WIZARDUNIVERSE.COM, JANUARY 30, 2007
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100 ISSUES OF SAKAI’S RABBIT SAMURAI
By KIEL PHEGLEY, (WIZARDUNIVERSE.COM, JANUARY 30, 2007)
The venerable writer-artist of Usagi Yojimbo discusses 22 years with his character, his own worldly travels and the origins of Usagi’s greatest foe
For most comic creators, 100 consecutive issues would be cause for some commotion, but for Stan Sakai it’s just another day on the job. The writer-artist who for 22 years has been chronicling the exploits of Usagi Yojimbo (the rabbit ronin who walks through a historically accurate version Japan’s Edo period) is still focused on moving his epic forward issue by issue-so focused that he hardly noticed it was time for the 100th installment of the series’ most current incarnation.
After bouncing from the small press to Fantagraphics to Mirage in the character’s early days, Sakai has found his longest home at Dark Horse Comics, and to commemorate the occasion, the publisher assembled a roast in Sakai’s favor featuring some of the biggest names in comics and cartooning. Wizard Universe caught up with Sakai to talk about where Usagi has come from and where he goes next, as well as to learn more about the all-star roast appearing in this week’s issue.
WIZARD: I know that Usagi Yojimbo #100 from Dark Horse is coming out, but is it weird for you to think of this as a milestone, since it isn’t really the 100th issue of the series as a whole?
STAN SAKAI: [Laughs] It’s like about 160 issues actually.
WIZARD: So did [editor] Diana Schultz and Dark Horse have to say, “Hey, Stan! This is #100. We should do something.” Or were you planning on it?
STAN SAKAI: We had talked about it, Diana and myself, but for the longest time we couldn’t figure out what to do. So I figured I’d just make it a regular issue and just continue on with the same things I’ve been doing for the past 22 years. Just make another story. And then Diana said, “Let’s make it a roast.” And I said, “Sure.” She and I have worked together for at least 10 years or so, so she knows who my friends are in the industry and whose work I like. So she pretty much contacted those people and organized everything.
WIZARD: It must have taken the work burden off of you for a little bit. How many pages are you actually drawing in the issue?
STAN SAKAI: I just did about nine pages, and like I said, it’s a roast so I’m just introducing some of the artists and doing some backgrounds and such. I did a couple of pages with Sergio [Aragonés] because I’ve known Sergio for about 30 years now. And we travel together, so I just did a few things about my relationship with him. Actually, how we met was basically through the phone book. I just looked up his name and called him up. [Laughs] And there are people like Guy Davis-I loved Guy Davis’ work ever since I saw it way back when he was doing Baker Street. I loved that, and I was anxious when I was invited to a convention and I was going to meet Guy Davis. I went to see him, and he had orange hair and leather and chains. I was looking at him like, “Oh my gosh!” [Laughs] And so I never actually met him until a couple of years later.
WIZARD: Would you say having seen some of the pages that these guys got your number pretty good?
STAN SAKAI: Oh yeah! It’s great. It’s a fun issue. She got Frank Miller and Jeff Smith and a whole bunch of other guys. It’s pretty neat.
WIZARD: Well, anytime one of these milestones comes up, it’s a great opportunity to look back at the past run on the book. Like you said, it’s been 22 years, so if you look at everything you’ve done with Usagi to date, from when you self-published through Fantagraphics and Mirage and everything, what goals did you have back then that you feel you’ve met with the book? And how have your goals for the book changed?
STAN SAKAI: Well, it’s changed a lot, because especially back then, I just hoped to get the next issue in before the deadline. It was pretty much thinking one or two months in advance. “I’ve got another story to write, and I hope the sales continue to [rise] so Usagi can continue on.” Now, though, it’s about thinking in the long term. It’s not just what’s happening next month, but next year or two years from now or even more. There are stories that I’ve laid groundwork for that won’t be told for another three or four years.
