USAGI YOJIMBO Volume 2, Number 7

[Story notes copied to the story P. Dark]

Greetings from Finland!

Usagi Yojim...eh, what? What's that? Now, don't be scared, I didn't mean that. What I meant was that Usagi is quite a new character in the "Finnish comicsworld". You see, everyone here knows Donald Duck, Batman, Superman, and Darkwing; such characters as Judge Dredd, Groo, Elfquest's elves and the Freak brothers are also known, though not as well. Usagi is almost a stranger...almost.

Why? It's a really well-drawn comic and its stories are enjoyable to read. Why?

Well, there are some reasons. First it is quite new in our markets. Second, it's not easy to buy. You can't buy it from every comic store. Third, when American comics get here, the price of them doubles...Fourth, most Finnish comics readers like to read comics in Finnish. I think reading in English is still quite "odd" or something (I'm not sure about this, English is taught in schools)... Fifth, it's not the only one in the markets. European, American and Finnish comics share the markets, and the publishers usually like to publish comics that are known well among everybody and which they can be sure that they will sell well. Money talks...

Oh well, time will tell. I hope that we could see Usagi one day in Finnish too.

About Usagi books, when I had read my first Usagi book, I liked it. So, I bought and read a next one, it was yummy. I realized that I had to have more of it and soon I had my third book - and the last. The few Usagi books I've seen, were sold out - panic was near. This was the reason, that made me think that, who is this Stan Sakai, anyway? What does he look like? How did Stan become Stan? And how did he start to draw Usagi-dude? And how to get answers to these questions? I've wrote this letter aware that, I would be an amazingly lucky girl, if I ever get answers to anything. It's not so sure that my letter will be published or if it is, it's not sure that I will get the very one comic where the answers are...but I would be a butthead not to try. So here it is. I hope that I didn't make much errors, my English isn't very good.

Wishing all good things to you...Have a nice spring.

Sanna Heittola
Nummela, Finland

[There were, actually, a couple of Finnish editions of Usagi Yojimbo. The stories translated were the very early ones such as "The Goblin of Adachigahara" (Trollet I Adachigahara) and "Lone Rabbit and Child" (Ensamkaninen och Barnet). Unfortunately, the publisher is no longer in business.

[As for how Usagi got started, I first wanted to do a comic book series based on the life of Miyamoto Musashi, the 17th century samurai. But one day while sketching, I drew a rabbit with his ears tied up and Miyamoto Usagi was born!

[As far as what I look like, check your back issues of Groo. I'm the character "Scribe". Also, my family and I make frequent cameo appearances in the current issues, the latest being in the inside front cover of number III.]

Dear Stan,

I think in "Shi", Part 2 (UY #5) you may have reached new heights of cinematic storytelling. Now really, who'd believe I could say such a thing about a "cartoon" rabbit comic, without reading and experiencing it? The fight, particularly where Usagi seems to become "possessed", as well as the panel when lightning strikes and the art takes on an almost "Frank Miller-ish" look were really gripping. I may not find the words to write often, but - I love this book!

I'm not sure about the issue on color vs. black & white. I run into the same kind of inner conflict concerning reprints of Will Eisner's The Spirit. Newspaper coloring tended to be downright awful, so Eisner usually overworked the inks to compensate. The results were that the worked looked superb without color.

When some of the stories were colored in "full-process" color, it tended to actually obscure the detailed linework, and gave the whole package a completely different visual feel. Reprinting directly off original newspaper color looked even worse. Perhaps if Kitchen Sink were able to utilize a simple, mostly "flat" coloring style (coupled with subtle, controlled use of computer-generated graduated tones) as we have here on Usagi Yojimbo, putting color back into Eisner's work might be a viable option. I guess what that relates to your comic is (though I'm probably already being obvious) that I like what I see. So if it increases sales, stick with it.

Sincerely,
Henry R. Kujawa
Camden, NJ

[I've got a few signings scheduled this summer. I'll be making a presentation at the Little Tokyo Library in Los Angeles scheduled for June 11th. I'll also be doing a library appearance and a book store signing in Hawaii in July though details have not been worked out. And, of course, I'll be at the San Diego Comic Con in August (my 17th year), and I still go to Gary's Corner Bookstore in San Gabriel, CA usually on Thursdays to check out the week's funnybooks.]

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.