USAGI YOJIMBO Book Three

Robert L. Asprin is the author of the MythAdventures and Phule's Company
series of novels, and is the creator fo the Thieves World set of anthologies.

For me, one of the greatest things about having some of my work adapted into graphic form was that it gave me, being basically a novelist, a perfectly legitimate reason to associate and converse with many professionals in a field which has always fascinated me...to wit, comics and graphics.

Such it was as Valentino and I drove up and down Southern California a few years back on a promotional tour for the MythAdventures comic. Aside from the usual comparing of business notes on pay scales and contract terms that all creatives indulge in when their paths cross, I was intensely curious about his views on graphic storytelling...a subject I had barely scratched the surface of.

One question I recall specifically asking him was: "why funny animals?" I mean, why was there this apparent obsession with using talking, humanized animals for one's characters instead of using "regular people" as focal points for the story. Though we kicked it around at length, returning to the topic several times during the tour, to my recollection we never did come up with a satisfactory answer.

It wasn't until several months later, in fact, that something struck me...I mean, all the classic cartoon characters are animals! Whether we're looking at Mickey and Donald or Bugs and Daffy, Foghorn, Scrooge McDuck, the whole pack, we're looking at "animals." What many of the cartoonists of today are trying to do is follow in the footsteps of the greats who have gone before! To me, however, the interesting thing is that throughout my study of the field and my conversations with Val, I didn't (and still don't) think of Bugs or Foghorn as animals! They're characters...and therein lies the telling difference.

All too often, the "wannabe" artists fall back on funny-animals as an easy out to avoid character development. I mean, the fact that an armadillo can talk and wear pajamas should be enough to amaze and amuse the reader...right? [NOTE: If there is a comic or strip out there which uses an armadillo, I didn't know about it and as such this comment should not be taken as a slur or critique of that specific work. I specifically tried to cite an animal not currently "in use" so I could make my point without singling any one artist or project out for condemnation or ridicule.] Unfortunately, today's reader is far too sophisticated to make that statement true. To avoid the pitfall of anonymity, the graphic artist must be as much a storyteller as an artist to hope to catch and hold the attention of even the smallest slice of the audience.

All of which brings us to Stan Sakai.

When I first met Stan at the San Diego Comic Con in 1988 and tried to compliment him on his work, he modestly down-played it, insisting that "all [he was] doing [was] retelling some of the old samurai adages and ghost stories in comic form."

Uh huh. That's all, eh?

"Re-telling" a story is a deceptive task. (In fact, on the rare occasions I work with young writers, one of the assignments I give is to have them re-tell "Cinderella" their way.) To catch the essence of any familiar story, much less ones with as subtle and complex philosophies and lessons as the tales Stan targets, is a challenge. It's only when it's done well that it looks easy. In his novel Shogun, James Clavell gave Westerners an insight and understanding of Japanese history and philosophies. It also took him over a thousand pages of fine print text to do it...using a Western viewpoint character at that. Stan does the same thing in 28-page segments. His characters are characters first, with clear and well-defined personalities and foibles, and their images grow naturally from those concepts. That is, Stan doesn't simply use a lion-figure as a lazy means of telling the reader the character is noble, Katsuichi is noble...both in character and bearing. Throughout the series, Stan's considerable artistic talents are simply a means by which his stories, characters, and concepts are communicated to the reader...rather than his stories and characters being the excuse to showcase his art.

Just as Usagi has learned that swordsmanship is more than fighting, Stan has obviously learned that art is more than just drawing. The entire field would be richer if more artists embraced this lesson.

- Robert L. Asprin, 1989

Last change: 19. May 2003

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Usagi Yojimbo, including all prominent characters featured in the stories and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Stan Sakai and Usagi Studios. Usagi Yojimbo is a registered trademark of Stan Sakai. Names, characters, places, and incidents featured in this publication either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric content, is coincidental.