Usagi Yojimbo Saga, Vol. 1

Usagi Yojimbo Saga, Vol. 1 by Stan Sakai
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Miyamoto Usagi is a ronin, a masterless samurai, wandering feudal Japan in search of peace. He's also a rabbit in a world of anthropomorphic animals.

I first encountered Usagi on an episode of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon where he was yanked from his own time period and teamed up with the aforementioned turtles. I was vaguely aware there was a Usagi Yojimbo comic but I didn't imagine the rabbit could carry his own book. How wrong I was.

I have no idea why I enjoyed this as much as I did. The artwork isn't flashy. Galactus doesn't show up. There aren't any Jim Steranko panels. The violence is tame and there's no blood. Did I mention all the characters are animals?

The first story was a little rocky, a team-up with the Ninja Turtles to save a rat. After that, however, I was all in. The straight-forward, minimalist style grabbed my attention right away. Stan Sakai uses clean lines and great composition to put his stories together. It's amazing how much emotion he's able to convey with so little. His style reminds me of Moebius in some ways and of Miyazaki in others, minimalist yet simultaneously intricate.

The stories themselves draw from Japanese history, folklore, and cinema. Usagi goes up against bandits, ghosts, and assassins, all while wandering feudal Japan, looking for peace. Some of the stories are sweet, some are sad, and some of them are Usagi kicking ass.

I'm sorry I didn't pick up this series sooner but at least I have quite a few volumes in front of me. It's going to be a lot of fun catching up. Five out of five stars.

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