Most of you know that I love comic books! I love them and sharing them with people. I grew up a DC Comics fan because when I was little, they were the only comic book characters that had an animated tv show or animated videos you could rent at a video store. My family was the only family in our neighborhood at that time that had cable TV and a VCR. My earliest memories watching movies are Rocky, the first and best one, and Superman, the Richard Donner film from 1978 that won the Oscar for best visual effects. Even the movie poster's caption said "You will believe a man can fly!", which I am sure was someone's critic review quote, but I am not 100% sure of that.
Being a film critic can be so awesome sometimes, and I love the fact that the Marvel Cinematic Universe started a year after I became a printed and published critic. Here we are around thirty movies and a handful of Disney+ shows, with plans that reach into at least 2026, and that's just Marvel, we haven't even started with the reboot and formation of DC Studios. Steven Spielberg, the greatest film director of all time, in my humble opinion, said that he thinks comic book films and TV shows are going the way of the Western genre where there are tons and tons of western movies and TV shows. I hope so, because there are countless westerns to watch out there, and they are still being made.
I love the superhero stuff a lot. I really enjoy reading comics with my son, Elliot. He loves them too, and we have a great time reading them together when he's with me. However, I have found that our favorite comic book to read together, which is also my number one favorite comic book series, and it doesn't have anything to do with superheroes. I am talking about the incredible Usagi Yojimbo created by a 3rd generation Japanese American who has been writing and drawing the comic book series by himself since 1984. That's right, 39 years, all by himself.
Stan grew up learning a ton of Japanese culture from family and books, but his absolute favorite stories were of a Samurai from the 1600s in Feudal Japan, Miyamoto Musashi, who wasn not only a samurai, but a philosopher as well. Stan loved drawing, and even got his degree in Fine Arts from the University of Hawaii, the state he grew up in. As a kid, he said that comic books are what helped him learn read and love books. He also loved going to a local movie near his home growing up that played the old black and white, and three hour long, samurai films that are counted as some of the greatest films of all time, and it only cost a quarter. He wanted to create a comic book that told the stories of Miyamoto Musashi, but said that he didn't like drawing humans, and that he thought they just didn't look right with his art style. I am sure this is true, but I could be wrong, he said that he was sitting in church doodling, and he sketched out a rabbit and he tied the rabbit's ears like a samurai hair bun, and that he loved it. He also drew the rabbit as an anthropomorphic animal, which is an animal that walks upright like a human and can talk like a human. He named the rabbit Miyamoto Usagi because not only did it rhyme with Musashi, it is also the Japanese word for Rabbit.
So, Usagi means Rabbit, but what about Yojimbo? Yojimbo is the Japanese word for Bodyguard. Miyamoto Musashi's samurai master was killed in battle, which turned him into a Ronin, which is a masterless samurai, so as was the character of Usagi. Ronin still clung to the ways of the samurai, but they didn't have a master, and so they wandered the country of Japan and would fight for small villages that were being looted and were violently abused, and would even take jobs from the rules of Japan, as long as they were ruling in a righteous way. He would also come across people that needed to be taught a lesson, whether it was a kid thinking that all samurais did was fight with their cool swords, or jerks that needed a good butt-kicking to be taught a lesson in humility, and ones that needed to be scared off from places they were causing trouble.
The comic book is incredibly thoughtful. Not only are the stories great, the amount you learn about Japanese culture and folklore is amazing. In a lecture Stan gave to the Portland Musem of Art, which can be easily found on YouTube, Stan talks about where he gets his ideas from. One great example, he said that he had heard about Japanese Kite Making and Kite Fighting, so he bought a book about how the kite makers made the kites, how they flew, how they would fight kites with each other, so he thought that would make a good Usagi Yojimbo story. It's told in three different perspectives. The first is the kite makers and flyers, the second were gamblers that caused trouble during a kite fighting festival, and also from the perspective of Usagi. Usagi wants to go see to a kite festival, and when he gets there, the gamblers are causing trouble and breaking people's kites, and so Usagi fights with the gamblers and runs them out of town. It's an incredible story that's full of Japanese history and culture.
Stan also uses the Japanese words for things, but always writes an asterisk to the side of the word, and at the bottom of the page, there will be a little box with the word, and what the English translation is for that word, so you learn the real word, and the definition for it. It's really a simple thing, but so neat at the same time. Stan has also said on many occasions that he might get an idea, but that the stories may not come out for years later. The kite story, for example, was an idea that he didn't write and get to until five years after the idea was formed.
In an interview from January of 2021, he said that he has tons of ideas for stories that are still a few years away from writing. He loves to research everything thoroughly before writing his stories. Even things you might think of as boring or uninteresting come out in an incredible Usagi Yojimbo comic book. Two other stories as examples are a story about Seaweed Farming and Soy Sauce making. He learned that with Soy Sauce, the best Soy Sauce is made in wooden crates with a special kind of bacteria. In the story there are two rival soy sauce making businesses who are in competition with one another. One of the makers passes away, and his son takes over, but the son wants to expand the business, but he doesn't use the crates full of the special bacteria that is what makes the best sauce, and so he goes after the other owner to kill him so that his soy sauce will be the only sauce people can get, but Usagi steps in and saves the day.
