USAGI YOJIMBO Volume 1, Number 10

Dear Mr. Sakai,

I have just finished reading Usagi Yojimbo #8, "A Mother's Love." What a profoundly moving story, and a very Japanese tale. This story was quite serious and one that dealt with both the universal theme of a mother's love for her son, an emotion we can all identify with, set against the background of the Japanese value system, and the strict code of ethics dictated by that system. All done with funny-animals and very deftly handled too.

The way you leave the story to the reader's imagination as to the resolution makes this story all the better. The Code of Bushido is harsh in this matter and the last panel leaves little doubt as to Usagi's course of action. He was of course quite correct.

I am reminded of the scene from Shogun, where the old gardener is beheaded for taking away a pheasant left to dry on a post. This disobedience has only one resolution in Japanese society, and one that John Blackthorne was unprepared to comprehend or accept. I hope the readers of Usagi Yojimbo will grant you enough latitude in your storytelling so like Blackthorne, they too will come to understand the Japanese way.

Steven McAllister
Kalamazoo, MI

Dear Stan,

Usagi is great. I've just finished issue #8 and thought it was good. Not one of the best, but that is just my opinion. Others may feel the opposite.

I love the way you present Usagi. He is so interesting and involved. I'm sure there are many untold stories that in time will be. For now I hope you have Usagi visit his old village and see Mariko again. It's sad to see them apart when they both want to be together. Another story I'd like to see is the return of Lord Noriyuki and Tomoe Ame. I enjoyed the few stories about them and await what Lord Hikiji and Hebi have in store for them. Tomoe Ame came to help Usagi; maybe this time Usagi will come to help them. I already know that the Blind Swordspig returns in the next issue. It sounds like it will be a good one and I can't wait.

One thing I have to commend you on is the use of different animals in Usagi. Cats, pandas, wolves, lions, tigers, rhinos, goats, pigs, boars, bears, snakes, moles, all the little "tokagé," and of course rabbits. That brings up one question, is Lord Hikiji a human? If not, what kind of animal is he?

Also, some people want Usagi to go color. I don't. I think the black-and-white adds to the character of the book. A color appearance once in a while like in Doomsday Squad is fine. But keep it in black-and-white.

Keep up the great work.
Dave Nowak
Rochester, MI

[Yes, Dave, Lord Hikiji is indeed a human, one of the very few that have appeared in the pages of Usagi. Lord Noriyuki and Tomoe return in issue #12 when Hikiji hatches a new plot to discredit the Geishu clan. - STAN SAKAI]

Dear Kim,

"A Mother's Love" (Usagi #8) strikes me, oddly enough, as operatic material. The story is compact enough to be staged with relative ease; one can imagine the action as a series of duets between Usagi and the obaasan, punctuated by an impassioned trio with the menacing Atsuro, two choral outbursts by the townspeople and by Atsuro's thugs, and finally a heartrending dirge for the aged heroine, who forces us to think about the corrosive depths of sin incurred by an innocent who uses evil means to purge a greater evil. The ending, faithful to the religiously solemn concept of honor through which Usagi, for better or worse, views his world, contrasts vividly on some level of my memory with the ignoble ending of Richard Strauss' Elektra. that similarly compact opera raced towards its awful spectacle of the Greek princess' insanely gleeful dance of triumph upon the slaughter of her regicidal mother, Klytemnestra; perhaps the slight feeling of revulsion Strauss' treatment of familiar homicide left me with needed a counter-balance like Sakai's, with its inherent dignity.

Unlike the magazine's previous guest artist back-up stories, Tom Luth's "Rockhoppers" entry really interested me. Radcliffe and Maynard initially reminded me of the eponymous protagonists of Withnail and I, a film in which observing establishment values through mocking, rebellious, youthful eyes becomes simply a necessary prelude to growing up and pursuing those values. Luth's visually flamboyant pair have their own agenda, though, and are here intent on claiming a fragment of their British heritage: an esoteric work of megalithic architecture that's been packaged for the short attention spans of tourists and pricetagged out of visceral reach.

"Circles" was a good piece of subtly comic social observation, and I'd like to see more of Luth's stories, perhaps over in Critters.

C.E. Dinkins
Oakland, CA

[And I'm sure you will. Thanks for your discussion of "A Mother's Love" as operatic material, which I thought was a little flaky until I realized I'd always thought "What's Opera, Doc?" was genuinely affecting in its own peculiar way. - ED.]

