The Complete Usagi Story Spreadsheet

[TheBroox]

When I find an IP that I enjoy, be it Star Wars or Hellboy or Fables, I attempt to seek out and read every story set in that world that has been published. You could call me a completist in that regard. I am not concerned with the collection of all the physical publications but rather in collecting all the stories through any mixture of individual issues, trade paperbacks, hardcovers, omnibuses and art books. Having recently gotten into Usagi Yojimbo I am attempting to do the same for it. When attempting to find a resource that would best lay our what publications I needed to purchase in order to do so I discovered that such a document did not exist (or at least I couldn't find it). Therefore, I set out to create it.

I did so in a Google Sheet. I listed out each Usagi Yojimbo story and then did research to discover each and ever time is had been published/collected. I primarily drew information from Wikipedia, the Usagi Yojimbo Wikia/Fandom, and a number of threads on this forum, most notably New Usagi Yojimbo Bibliography and Complete list of all Stan Sakai comics including variants.

Here is the link to The Complete Usagi Yojimbo Story Spreadsheet

I would appreciate any and all feedback anyone has on this document. I am sure I have some things wrong and am probably missing some things as well.

My hope is that other collectors will find this information/document helpful.

[maichan]

Neat! Thank you for sharing your list with us!

I find it interesting the ways different people categorize or list the Usagi (or other) stories. I have a feeling your list will be useful to many readers, including myself.

Since you mentioned Hellboy, I suppose you have a Hellboy list also? There are more than one other Hellboy fans here that might like to see that list also... right Jabba359.

[TheBroox]

Since you mentioned Hellboy, I suppose you have a Hellboy list also? There are more than one other Hellboy fans here that might like to see that list also... right Jabba359.

I don't have a stand alone document like this but I am an administrator on the Hellboy Wikia/Fandom and most of my efforts over there go to work of this nature rather than writing plot summaries and the like.

These are probably the most similar pages over there:
https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hel ... rse_Comics
https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/Trade_P ... ollections
https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/Omnibus_Editions
https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/Hellboy ... y_Editions

[maichan]

Since you mentioned Hellboy, I suppose you have a Hellboy list also? There are more than one other Hellboy fans here that might like to see that list also... right Jabba359.

I don't have a stand alone document like this but I am an administrator on the Hellboy Wikia/Fandom and most of my efforts over there go to work of this nature rather than writing plot summaries and the like.

These are probably the most similar pages over there:
https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hel ... rse_Comics
https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/Trade_P ... ollections
https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/Omnibus_Editions
https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/Hellboy ... y_Editions

Awesome!
Thank you!

Now I must say it is an honor to meet you! I bow with utmost respect in your presence!! I have referred to those pages on numerous occasions.

[TheBroox]

Since you mentioned Hellboy, I suppose you have a Hellboy list also? There are more than one other Hellboy fans here that might like to see that list also... right Jabba359.

I don't have a stand alone document like this but I am an administrator on the Hellboy Wikia/Fandom and most of my efforts over there go to work of this nature rather than writing plot summaries and the like.

These are probably the most similar pages over there:
https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/The_Hel ... rse_Comics
https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/Trade_P ... ollections
https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/Omnibus_Editions
https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/Hellboy ... y_Editions

Awesome!
Thank you!

Now I must say it is an honor to meet you! I bow with utmost respect in your presence!! I have referred to those pages on numerous occasions.

Glad you find them helpful! I can't take too much credit though. My fellow admin, Sir Edward Grey, has been doing most of the heavy lifting over there for years. I just try to stay out of his way and do as much as I can. My biggest completely solo contribution to the Wiki is probably this page (and all the creator pages I had to create to make all the links work): https://hellboy.fandom.com/wiki/Hellboy:_Weird_Tales

[TheBroox]

Changes since I first shared the spreadsheet:

1. Cell background color has been added to indicate the publisher of any given cell
2. A red cell border has been added to works that have yet to be published
3. Red text is now used to indicate stores which have never been collected in a UY collection
4. A second sheet has been added to serve a key to all the coloring
5. Minor corrections

I would be interested in getting feedback on these features. They add a lot of data to the spreadsheet but also make it much busier.

