Meet Usagi Yojimbo: It's International Blog Against Racism week!
Since I am too brain-dead for a Comic-Con report at the moment, I'm going to cheat a bit and steal from Rachel's challenge here, with a slight modification: From Monday through Friday, I'm going to pimp a PoC comic author/artist/both. Some of this will be proper reviews and some will just be me going OH LOOK AT THE SHINY.
Today is a LOOK AT THE SHINY day.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans may remember long-eared ronin rabbit Minamoto Usagi from some episodes or issues, but Usagi Yojimbo, as Stan Sakai's flagship comic is titled, is a kickass canon in its own right. Based (extremely!) loosely on the life of famous swordsman and Book of Five Rings author Minamoto Musashi (Usagi is Japanese for rabbit), it's witty, dramatic, sharp and beautifully drawn and lettered. (Stan has lettered Groo the Wanderer for more years than I'd care to count.) There's almost nothing bad that can be said about this comic, seriously; the beautifully developed characters, the meticulously detailed setting, the amazing linework... I have thought for many years it's one of the best Western comics around, and-- perhaps even more remarkably-- the quality has remained consistent. (In this age of furries, it's probably also worth noting it's not fetishistic or exploitative in any way.)
At Comic-Con, I bought Volume 22: Tomoe's Story, which collected a number of stories about Usagi's good friend Tomoe Ame (based on famous female warrior Tomoe Gozen). Sakai pays the same careful attention to detail and establishing character to Tomoe as he does all his characters, and Tomoe is fierce, loyal, and has a great sense of humor. In this collection, she saves several lives-- including our hero's-- and tangles with a clever con woman. The final story depicts a tea ceremony; there is almost no dialogue, but so much goes on in Usagi and Tomoe's unspoken conversation.
The man is a master. You should check him out.
Visit Stan's official Usagi Yojimbo website to learn more.
Today is a LOOK AT THE SHINY day.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fans may remember long-eared ronin rabbit Minamoto Usagi from some episodes or issues, but Usagi Yojimbo, as Stan Sakai's flagship comic is titled, is a kickass canon in its own right. Based (extremely!) loosely on the life of famous swordsman and Book of Five Rings author Minamoto Musashi (Usagi is Japanese for rabbit), it's witty, dramatic, sharp and beautifully drawn and lettered. (Stan has lettered Groo the Wanderer for more years than I'd care to count.) There's almost nothing bad that can be said about this comic, seriously; the beautifully developed characters, the meticulously detailed setting, the amazing linework... I have thought for many years it's one of the best Western comics around, and-- perhaps even more remarkably-- the quality has remained consistent. (In this age of furries, it's probably also worth noting it's not fetishistic or exploitative in any way.)
At Comic-Con, I bought Volume 22: Tomoe's Story, which collected a number of stories about Usagi's good friend Tomoe Ame (based on famous female warrior Tomoe Gozen). Sakai pays the same careful attention to detail and establishing character to Tomoe as he does all his characters, and Tomoe is fierce, loyal, and has a great sense of humor. In this collection, she saves several lives-- including our hero's-- and tangles with a clever con woman. The final story depicts a tea ceremony; there is almost no dialogue, but so much goes on in Usagi and Tomoe's unspoken conversation.
The man is a master. You should check him out.
Visit Stan's official Usagi Yojimbo website to learn more.