WIZARD: That’s the fun thing about setting it in the Edo period. It’s kind of like an American Western, where you have such a terrific landscape that you can stretch it and tell stories for what seems like forever, even though it’s only a short amount of time in the larger scale of things. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think Usagi has ever spelled out exactly what year the story is set in, has it?
STAN SAKAI: I’ve alluded to different periods, and actually someone took my hints and created an Usagi timeline. And I was amazed that it was right on the money. All the hints I’ve laid down-and some were very vague and some were more specific, such as when the first Tokugawa Shogun stepped down in 1605-but someone made a timeline where everything fits perfectly. I actually had my own timeline, but I never told anyone. And I was just amazed that the timeline he created matched mine to the nose. So right now, officially it’s just about November of 1605 going into 1606. So it was that specific, but I never told anyone.
WIZARD: Well, that’s something I noticed looking on the Usagi site, that the fans seem to really cover a lot of ground.
STAN SAKAI: Isn’t that a great site? [Laughs] I have no computer expertise at all, and that site is put together by fans and maintained by fans. It’s just amazing the job they do.
WIZARD: I wanted to ask about your recent trip to France after you sent me the link. It seems like you take a page from Usagi’s book and do a lot of wandering yourself. Do you find yourself in a wandering, contemplative mood like him?
STAN SAKAI: Oh yeah, I love to travel. And whenever we travel I like to wander around and see the sights, especially in Europe. I mean, in the U.S. we’ve got a short history. The country is only a few hundred years old, but in Europe we’ve gone to churches that were built in the eighth century and things like that. I’m a big history buff. Sergio Aragonés and I went to Grenada this year. He’s my very favorite traveling companion next to my wife, and he’s been all over the world a number of times, so he’s the perfect guy to go traveling with. But traveling is one of the great benefits of what I do, because we get invited places.
WIZARD: And you can take a lot of your work with you.
STAN SAKAI: Exactly. [Laughs] You know, I have had my own schedule, but my editor Diana has deadlines for me. Traveling is another excuse for missing your deadlines.
WIZARD: How often do you make it to Japan?
STAN SAKAI: I’ve only been there once. I was a guest of Osamu Tezuka Productions. Basically, they took us around to animation studios and publishers, and we just had a great time. We still don’t know why they invited us over. [Laughs] [My wife] Sharon and I went with Erik Larsen and Lynn and Rod Johnston. Lynn does [the newspaper strip] “For Better or for Worse.” We had a wonderful time.
WIZARD: Let’s talk a bit about what’s coming up in the future. The next Usagi collection is Vol. 21. What will that reprint?
STAN SAKAI: That will reprint the entire “Mother of Mountain” storyline, which goes up to #89-from #84 to #89, I believe. That story happened about a year and a half ago.
WIZARD: It seems like you’ll do a bigger story like that for five or six issues and then lean off with a bunch of shorter, one- or two-issue stories in a row.
STAN SAKAI: Exactly. That’s been my game plan all along. I have a few epic stories or major story arcs, but then I have these shorter stories that will build up to these longer arcs. And the shorter stories are great too for the new readers to jump onto, but the older readers seem to prefer the longer arcs where I get more into the history and the characters and the adventure of it all. That’s pretty much why I do those.
WIZARD: Isn’t the next big arc going to be the origin of Usagi villain Jei?
STAN SAKAI: Yes. I’ve already started on that. Jei has always been-well, when I first created him he was kind of a throwaway character for one issue. But people kept saying, “Bring him back. Bring him back.” He became probably the most popular Usagi villain that I created.
WIZARD: When you do that origin, is it going to be in flashbacks?
STAN SAKAI: Yeah, it’ll be a flashback to how Jei became touched by the gods.
WIZARD: To wrap up, after all these years, how has your passion for Usagi changed? Are you ready to do another 100 issues at Dark Horse or another 22 years of stories?
STAN SAKAI: I really enjoy working with Usagi, and for every story that I write, it springboards into two more stories. Right now, I’ve got stories plotted out for another five years at least. And it’s kind of nice because I do everything myself, writing and drawing. If I was working on a company-owned series I would not have the flexibility to do that.
