“After all, what does a wandering ronin have to do with the affairs of gods and emperors?”
Stan Sakai is without doubt one of the greatest to ever put pencil to paper.
I really feel like that doesn’t get mentioned sufficient. That he doesn’t get almost sufficient credit score or accolade for simply how good he’s at his craft. Even having earned a number of Eisners, Ringos, and extra awards. He’s on the vanguard of creator-owned comics, persistently telling top-tier tales with precision, motion, and coronary heart with Usagi Yojimbo since 1984. With that legacy, and longevity, I suppose it’d really feel daunting to choose up the comics, not realizing the place to begin, however that’s type of the fantastic thing about the collection and the way Sakai tells his tales. You can begin wherever.
I used to be there myself once I first began studying the samurai rabbit’s adventures. I had positively recognized about Usagi Yojimbo by crossovers with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and picked up at the very least a few of the Mirage collection within the early ’90s. But it wasn’t till the Dark Horse collection within the late ’90s that I actually dove in. I had taken one thing of a hiatus from most comics within the latter a part of the last decade, specializing in college. I used to be mainly solely nonetheless shopping for and studying Hellboy, Starman, and Cerebus. Asking the proprietor of my native comedian store on the time what else I’d like alongside these strains, he handed me a stack of virtually a 12 months’s value of Usagi Yojimbo, #13-22. This was the Usagi Yojimbo: Grasscutter arc.
It was sensible. It drew me in and turned me right into a fan for all times.
Grasscutter is epic. The story drops you in to begin with Japanese mythology and historical past, giving the provenance of the title of the arc, Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi, the grass-cutting sword. It particulars the lack of the sword after which switches to the political intrigue and motion of Usagi’s current day, mixing up our errant rabbit with a conspiracy to revive the emperor, a plot in opposition to one of many Shogun’s staunchest allies, and the evil supernatural forces working in direction of their very own ends. It’s really spectacular how Sakai weaves collectively the totally different threads. While it does draw on narrative threads even from the primary Usagi Yojimbo tales, the story is advised in a manner that the reader will get the entire wanted info.
Sakai’s art work right here is in high type. He refined and simplified his type throughout the time the collection was revealed by Mirage. I believe it reached its most acquainted type right here within the early days of Dark Horse. The characters are slimmer, the faces constructed of solely probably the most important strains, and what seems like virtually a simple cartooning. I see influences on humour and creatures of Sergio Aragonés‘ Groo alongside the traditional samurai manga elements from artists like Goseki Kojima. It’s lovely work. And there really aren’t many comics storytellers on the market that may match Sakai’s capability to tempo a narrative. His layouts and panel transitions virtually learn like a how one can.
When you mix all of that with Sakai’s equally award-winning lettering, you’ve gotten a consummate storyteller.
Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo: Grasscutter is a spotlight in a legendary run that’s virtually composed of highlights. It blends collectively Japanese historical past and mythology with motion, humour, and pleasure of a humorous animal guide.
Classic Comic Compendium: USAGI YOJIMBO – GRASSCUTTER
Usagi Yojimbo: Grasscutter
Writer & Artist: Stan Sakai
Publisher: Dark Horse
Release Date: August 1997 – July 1998
Available collected in Usagi Yojimbo – Volume 12: Grasscutter and The Usagi Yojimbo Saga – Book 2
Read previous entries within the Classic Comic Compendium!
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