I was surprised how quickly I ran out of distinct background colors and may change how I approach publishers. I am considering only coloring in "major" publishers in the history of UY: Thoughts & Images, Fantagraphics Books, Mirage Studios, Dark Horse Comics and IDW. Potentially I could use notes on individual cells to denote the other publishers.

Alternative, I have been considering using cell notes to mark books that are physically split. So that there is a visual marker indicating that a search may be necessary to find everything that a given collection contains. I could also accomplish this with a cell border color or font color though.

Lastly, I think I might add chapter names for stories as well. This wouldn't apply to every or even most of the stories but it would be nice if a search of the document for any "title" would return a result.

[maichan]

Just some quick rough thoughts....

I like the background colors indicating the publishers.
Maybe I'm not looking in the right place, but I can't find the second sheet (color key).

If number of colors is limited, or gets too cluttered, how about distinct colors only for the 5 major publishers, while any others get grouped into a single "Other" color? But the more I think about, it might be nice for each publisher to have a distinct color.... OR, have an additional separate publisher list, especially for the oddball titles...

Just my own peculiar way of doing things, but it might be helpful to separate the columns (Singles, TPB, HC, Omni, etc) with bold border lines?

[TheBroox]

Maybe I'm not looking in the right place, but I can't find the second sheet (color key).

In Google Sheets the different sheets of a given spreadsheet look like tabs along the bottom of the browser.

If number of colors is limited, or gets too cluttered, how about distinct colors only for the 5 major publishers, while any others get grouped into a single "Other" color? But the more I think about, it might be nice for each publisher to have a distinct color.... OR, have an additional separate publisher list, especially for the oddball titles...

I had considered doing this too. Having an "Other" category and then listing out the who published what on the Color Key sheet. Maybe this is the way to go. Only give a publisher a color if they cross a certain threshold of number of publications.

Just my own peculiar way of doing things, but it might be helpful to separate the columns (Singles, TPB, HC, Omni, etc) with bold border lines?

I like this idea as well but there will need to be a compromise to pull it off. As it stands right now if a TPB and a HC collect the exact same content then they exist as a single cell. So in order to divide the collection types with borders I will need to either not insert a border between the TPBs and the HCs, have those cells exist above the border, or break those cells up into two different cells. I think I am leaning towards the last option but would like to hear other's opinions too.

[Steve Hubbell]

I know that there isn't a lot of them, but should / could the digital publications like Classic Usagi Yojimbo and Myspace Dark Horse Presents have some kind of indicator that they are digital publications rather than traditional printed ones?

[TheBroox]

I know that there isn't a lot of them, but should / could the digital publications like Classic Usagi Yojimbo and Myspace Dark Horse Presents have some kind of indicator that they are digital publications rather than traditional printed ones?

Hun, didn't realize the Classic Usagi Yojimbo were digital only. Thanks for the tip. Dark Horse has done similar digital only short story collection issues for Hellboy as well so I shouldn't be too surprised.

I do like the idea of calling attention to this though. Maybe a border color.

[maichan]

Maybe I'm not looking in the right place, but I can't find the second sheet (color key).

In Google Sheets the different sheets of a given spreadsheet look like tabs along the bottom of the browser.

Thank you! I was too busy looking at the top, to pay any attention at the bottom. As you can tell, I'm not familiar with Google Docs.

As it stands right now if a TPB and a HC collect the exact same content then they exist as a single cell. So in order to divide the collection types with borders I will need to either not insert a border between the TPBs and the HCs, have those cells exist above the border, or break those cells up into two different cells. I think I am leaning towards the last option but would like to hear other's opinions too.

