UY Recommended Reading

SoundNin · Post by **SoundNin** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 16:30 -0700

Without recommending every single issue what would people recommend as "Essential" reading for a beginer to the series?

elgaucho · Post by **elgaucho** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 17:18 -0700

well, I've not read half as many Usagi books as I should have liked to, but the very first issues I picked up were in fact the Fantagraphics compilations from Book 2 to 6. I think in all honesty the compilations are the best place to start, as you'll have a nice number of sequential stories to keep you going, and the introductions always make for entertaining reading!

By my understanding, however, the Fantagraphics editions are now out of print, so your best bet would be to try and see if you can find them in your local comic store. I still see them around. Book 2 is particularly useful to the beginner, as it is a recap of Usagi's youth and training, and introduces you nicely enough to Katsuichi and many of the other main characters you will come across regularly.

I think the accessibility of Usagi is a big bonus though, so I shouldn't worry too much about where you start if you can't find these books!

I'm also many other people on here can far better advise myself though, so wait and see what they have to say!

SoundNin · Post by **SoundNin** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 17:31 -0700

Thanks.

ill have to check ebay and see what i can score from there. One of the graphic novels we have in the store i work at has Uasgi fighting a bat-like creature on the front!?!?!? Anyone know if its worth me picking that one up now? Or should i wait until ive got some more of the older stuff first?

ziritrion · Post by **ziritrion** » Wed Feb 11, 2004 18:05 -0700

That should be either "Lone Goat and Kid" (Usagi should be shooting an arrow to a ninja bat) or "Grasscutter II" (Usagi's hanging from a ninja bat's claw). If it's "Lone Goat", by all means grab it and read it. If it's "Grasscutter II", then I'd wait until you read the first Grasscutter (you don't want to spoil some stories, right?

).

takematsu · Post by **takematsu** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 9:30 -0700

I got started on Book 4- The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy. There's a LOT of characters introduced in the earlier books, but if you're somewhat up on Samurai cinema, they're all very accessible, and it's one big meaty story.

Stan Sakai · Post by **Stan Sakai** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 13:37 -0700

I believe all, or at least most, of the trade collections are in print--even the Fantagraphics ones. They can be bought at or ordered from any book store, or from the publishers. There are also a few online or mail-order book store I would recommend, such as Heritage Source.

SoundNin · Post by **SoundNin** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 14:19 -0700

Stan Sakai wrote:I believe all, or at least most, of the trade collections are in print--even the Fantagraphics ones. They can be bought at or ordered from any book store, or from the publishers. There are also a few online or mail-order book store I would recommend, such as Heritage Source.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question, would it be possible for you to list all the ISBN numbers of graphic novels so i could get them ordered via my local store.

takematsu · Post by **takematsu** » Fri Feb 13, 2004 6:21 -0700

Have a look at the Fantagraphics online store-- just type "usagi" into the little search window on the left of the screen, and there's most of the canon. Dark Horse should be able to fill in (they actually have the ISBNs, but I should think that any decent bookstore should be able to sort things out given author, title and publisher).