Dear Stan and Kim (- ED.),

I love your series! I have every single comic with Usagi in it except Usagi Book 1. I would like to know where Stan will next be appearing in public because I would like to see some more of his artwork and possibly speak with him. By the way, what are those little dinosaurs that are always crawling on Usagi? I completely agree with "The Little White Boy." "Qwa's Quest" was excellent, but let's not forget about Usagi. "T.M. Bald Eagle," I don't know about you and the other 99.999% of the Usagi readers, but I pronounce Usagi Yoo-soog-y. Keep up the good work.

Kirk Nairne
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

[The lizards have been explained in depth since your letter was written, Kirk. As for pronunciation, Oo-SAH-gee (with a hard "g") is a little closer to it. Unless you're going to Honolulu in July, your best bet is to head for the San Diego Comics Convention. Stan's from Hawaii and is now living in California, and if he went to Canada he might turn into a popsicle. (Or at the very least stand around on the streets wondering what all that funny white stuff on the ground was.) Thanks for the nice words, at any rate. - ED.]

Dear Mr. Sakai,

What can I say? Usagi is incredible. Not only is it a great art comic, but also chock full of culture and facts.

I am an avid fan of Japanese history and samurai lore, and Usagi is tops on my list. I actually used it as reference on a paper I wrote for my history class. Yup, it's true.

But even beyond that, the swordsmanship of the characters is great. In issue #6, page 29, Usagi's sensei demonstrated an excellent draw and attack, in one move.

Do you, Stan, practice any martial arts, or do you have manuals you use?

How about a plotline involving the 47 ronin, one of the most celebrated Japanese tales? Once more, thank you for this wonderful comic. Keep it up please.

Wes Breazale
Andover, MA

[Using Usagi for reference? I hope you caught yourself before writing things like "rabbits were especially adept with swords" and thus blowing you cover with your teachers, Wes. I guess in the absence of Classic Comics, we have to make do with something.

[We'll save the 47 ronin for when we want Usagi to go bi-annual, Wes. That's an awful lot of ronin to draw - thinking up a different animal for each, too.

[- ED.]

Dear Mr. Sakai,

I am Log Wei Soon, my Christian name is Andy Loh. I've collected about seven Usagi Yojimbo comics. Usagi Yojimbo is my favorite comic; the art of the comic is so good I can't give up collecting it. I always wait for the next issue to come to Singapore's comics store. Are you Japanese? I hope you can read English so that you know what I'm writing.

Andy Loh
Raja, Singapore

Dear Stan,

I have always been a fan of Groo, and I thought it was the greatest comic ever. That is, until I saw #6 of Usagi Yojimbo in a comic store. I remembered having seen the name in the "Groo-Grams," so I bought it. I loved it. The very next day I bought the previous five issues and the graphic novel. Now I know that Groo is not the best comic in the world, and I dare say that Usagi is.

Richard Cusick
Birmingham, AL

[Gee, Richard, cant' they be tied for "best comic" or something? Or how about Groo being the best color comic and Usagi Yojimbo being the best black-and-white one? That could work. I just wouldn't want to be even partly responsible for booting Sergio off anyone's "best" list.

[Wait! I have an idea! We'll ask Sergio to contribute a story to the next issue of Usagi - that way you can still list Usagi as your fave comic while giving Sergio his due. Sound okay to you? Consider it done! Next issue, we are proud and pleased beyond all measure to welcome into the back-up slot the one and only Sergio Aragonés, with a new "Catnippon" story done especially for Usagi. Whatever you do, don't miss that! - ED.]

Dear Stan,

As a new fan of Usagi Yojimbo, I'd like to say how great it is; it's one of the few comics I collect. Japanese comics (manga) are classics due to their way of showing human situations in an entertaining and mature manner and a touch of history. In a few places the humor is tacky but the rest is entertaining.

I'd love to see what would happen if Usagi Yojimbo and Itto Ogami, the Lone Wolf, met each other on a lonely road. Depending on the circumstances, how would you handle them? (If you could get permission from Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima.)

Victor L. Smith
Richmond, VA

[Very gingerly, most likely. I'd probably put Usagi up against Daigoro - they're sort of the same shape, and both cute as a button.

[On a more serious note, Stan says "Usagi will definitely not meet the Lone Wolf and Cub, but he will run into the Lone Goat and Kid."

[- ED.]

In the next issue:  The return of...you guessed it!  Plus Sergio Aragonés!

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.