Usagi Yojimbo Saga Book 9

Usagi Yojimbo Saga Volume 9 by Stan Sakai
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Usagi Yojimbo Saga Book 9 contains Usagi Yojimbo #159-172 plus every team-up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to date.

The year was 2019 and my son's birth was quickly approaching. Dark Horse lost the license to Usagi Yojimbo, leaving me no choice but to buy the last two Dark Horse volumes, Usagi Yojimbo, Vol. 32: Mysteries and Usagi Yojimbo, Vol. 33: The Hidden in an effort to get caught up on the bodyguard rabbit's adventures before my son was born. Imagine my surprise, almost two years later, that I find out the last of the Dark Horse material was eventually collected in this, the final Saga volume. Sure, I already read most of the material before but sometimes, you just want all your books in a series to match.

Thanks to the magic of getting older, I forgot 99% of what happened in the final Usagi issues. There's a lot of Inspector Ishida, a lot of Nezumi the Ninja, and a lot of that damnable Black Goblin Gang.

Sakai's art is as perfect as every. It's hard to come up with new words to say how he's a master cartoonist after nine or ten reviews but he undoubtedly is. As always, Sakai's linework is superb, minimalist genius.

Reading this again shows what a great storyteller Sakai is, peppering each issue with hints to the future while still making them satisfying reads on their own. Usagi and Ishida team up to unravel some murder mysteries, each part of a much bigger tapestry of crime. The writing is as great as ever. Once again, Sakai weaves in a lesson of Japanese history, Kiristians, in this case.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossovers are fun read, not necessarily essential but still readable. The final one, Namazu, was easily the best.

Usagi Yojimbo Saga Book 9 is a fitting sendoff as Usagi and his creator, Stan Sakai, head for greener, multicolored pastures. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

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