Thank you for your patience

[Maka]

Great news! Congratulations. I expect there will be a lot of side opportunities for Usagi merch with IDW as well. And it will be interesting to see Usagi stories in color. Great news! Peace, maka

[Mayhem]

I had a few ideas, and a change of publisher was one of them, but given how long with Dark Horse, it was way near the bottom of the ideas. So yes, this is pretty big in the scheme of things, so I’m sure I’d love to know the same sort of answers that others have asked, especially Trevis there. Here’s to the future

[adventuremaster18]

Sounds interesting, though i almost had a heart attack when I saw the article. The fact that it says "new monthly series" and IDW mainly rebooting priorities they get is what made me think they were rebooting it. But no, just a change of publisher and Usagi in color too! Never actually hated the black and white and honestly preferred it in some cases, but the colorization by Tom Luth looks gorgous. This all looks really good!

[maichan]

KANPAI!! KANPAI!! KANPAI!!

Dear Stan Sensei, it is with great anticipation that I extend my best wishes to you and the entire cast of characters of Usagi Yojimbo, including master colorist Tom Luth.

I look forward to following along as the Ronin Rabbit ventures forth along a new and "colorful" path.

[maichan]

Announcement on IDW's website - https://www.idwpublishing.com/idw-welco ... i-yojimbo/

[Otter]

I'm going miss Dark Horse, but hopefully the change expands Usagi's readership, and leads to even bigger things. I'm comfortable that with Stan in charge of his own creation we'll get the stories we know and love no matter the publisher.

I do hope that we will continue to get B&W collections of the IDW published books, just as the colour Mirage material was collected in the Saga books. Who knows, maybe IDW could stick with the Saga format for future collections (in addition to any other planned collections) as a nod to Usagi's B&W fans.

Exciting times. Congratulations Stan.

(and congratulations IDW!)

[Angilasman]

Wow! This certainly is a surprise!

While to some extent I'll miss the black and white, it's not like Tom Luth's coloring work hasn't been a part of the package since the earliest days. We all know and love his work. I suppose all of us old fans are half loving half dreading the creeping urge to re-buy the entire back catalogue now in color! More than anything, I hope this change brings new opportunities and expansion of readership and more chances for cool stuff like merchandising and whatnot.

The press release calls it a monthly series, but we typically average at about, what, nine issues a year? Will that continue to be the plan?

[Gaffey]

Interesting choice of variant artists. I'm surprised they don't have a blank sketch variant. IDW loves to make those.

Marking this milestone with a spectacular selection of covers, Usagi Yojimbo #1 includes a main cover by Stan Sakai, plus variants by Daniel Warren Johnson (Murder Falcon), Kevin Eastman (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), and Walt Simonson (Ragnarök, The Mighty Thor).

I'm going to miss the 6" x 9" hardcovers.

[Mayhem]

I’m going to miss not having to collect variants! It’s tricky enough already with TMNT

Announcement on IDW's website - https://www.idwpublishing.com/idw-welco ... i-yojimbo/

“For the first time ever, new monthly Usagi Yojimbo comic books will be published in full color”

I guess whoever wrote that didn’t know or forgot the Mirage run now

[Otter]

Yeah, I'm not keen on variant covers either. How has it worked with the Turtles?

So long as the Sakai ones are produced in the higher quantity, and those are the ones my local comic shop pulls, I'll be right.

[Steve Hubbell]

Dang! And I thought the big announcement was going to be that Stan had sold Usagi to the house that Mickey built.

Seriously, the move to IDW will be interesting, with lots of new possibilities. I still have to read more of the write-ups since I have been stuck at work all evening, but I saw something about variants already, which is the first thing that popped in my head after hearing IDW....

I love the idea of Usagi in color, and Tom Luth doing the color work of course, but I also love Usagi in b/w. After all these years, that just seems to be the natural format for the comic.

As much as IDW loves their variants, it would be totally awesome if they would release each and every issue of the new Usagi Yojimbo series in a "regular" color edition and a "naked" or "traditional" b/w edition so that it was available both as a color comic and as a b/w comic. Of course, that would be a lot more work than just swapping some alternate covers on the comics, so I doubt that they would be willing to do something like that.

[Mayhem]

Re variants, you get three types normally. Regular covers, that any comic store can order, which is where I’d expect Stans covers to be, so don’t fret about that folks! Then you have incentives, where a store can order one copy if it has ordered X regular copies. This is where I expect most of the others to be, maybe a 1:5 or 1:10 per issue depending on sales. And then there’s retailer exclusives, that individual companies publish themselves. That’s possibly where some of the Eastman covers could be, if he does them regularly. And if he does, then having them available through his fan club to order is another boon to being a member there.

Dang! And I thought the big announcement was going to be that Stan had sold Usagi to the house that Mickey built.

Stan selling the rights to Usagi to another company was another of the ideas that I had, not specifically Disney mind.

[coolray85]

hello everyone, getting the news over on facebook instead of here is an indicator to myself that I need to return here much more frequently again:)

the news really took the wind out of me for a moment.
as some of you have said I too would have expected some statement about a cool 35th anniversary usagi special book or some form of commemorating piece of entertainment (an update on an animated project or even series as was suggested last year also came to mind lately) to be announced rather than usagi leaving dark horse comics and finding new plains to wander the warrior's road on IDW publishing grounds.
after the news had settled I too see the view of opportunity ahead of us. I really hope usagi is going to turn over so many new readers who may have never really heard of him before and he, his co-stars and all of his world with his deeper silent meanings, spontanious joys and staggering dangers bring as much joy to their hearts as they have brought us thus far.
I agree with the afore mentioned notion that as long as Stan is helming his characters and stories we'll be reading and experiencing great exciting reflecting and nuanced tales as we have always been.

I only hope that somehow we would be able to continue to be able to be reading usagi in its pure black and white form, however I know that Stan is inking with coloring in mind, so this may be out of the question for now.maybe some time in the future just as happened with the mirage studios material when being collected.

here I raise my imaginary bowl of hot tea and toast to Stan's continued success and enjoyment breaking new grounds in the future!!kampaaiiiii!!!!!!!!:)

[coolray85]

ps

I am so happy that Stan didn't really sell his rights to usagi to disney or any other company.
in my oppinion Stan should always remain the owner of usagi, and ESPECIALLY disney should never get its claws on such a wonderful character and institution for all people.

[Maka]

I only hope that somehow we would be able to continue to be able to be reading usagi in its pure black and white form, however I know that Stan is inking with coloring in mind, so this may be out of the question for now.maybe some time in the future just as happened with the mirage studios material when being collected.

So if Stan is inking with color in mind, that might mean that it won’t take as long to make pages. Maybe that is why issues may come out monthly? More Usagi comics per year! Sounds good to me! . Peace, maka