Comic Reviews for 7/28/10.
(I've been posting some links and stuff on the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo Facebook page and forgetting to post any of them here as wellAndrew Prenger wrote:Usagi Yojimbo vol 24
My yearly dose of Usagi finally arrived. I still have no idea why they drip this book out so slowly. Stan Sakai has been consistently getting the issues out monthly, they could totally put out two books a year no problem. I'm just greedy. True to what I do every year I re-read all Usagi books I owned in preparation for this one, including the long out of print but recently back in print Space Usagi. Even without doing that this would still be one of the better books of the year.
In this volume we get the origin of one of Usagi's long-running villains Jei. I was actually struck by how little Usagi plays in this book. I don't even think Usagi is in the first two issues. Jei is the focus as much as his hunters Gen and Stray Dog. By this point in the narrative the spirit of Jei has possessed Inazuma for a few years. Her tragic story gets a wrap up in this volume as well, which I found surprising.
Once again Usagi Yojimbo outdoes itself and gives me more reasons to love it and consider it one of my favorite series of all time. I never particularly thought Jei needed an origin. He was never one of those characters who they constantly dropped hints about but never got around to it. He was never like Wolverine where they teased the mystery until nobody cares. Stan Sakai just felt that now was the best time to explore where Jei came from. He crafted a really good tale in it.
Now I just have to wait for the next volume. Due out...next year. Wow, today just got really depressing. Time to go cry.
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