimbo volume just for the stories, I was particularly attracted to this latest collection due to the introduction. It’s by comic grand master Walter Simonson. As I would expect from such an insightful contributor, Simonson sums up beautifully the appeal of Sakai’s series: I have read this comic book, since its beginning, for all the right reasons. Regularly, like clockwork, it brings me the unalloyed joy of reading a well-told, well-drawn story, about characters […]

Concluding the two-part story about feuding soy sauce makers by Stan Sakai, this issue provides a simple look at justice. SPOILERS follow. The rabbit samurai’s biggest challenge this issue isn’t the greedy rival merchant who’s escalated a business struggle into sabotage of the traditionalist’s warehouse sauce vats. Instead, it’s the fraidy-cat local lawman who refuses to get involved. After a slow opening, which recaps the premise if you missed the previous issue, we pick up with Usagi determined to force […]