Those stories may not seem interesting, but trust me, they are. The comics are in black and white, although Stan will paint in watercolors to make the covers for the issues, and right now, the comic book publishing company IDW, is printing some of the award-winning stories in color, but were originally in black and white. Stan likes the black and white format, not because he doesn't have to worry about coloring them himself, but he loves those black and white samurai films so much that he likes the stories to feel like those movies.
The stories are mostly serious, but there are moments of lighthearted comedy. For example, there is a story where he meets a bounty hunter that is a Rhinoceros named Gen at an Inn. Gen tells him that there is a hostage up at a monastery where two bandits are trying to steal money from. He tells Usagi that he will split the reward money fifty-fifty, so Usagi reluctantly chooses to accompany him. One of the bandits is holding the monk in the monastery with a knife in in his hand. Gen runs into the room and tells him to let go. As Usagi enters the monastery, he sees the monk, who has been hung. Gen tells the bandit to let go of the monk, which we just learned isn't the real monk, but one of the bandits. Gen yells to let the monk go, and as he goes to fight the first bandit, the second bandit gets up with a knife and is inches away from stabbing Gen, but Usagi rushes in, fights the bandit Gen thought was the monk, and Gen and Usagi are able to kill the bandits. When they get back to the Inn where they met, Gen gives Usagi his share of the reward money and leaves. Then, the owner of the Inn comes and asks Usagi for his bill for the Inn, and the inn owner then tells Usagi that Gen told him that Usagi would cover his bill for the stay and food at the inn, and that it comes to the exact price that Gen gave Usagi for his "reward money", so Usagi helped Gen without getting any money for himself. Gen becomes a great character throughout the series, and even though Gen is a good guy, Usagi is always wondering what he is up to and what his angle is. Gen's stories usually have more comedy sprinkled into them, but there are stories with Gen that are serious. When I say "serious", I'm not talking about boring. They just deal with samurai stories, and though they aren't always action-packed, they are thoughtful and always neat to read.
Though the stories have fighting violence in them, there is no blood and gore, unless the blood is absolutely needed, and it's used very little, like dabs on a napkin or something, plus the comic is in black and white, even with the sword fighting. Instead, when a character is killed, instead of blood, they show the character with a surprised face and they have a comic book speaking bubble, but instead of words, it shows a drawing of what the character's skull might look like, and that's it. It's something you can share with your kids and not worry one little bit about anything. There's no bad language, no gore, no sexual themes, so it's pretty wholesome. Besides the violence when there is fighting, there isn't anything to worry about as a parent.
One more interesting thing about Usagi Yojimbo, is that the first comic book publisher that published the first few Usagi comics was the same comic book publisher for a little comic book/ TV show/ Movie characters, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. There have been quite a few comic book crossovers with Usagi and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and there have even been crossovers on the original TV animated show of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and one a few years ago for Nickelodeon and their computer animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, which is really good, both the show and the crossover. It is currently available to watch on Paramount+. Oh, they even made an Usagi action figure back during the original Ninja Turtles Tv show. They are rare, and sell for more than what I can afford on eBay every once in a while.
Anyway, that's my little tribute for this wonderful comic book series. There are tons of ways to get your hands on the comics. Dark Horse Comics, who have been the main publisher for most of the series have twelve 600-page books collecting most of the series. There are other publishing companies that have published Usagi Yojimbo, and though they aren't in those twelve books, they are easy to find in other collections through the Usagi Yojimbo website, www.usagiyojimbo.com . Dark Horse Comics even made a cool "Motion Comic" of a short Usagi Yojimbo story. It's only five minutes long, but it's really neat, and it gives you a great idea of what the comic book series is like. I will post that here...
I hope that you enjoyed my geeking out for this blog post. I wouldn't have written it if I didn't really love this series. It's amazing, fantastic, awesome, whatever other word for the word Great you can think of, it's that! It's so neat and so different from any other comic book series you will find. I find comics to be a very artistic way of telling stories, and though some people think that comics are just superhero stories for little boys, they have no idea what is out there now. I also found that good comics fill in the motionless pictures into moving thoughts and ideas in the readers head. A good comic knows what words and conversations are important to the story, and don't have to rely on extra conversations or pictures to tell their story. Bad comics can't do that very well, but to create a moving story in the reader's head is a talent that few people have, and I think Usagi Yojimbo is the greatest example of this art form for storytelling, and I can almost guarantee all of you readers will love it too if you give it a chance.
That's all I have for this post. I hope you are all well and healthy. I hope that life is going in a positive direction for you. I always enjoy sharing things I love, which is why I became a film and media critic in the first place. After this brief introduction to the amazing Usagi Yojimbo comic book series, I am wondering if I might email Stan Sakai and ask if I could interview him for a deeper blog post and newspaper article. I love his work, and I hope that you check some of it out and see why I love it enough to share with you. I will be back soon with another post. I hope to see you then!
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