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Posted January 19, 2011 by Norby Ela in Comics
 
 

PREVIEW: Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition

Usagi Yojimbo: The Special Edition

Story by
Stan Sakai
Art by
Stan Sakai
Cover by
Stan Sakai
Publisher
Fantagraphics
Cover Price:
$100.00
Release Date
Wed, January 19th, 2011

Created in 1984 as a supporting character for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo has vaulted to the very forefront of iconic modern comics characters and is a perennial favorite amongst young boys and adult fans. Usagi Yojimbo chronicles the action-packed wanderings of a masterless samurai (a “ronin”) in feudal Japan — as told with funny-animals. (If PIXAR and the late Akira Kurosawa were to collaborate on a movie, it might very well look like this.)

For the first ten years of his career, the battling bunny was published by Fantagraphics Books. In honor of his 25th anniversary, Fantagraphics is releasing a deluxe slipcase set collecting the seven first Usagi books. With over 1000 pages of story, this is the complete, definitive, early Usagi. This Special Edition will also be brimming with extra material, including a complete full-color gallery of the more than 50 Usagi covers from that period (never-before-collected); preparatory sketches, including Sakai’s original first draft of the “Samurai” story; two “non-canon” Usagi stories by Sakai co-starring the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (with whom Usagi also shared screen time in the TMNT TV series); the rare behind-the-scenes “How I Draw Usagi Yojimbo” strip; Introductions by Stan Sakai and Stan Lee; and a feature-length, career-spanning interview with Sakai.


Norby Ela

 
Now residing in San Diego, CA, I strive to work in art and further grow FlipGeeks around the world.