I also think I'd like the latter option better.

[TheBroox]

As it stands right now if a TPB and a HC collect the exact same content then they exist as a single cell. So in order to divide the collection types with borders I will need to either not insert a border between the TPBs and the HCs, have those cells exist above the border, or break those cells up into two different cells. I think I am leaning towards the last option but would like to hear other's opinions too.

I also think I'd like the latter option better.

I went ahead and implemented this. Instead of borders I inserted divider columns between the collection types. This way it doesn't interfere with the other border colors I am using.

I know that there isn't a lot of them, but should / could the digital publications like Classic Usagi Yojimbo and Myspace Dark Horse Presents have some kind of indicator that they are digital publications rather than traditional printed ones?

I also added a purple border to the 6 digital only items, the 4 Classic Usagi Yojimbo issues and the 2 MySpace Dark Horse Presents issues. Did I miss any?


This will take quite a bit of time but I think the thing to do concerning publishers is put the that information into a note on each cell that contains a publication. Additionally, I can add publication dates, notes about being signed and limited to XX copies and other oddball info in there as well.

Once that data is in place I may remove the publishing color coding for those publishers that aren't the 5 historically significant publishers.

[TheBroox]

Another Big Update:

1. Added a note to every publication cell that has the following information: Publisher, Publication Date, S&N, Variants
2. Added Chapters/Parts to most of the stories (still a WIP)
3. Fixed Shell Shock, it was a single issue not a TPB
4. A few minor spelling corrections

I do have a few questions that I could use some help with:

1. Does anyone know the release dates for the first 7 HCs?
2. Should the 2007 Comic Con International: San Diego Souvenir Book be considered a "single issue" or a "trade paperback"?

[Steve Hubbell]

Another Big Update:

1. Added a note to every publication cell that has the following information: Publisher, Publication Date, S&N, Variants
2. Added Chapters/Parts to most of the stories (still a WIP)
3. Fixed Shell Shock, it was a single issue not a TPB
4. A few minor spelling corrections

I do have a few questions that I could use some help with:

1. Does anyone know the release dates for the first 7 HCs?
2. Should the 2007 Comic Con International: San Diego Souvenir Book be considered a "single issue" or a "trade paperback"?

• Shell Shock is a trade paperback anthology (clocks in at over 220 pages)
• The s/n limited edition hardcovers from Fantagraphics were not released chronologically, or sequentially....
  
  1. September 1993
  2. February 1992
  3. June 1995
  4. November 1990
  5. August 1992
  6. Jul 1994
  7. April 1996
• Personally, I would consider the San Diego Comic Con programs as an annual publication with each year being a single issue.
• The renaming of the story "The Test" to "Samurai part 3" subsequently forced the change in the names of the original "Samurai Part 3" and all of the rest of the following chapters......

[TheBroox]

• Shell Shock is a trade paperback anthology (clocks in at over 220 pages)

Yeah, thats what I realized. I moved it from Single Issue to TPB. I also went ahead and put the stories that feature the TMNT in green font following the question on facebook this morning.

• The s/n limited edition hardcovers from Fantagraphics were not released chronologically, or sequentially....
  1. September 1993
  2. February 1992
  3. June 1995
  4. November 1990
  5. August 1992
  6. Jul 1994
  7. April 1996

Awesome! I knew they were released all out of order but couldn't find dates for them. This is a big help.

• Personally, I would consider the San Diego Comic Con programs as an annual publication with each year being a single issue.

That was the way I was leaning. Think I will go ahead and switch that in the spreadsheet.

• The renaming of the story "The Test" to "Samurai part 3" subsequently forced the change in the names of the original "Samurai Part 3" and all of the rest of the following chapters......

I actually cover that in the "Notes" column of both stories. That said the "Notes" column is all the way over on the right. Maybe it would be worth it to indicated in the "Story" column if a tale has an accompanying note.