It’s a new week! We’ve got a lot coming at you and we’re excited for the week! We’re kicking things off with some news you might have missed from around the web.
Prepare yourself for the adventures of the Samurai Rabbit as he and his friends battle evil and strange yokai monsters to save the world. Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles is available on Netflix April 28!
Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles is based on the characters created by Stan Sakai that debuted in 1984.
(W) Stan Sakai (A) Stan Sakai (CA) David Petersen In Shops: Mar 30, 2022 SRP: $3.99
Featuring the start of the classic two-part tale “Blood Wings”! Usagi has stumbled into a village besieged by ruthless bat ninjas! With seemingly no way out and a new conspiracy to thwart, Usagi will have to use all of his wits to escape!
(W) Stan Sakai (A/CA) Stan Sakai In Shops: Mar 23, 2022 SRP: $19.99
Usagi’s newest adventure finds him fighting in a war with an old teacher and strange new allies-and helping a new friend complete a mission! Usagi seeks out an old teacher, Sojobo, but upon finding him, learns that a new brand of Tengu mountain goblins have invaded the Western Peak. Savage and relentless, they are determined to drive the established Tengu out and prey upon the people of the area. For the first time, Usagi must ally himself with yokai against an even greater enemy, in “Tengu War!” Then, in “The Master of Hebishima,” Usagi delivers a basket of lizards to an eccentric monk who lives on a remote island infested with snakes, where he learns they share a history that goes back to the Great Wars and the Battle of Adachi Plain where Usagi became a ronin. In the final story, “Yukichi,” Usagi encounters a young swordmaster carrying out the dying wish of his master. Yukichi must deliver Itsuki-Sensei’s swords to his nephew, Daido, who will take over his school, however, they must pass through the territory of a rival school intent on preventing them from completing their mission. This third volume collects issues #15-21 of the all-new full-color Usagi Yojimbo series published by IDW.
(W) Stan Sakai (A/CA) Stan Sakai In Shops: Mar 16, 2022 SRP: $3.99
A Ghost Story (Part 1 of 1) Usagi and Yukichi come upon a young woman, Shizuye, praying at a shrine to a girl murdered fifty years ago by her married lover. Shizuye is in the same predicament, and Usagi and Yukichi take it upon themselves to become her protectors. However, all is not what it seems as the local priest warns them to beware of ghosts in the area.
(W) Stan Sakai (A/CA) Stan Sakai In Shops: Mar 16, 2022 SRP: $3.99
A Ghost Story (Part 1 of 1) Usagi and Yukichi come upon a young woman, Shizuye, praying at a shrine to a girl murdered fifty years ago by her married lover. Shizuye is in the same predicament, and Usagi and Yukichi take it upon themselves to become her protectors. However, all is not what it seems as the local priest warns them to beware of ghosts in the area.
(W) Stan Sakai (A) Stan Sakai (CA) David Petersen In Shops: Feb 23, 2022 SRP: $3.99
This issue reprints another classic Usagi tale, “A Kite Story”! The paths of three individuals, a kite maker, a gambler and Usagi, intersect during a kite-flying ceremony. Each has a different agenda and they will all change each other’s lives in this high-flying story!
(W) Stan Sakai (A/CA) Stan Sakai In Shops: Feb 16, 2022 SRP: $3.99
Crossroads, part 2 (of 2) Usagi and Yukichi are on the trail of a murdering samurai band but have to split up when they reach a crossroad. Usagi catches up to the samurai but even he cannot stand up to six accomplished swordsmen by himself. Meanwhile, Yukichi meets up with an even greater danger!
I was a fan of the show Cheaters when it was on. As I found many of the episodes very hilarious. There were some that were truly heartbreaking. What the series did not reveal to viewers is what happened to them before the cameras turned on.
AS we don’t know what lead the one that cheated to find comfort elsewhere. We don’t know how the person affected behaves behind close doors. As relationships are hard, and truth is more than black and white. In this beautifully put together one shot, Stan Sakai weaves a delicate story in Usagi Yojimbo: Lone Goat and Kid#1, a love story with 3 sides. .
In “Frost & Fire”, Usagi gets a job to locate swords left behind by a samurai who was killed in another village. As Usagi starts his investigation, he soon finds out that there is more to it than the widow revealed. As we find out that he had a mistress because his wife was cold and he had fallen in love with her, hoping for an honorable death. By issue’s end, greed takes over, leaving one dead and ill gotten gains.
Overall, Usagi Yojimbo: Lone Goat and Kid #1 is an excellent story which proves that comics are some of the greatest literature one can intake. The story by Sakai is powerful. The art by the creative team is astounding. Altogether, a story that shows love in different strokes.
Story: Stan Sakai Art: Stan Sakai, Ronda Pattison, and David Petersen Story: 9.0 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy
IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
(W) Stan Sakai (A) Stan Sakai (CA) Peach Momoko In Shops: Jan 26, 2022 SRP: $19.99
Presenting the earliest adventures of rabbit ronin Miyamoto Usagi, with our FIRST full- color series edition -giving new readers the perfect opportunity to explore this groundbreaking series while offering long-time fans a new reading experience!
Usagi’s cast of characters continues to expand with the first appearances of his longtime tokage (lizard) companion, Spot and his greatest nemesis -the demented, and perhaps immortal, wolf warrior Jei (Grasscutter)!
Join Usagi as he is tested in an emotionally captivating tale between the bonds of family and the bounds of honor, as he helps an elderly mother face the villain her son has become. When the blind swordspig Zato-Ino comes back for revenge, can Usagi still triumph after the playing field is leveled? All this, plus more adventures in anthropomorphic Edo Japan!
Wanderer’s Road collects the stories “The Tower,” “A Mother’s Love,” “The Return of the Blind Swordspig,” “Blade of the Gods,” “The Tea Cup,” and “The Shogun’s Gift” from Usagi Yojimbo Vol. One, issues #7-12, originally published in black and white by Fantagraphics from March to October 1988.
