USAGI YOJIMBO Volume 1, Number 29

[Before we jump into the letters, a few updates. I'm currently waiting for proofs on Usagi Yojimbo Color Special #2, which should be released just in time for the San Diego Comic Convention (see above) - or possibly, if something goes awry, just after. The softcover edition of Usagi Yojimbo Book Four has been delayed by a month or two because of overwork here at Fantagraphics, but should certainly be out sometime in July or August...followed shortly thereafter by a new printing of Usagi Yojimbo Book Two, which will also be released in a limited hardcover signed-and-numbered edition (and yes, Usagi readers will get first shot at ordering this collector's item). Early next year, we'll be reprinting Usagi Yojimbo Book One (also with a hardcover edition), and then it will be time for Usagi Yojimbo Book Five. Whew!

[A special big "welcome" to Don Dougherty, one of Stan's mentors during his early days as a cartoonist in Hawaii, and a great guy to boot. Some of you may remember Blast! from the Renegade comic Amusing Stories, which Don shared with Scott Shaw! - who, by an amazing coincidence, will take over the back-up slot in Usagi #31-32. (Incidentally, the back cover for that first Amusing Stories, published half a decade ago, was an ad for a new comic called...Usagi Yojimbo! Circles, indeed.)

[On to the letters.

[- ED.]

Dear Stan Sakai,

Like many people, my first glimpse of Usagi Yojimbo was on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon show. It was not until I saw your comic in the comics shop and asked about it that I found out about Usagi Yojimbo being a character independent of the Ninja Turtles series. When I actually bought an issue of your comic (#26) I was pleasantly surprised. The story turned out to be quite good and Usagi wasn't so hare-brained (sorry, I couldn't resist) as he was depicted on television.

What actually prompted me to start buying your comic was having seen the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the first time the night before. If you haven't seen the movie, it's a parody of the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table on the quest to find the Holy Grail. I though it was pretty funny, so you might want to check it out, though I should warn you that it has some dirty humor in it.

What does this movie I describe have to do with Usagi Yojimbo, you might ask? There's a scene where Tim the Enchanter leads King Arthur and his knights to a cave through which they would find the Holy Grail, warning that along the way that the cave is guarded by a monster who has killed fifty men who have tried to enter. When the party reaches the cave, out hops a little white bunnyrabbit - which Tim says is the monster. (Now I'm sure you can see where I'm getting at.) King Arthur and company get angry, thinking that Tim had been playing a joke on them. But Tim wasn't, and when King Arthur sends a knight to slay the rabbit, it jumps onto the knight's throat and tears it out, killing him. Even an all-out assault by all the knights fails, and several are lost. the rabbit is eventually dispatched with the Holy Hand Grenade.

Going to the comic store the next day, I saw your comic, thought of that scene, and bought issue #26. Liking your comic, I'm still buying it.

Which brings me to a question: Where did you get the idea for a samurai bunnyrabbit? Why, in particular, did you choose to use a rabbit as your title character? Did you see Monty Python and the Holy Grail, or did you come up with the idea on your own? Were you just being silly, like Eastman and Laird were when they were creating their famous amphibians? (Ironically enough, though turtles are generally considered to be slow, dumb creatures, I've heard fishermen tell me that turtles caught in nets can be quite aggressive and nasty. Also, sheep are known to trample predatory wolves to death. But I digress.) Please, I really need to know.

This mini-cartoon I enclosed depicts Usagi watching a videotape of the movie I've been talking about, and I imagine this is how he would react to the scene I described. I'm sure he wouldn't think of rabbits as harmless creatures! The movie dialogue is reconstructed from memory, but it's as close as I can get without seeing it again.

Sincerely,
Thomas Q. Radigan
Riverside, IL

PS: To all you readers who gripe about how bad the Ninja Turtles comic has become, my reply is that that comic isn't any worse now than when Eastman and Laird were drawing it. So there.

Fan Art by Thomas Q. Radigan

[Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one of my favorite movies of all time, so I was surprised that I hadn't drawn the parallel myself...and then I realized that I had! I remember doing up a Usagi ad headlines "That rabbit's dynamite!," which is another line from the movie. Whether or not Stan has seen the movie I don't know, but he doesn't mention it in his long, exclusive interview in (ahem) Amazing Heroes #187, which contains answers to many of your questions.

[Anyway, I was so taken by this letter that I decided I had to print the accompanying art, even though I had previously decided that with only two pages open for letters, I wasn't going to print any artwork at all. Enjoy!

[By the way, turtles aren't amphibians.

