Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Brad Curran wrote:Jumping On Points Double Shot: Rabbit Samurais and painted superheroes
Saturday, January 6th, 2007 9:32 PM

Usagi Yojimbo vol. 3 #99 by Stan Sakai, Dark Horse Comics

Okay, this was excellent.

I always feel inadequate for saying things like that about comics with reputations for excellence. It’s not a terribly revolutionary thing to say about, say, Lee and Kirby’s FF or the Spirit or any other classic of the medium, or even something that may not quite be there yet but is still a wonderful piece of work, which is a category Usagi definitely fits in to.

It’s still worth saying in this case, beyond any “me too” impulses on my part, because this comic still flies a bit under the radar. It’s not a Big Two superhero book or an indie darling; like most Dark Horse comics, it falls between those too poles. But, judging solely by this issue, it is an excellent comic, well worth reading. And an accessible one, too. I should know; it’s the first one I’ve ever read.

I remember Grant Morrison bemoaning the use of the “Story So Far” pages in his issues of New X-Men, because everything you needed to know about the story was right there on the page. I couldn’t think of a better way to describe this comic. Everything’s there. No need to know prior continuity to enjoy this; well, expect at the very end, as a character who may or may not be familiar given my total lack of experience with the series shows up in a cliffhanger. One of the little things that impressed me most about the comic was that it was almost cover to cover comics; from the first page to the inside of the back cover, it was all story, no ads (that alone might endear it to Paul O’Brian at this point).

The story that comprises most of the comic is wonderfully straightforward, impecably well done panel to panel storytelling. It also does something I want out of my single issues and rarely get; a satisfying self contained story that wraps up in one issue while still giving me an interesting enough ongoing plot that I want to come back for next installment. Very few comics seem to do that these days; if they aren’t decompressed, unsatifying single issue reads, they’re so self contained that I can live without reading another issue. Usagi, at least in this issue, walked a very thin line perfectly.

Given that next issue is a big anniversary artist’s jam issue, it may not be the best jumping on point, although given the creators involved, it’s worth picking up anyway. I know I probably will, given how much I enjoyed my first issue.