For going on 25 years Stan Sakai‘s Usagi Yojimbo has been taking its anthropomorphized rabbit Samurai protagonist on adventure after adventure through Edo-era Japan while maintaining a steady rhythm of excellence in both storytelling and cartooning. Usagi Yojimbo #143 is no exception.
We find our hero in a new town and quickly embroidered in a new exploit defending the poor and defenseless against the powerful and bullying. It’s pretty standard fare for many samurai stories, or westerns for that matter. Sakai, of course, makes it worth our while with his richly detailed recreation of feudal Japan. When he sets the plot aside for a number of pages to take us on tour of a soy sauce brewery, showing us the process from soy bean to fermentation, it’s not tangential, it’s part of the fun.
For those who have never picked the book up before this is the first of a two-part story and is a good place to jump on. While it may be light on action, it’s heavy on character and tone and for a book that has such an original take on both those two things, that’s really not a problem. And don’t worry, I’m sure there will be plenty of action in the next issue.
First time I think I saw a review for Usagi on here I used to be a big fan of the series but haven’t read it in many years. I even beat the game they made in the 80’s on commodore 64.
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Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
First time I think I saw a review for Usagi on here I used to be a big fan of the series but haven’t read it in many years. I even beat the game they made in the 80’s on commodore 64.
Comment by Josh Hoffner — January 31, 2012 @ 8:48 pm
Cover Colors By Stan Luth?
Shouldn’t that be Tom Luth?
Comment by steve hubbell — February 1, 2012 @ 8:28 am