[- ED.]

Hey Stan!

I have Usagi #24 through 28 and the second printing of #10. I'd like to comment on the great job you're doing on the comic. My friend has some old Usagis and I saw your rhino character Gennosuké. He was awesome!! I had originally seen Usagi on the T.M.N.T. cartoon so I bought one of the comics. I loved Lone Goat and Kid. C'mon, Stan, if you won't listen to your readers, listen to your wife! Bring them back! I'm really glad to see Katsuichi back - I love his patch.

Issue #27 had a humorous ending, but please, Stan, don't put Groo in the same story as Usagi! I'm sorry, but I really can't stand Groo at all.

I'm an amateur artist myself and I know I change my style quite frequently. Stan, don't change your style even if you plan to make it more detailed. In closing, I put your comic right up there with Wolverine.

Steve Steward
Lodi, CA

[Well, Steve, all of us here are big, big Groo fans, but lucky for you, Sergio Aragonés is so busy with his regular Groo work that the possible Usagi/Groo team-up he and Stan have been toying with for years is still a ways away. - ED.]

Fellow Ronin!

I have only been a Usagi fan for two months now, but they've been two of the best months of my comics-collecting life!

To the point: I know you've heard it before, but Usagi and Tomoe deserve each other! You can tell she's hot for him, and I'm sure, although he hides it, Usagi is in agreement with her.

Groo who? What the hell is this? Groo, Groo, Groo, Groo! Groo bites badly, boldly, and bogusly! I follow several Marvel comics, but Groo ain't one of 'em! Why people like that fat, barefoot, unskilled dude is beyond me!

Keep up the good work with Usagi, you'll hear from me again. Or, as Schwarzenegger would say, "I'll be back..."

Paul "Pablo" Dyson
Canton, MA

Note to Usagi: Do you have any sexuality, or does Stan just disclude it?

[You may get an answer to that question in the P.S. sooner than you expect, Paul. As for the rest of your letter, what is this, National Dump-on-Groo Month? All I can say is that many many years from now, when you're older and wiser, you'll look back at your youthful folly in dismissing the work of the brilliant Señor Aragonés and hang your head in shame. - ED.]

Dear Kim,

Re: Usagi Yojimbo #26.

"The Duel" was another sparkling tale that captured the tradition of samurai.

Usagi-San was both humble and remorseful in victory: "I never should have agreed to this. Such a waste..."

Mr. Sakai's portrayal of the townspeople on page 18 was simply marvelous. Their shame in the face of Usagi's parting words quickly turned to glee as soon as the warrior was out of sight.

Most powerfully presented, though, was the closing page. The faithful wife patiently waiting with her child. The day offers hope of her husband's return. The moon, however, is the harbinger of the devastating news that her husband has fought his last duel...

...and lost!

Great story,

Respectfully,
Jan C. Childress
Brooklyn, NY

Dear Stan, Kim, and Co.,

As a faithful reader of your most excellent comic, I feel I must express my feelings on the subject of our great friend Usagi.

Just the other day I stopped into a local comic shop to see if the newest issue, #26, was in, and sure enough, it was. (the last copy, too!) Now, you may think me to be strange, but the first thing I think I looked at in the whole book was the letters page. I noticed that when you, Kim, signed off, you said that the next issue would be very different. When I finally got around to reading the rest of the book, I picked up a few hints about how it might be different.

The major hint was in Usagi's conversation with Shubo, when Usagi said that he was on his way back to his home village, to settle down and stop being a wanderer. Instantly, eight million different thoughts came into my head. Is Usagi really retiring? Will he get married? Will he have children? The suspense is killing me!

Finally, Usagi on the Ninja Turtles show. One question: Are we dealing with the same samurai bunny here? We are?? My God, the show completely massacred his character! It made him extremely skilled with the sword, but at the same time, extremely naïve and stupid. Don't do it any more, please!

A most avid fan,
Daniel Benjamin
Toms River, NJ

[Surprised that someone would turn to the letters page first? Not me! Heck, for the last 20 issues or so, I figure it's the brilliant letters pages that have kept this comic alive, with readers only turning to Stan's stories as an afterthought!

[Next issue: "Circles" continues as Usagi Yojimbo reaches "thirtysomething." What a great cover! Worth the price of the comic all by itself - which is fortunate, since we're raising the price by a quarter. (Ah, c'mon, guys - it's the first price hike in this comic's five-year existence!) Also, the conclusion to the Blast! story, and another one of those brilliant letters pages you all crave. - ED.]

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.