100 ISSUES OF SAKAI’S RABBIT SAMURAI
By KIEL PHEGLEY, (WIZARDUNIVERSE.COM, JANUARY 30, 2007)
The venerable writer-artist of Usagi Yojimbo discusses 22 years with his character, his own worldly travels and the origins of Usagi’s greatest foe
For most comic creators, 100 consecutive issues would be cause for some commotion, but for Stan Sakai it’s just another day on the job. The writer-artist who for 22 years has been chronicling the exploits of Usagi Yojimbo (the rabbit ronin who walks through a historically accurate version Japan’s Edo period) is still focused on moving his epic forward issue by issue-so focused that he hardly noticed it was time for the 100th installment of the series’ most current incarnation.
After bouncing from the small press to Fantagraphics to Mirage in the character’s early days, Sakai has found his longest home at Dark Horse Comics, and to commemorate the occasion, the publisher assembled a roast in Sakai’s favor featuring some of the biggest names in comics and cartooning. Wizard Universe caught up with Sakai to talk about where Usagi has come from and where he goes next, as well as to learn more about the all-star roast appearing in this week’s issue.
WIZARD: I know that Usagi Yojimbo #100 from Dark Horse is coming out, but is it weird for you to think of this as a milestone, since it isn’t really the 100th issue of the series as a whole?
STAN SAKAI: [Laughs] It’s like about 160 issues actually.
WIZARD: So did [editor] Diana Schultz and Dark Horse have to say, “Hey, Stan! This is #100. We should do something.” Or were you planning on it?
STAN SAKAI: We had talked about it, Diana and myself, but for the longest time we couldn’t figure out what to do. So I figured I’d just make it a regular issue and just continue on with the same things I’ve been doing for the past 22 years. Just make another story. And then Diana said, “Let’s make it a roast.” And I said, “Sure.” She and I have worked together for at least 10 years or so, so she knows who my friends are in the industry and whose work I like. So she pretty much contacted those people and organized everything.
WIZARD: It must have taken the work burden off of you for a little bit. How many pages are you actually drawing in the issue?
STAN SAKAI: I just did about nine pages, and like I said, it’s a roast so I’m just introducing some of the artists and doing some backgrounds and such. I did a couple of pages with Sergio [Aragonés] because I’ve known Sergio for about 30 years now. And we travel together, so I just did a few things about my relationship with him. Actually, how we met was basically through the phone book. I just looked up his name and called him up. [Laughs] And there are people like Guy Davis-I loved Guy Davis’ work ever since I saw it way back when he was doing Baker Street. I loved that, and I was anxious when I was invited to a convention and I was going to meet Guy Davis. I went to see him, and he had orange hair and leather and chains. I was looking at him like, “Oh my gosh!” [Laughs] And so I never actually met him until a couple of years later.
WIZARD: Would you say having seen some of the pages that these guys got your number pretty good?
STAN SAKAI: Oh yeah! It’s great. It’s a fun issue. She got Frank Miller and Jeff Smith and a whole bunch of other guys. It’s pretty neat.
WIZARD: Well, anytime one of these milestones comes up, it’s a great opportunity to look back at the past run on the book. Like you said, it’s been 22 years, so if you look at everything you’ve done with Usagi to date, from when you self-published through Fantagraphics and Mirage and everything, what goals did you have back then that you feel you’ve met with the book? And how have your goals for the book changed?
STAN SAKAI: Well, it’s changed a lot, because especially back then, I just hoped to get the next issue in before the deadline. It was pretty much thinking one or two months in advance. “I’ve got another story to write, and I hope the sales continue to [rise] so Usagi can continue on.” Now, though, it’s about thinking in the long term. It’s not just what’s happening next month, but next year or two years from now or even more. There are stories that I’ve laid groundwork for that won’t be told for another three or four years.
WIZARD: That’s the fun thing about setting it in the Edo period. It’s kind of like an American Western, where you have such a terrific landscape that you can stretch it and tell stories for what seems like forever, even though it’s only a short amount of time in the larger scale of things. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think Usagi has ever spelled out exactly what year the story is set in, has it?
