Story & Art: Stan Sakai
32 pages, $4.99
Dark Horse Comics
Review: Kris Lorenzen

What It Is: Celebrating 40 years (!) of USAGI YOJIMBO, this is the second chapter of the latest story arc in comic’s greatest—and most fun—ongoing saga. And no shade intended towards IDW (or Fantagraphics, or Mirage Studios), but it feels right to have our favorite rabbit ronin back home at Dark Horse.

The Good: I like to drop in on a series or miniseries in the middle somewhere and see if I know what’s going on and then I read the beginning later. Crazy, right? But this is how I grew up with comics—it was a crapshoot, back in the spinner rack days, that I could find issues from the same series on a month-to-month basis. Nearly all modern comics fail this simple “every comic is somebody’s first comic” test. But not Usagi. Even with multi-issue story arcs, Sakai’s engraining and straightforward storytelling keeps the reader flowing right along with the narrative.

It might not seem like much of a difference, but the twenty-four pages of comics Sakai gives you compared to the standard 20 pages of work-for-hire stuff, well, that’s how he fits in all that fine detail and character work.

And the art. The splendidly cartoony art. It remains so pleasing and so satisfying and so comforting to pour over every pen stroke and cross hatch. The facial expressions, the period accurate clothing and buildings, the background detail and subtle gags—Sakai’s joy for the material leaps off the page.

I’ve been reading Usagi a looong time (since the mid ’90s) and I like mine in glorious black and white. However, this color doesn’t bother me. It’s mostly flat, comic booky color. The characters pop and there are no muddy hues to lose all of Sakai’s fine pen work.

The Bad: With this book? Nothing, really. More people should read it, though.

The Score: 10 out of 10 capes

Further Reading: Just jump in with Usagi anywhere you want. Find a random issue in a back-issue box, check out one of the many TMNT crossovers, dig for a discounted trade. You won’t be disappointed and once you get into it, there’s 40 years of a single creator’s vision to enjoy.