STAN SAKAI: I’ve alluded to different periods, and actually someone took my hints and created an Usagi timeline. And I was amazed that it was right on the money. All the hints I’ve laid down-and some were very vague and some were more specific, such as when the first Tokugawa Shogun stepped down in 1605-but someone made a timeline where everything fits perfectly. I actually had my own timeline, but I never told anyone. And I was just amazed that the timeline he created matched mine to the nose. So right now, officially it’s just about November of 1605 going into 1606. So it was that specific, but I never told anyone.
WIZARD: Well, that’s something I noticed looking on the Usagi site, that the fans seem to really cover a lot of ground.
STAN SAKAI: Isn’t that a great site? [Laughs] I have no computer expertise at all, and that site is put together by fans and maintained by fans. It’s just amazing the job they do.
WIZARD: I wanted to ask about your recent trip to France after you sent me the link. It seems like you take a page from Usagi’s book and do a lot of wandering yourself. Do you find yourself in a wandering, contemplative mood like him?
STAN SAKAI: Oh yeah, I love to travel. And whenever we travel I like to wander around and see the sights, especially in Europe. I mean, in the U.S. we’ve got a short history. The country is only a few hundred years old, but in Europe we’ve gone to churches that were built in the eighth century and things like that. I’m a big history buff. Sergio Aragonés and I went to Grenada this year. He’s my very favorite traveling companion next to my wife, and he’s been all over the world a number of times, so he’s the perfect guy to go traveling with. But traveling is one of the great benefits of what I do, because we get invited places.
WIZARD: And you can take a lot of your work with you.
STAN SAKAI: Exactly. [Laughs] You know, I have had my own schedule, but my editor Diana has deadlines for me. Traveling is another excuse for missing your deadlines.
WIZARD: How often do you make it to Japan?
STAN SAKAI: I’ve only been there once. I was a guest of Osamu Tezuka Productions. Basically, they took us around to animation studios and publishers, and we just had a great time. We still don’t know why they invited us over. [Laughs] [My wife] Sharon and I went with Erik Larsen and Lynn and Rod Johnston. Lynn does [the newspaper strip] “For Better or for Worse.” We had a wonderful time.
WIZARD: Let’s talk a bit about what’s coming up in the future. The next Usagi collection is Vol. 21. What will that reprint?
STAN SAKAI: That will reprint the entire “Mother of Mountain” storyline, which goes up to #89-from #84 to #89, I believe. That story happened about a year and a half ago.
WIZARD: It seems like you’ll do a bigger story like that for five or six issues and then lean off with a bunch of shorter, one- or two-issue stories in a row.
STAN SAKAI: Exactly. That’s been my game plan all along. I have a few epic stories or major story arcs, but then I have these shorter stories that will build up to these longer arcs. And the shorter stories are great too for the new readers to jump onto, but the older readers seem to prefer the longer arcs where I get more into the history and the characters and the adventure of it all. That’s pretty much why I do those.
WIZARD: Isn’t the next big arc going to be the origin of Usagi villain Jei?
STAN SAKAI: Yes. I’ve already started on that. Jei has always been-well, when I first created him he was kind of a throwaway character for one issue. But people kept saying, “Bring him back. Bring him back.” He became probably the most popular Usagi villain that I created.
WIZARD: When you do that origin, is it going to be in flashbacks?
STAN SAKAI: Yeah, it’ll be a flashback to how Jei became touched by the gods.
WIZARD: To wrap up, after all these years, how has your passion for Usagi changed? Are you ready to do another 100 issues at Dark Horse or another 22 years of stories?
STAN SAKAI: I really enjoy working with Usagi, and for every story that I write, it springboards into two more stories. Right now, I’ve got stories plotted out for another five years at least. And it’s kind of nice because I do everything myself, writing and drawing. If I was working on a company-owned series I would not have the flexibility to do that.