Runaways Part 1

First Published: April, 1995 by Mirage Publishing

• Miyamoto Usagi
• Lady Hirano Kinuko
• Neko Ninja
• Lord Mifune
• Mariko
• Gunichi
• Murakami Gennosuke

Audrey Hepburn and "Runaways"

"Where do you get your ideas?" That's the most frequent question any cartoonist gets asked. Well, in this issue's story notes, I thought I'd give you some background on the origin of "Runaways".

I'm an Audrey Hepburn fan and have been ever since I first saw her performance as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

If you've never seen Charade, go out and rent it now! The same goes for Wait Until Dark, Sabrina, Funny Face and Nun's Story. Seeing her opposite Sean Connery in Robin and Marian is wonderful. She's the only thing worth watching in My Fair Lady. (I prefer Pygmalion).

She was totally miscast as Rima the Bird Girl in Green Mansions, but there is one scene in which she's climbing a tree, then turns and gives the camera "the look". That is, for me, one of the most electrifying split seconds in cinema history.

Her work in films earned her my admiration but her work with UNICEF, after she retired, earned her my respect.

It was New Year's Day 1994 when one of the local independent TV stations ran Roman Holiday, Ms. Hepburn's first starring role and one for which she received an Oscar for playing a princess who, yearning for a normal life, runs away from the palace only to meet up with a photographer. That got me to thinking - what if Usagi were with a runaway princess.

Of course, that was only a rough premise. The story underwent a lot of rewrites until it bore almost nothing in common with the inspiration. For one thing, Audrey Hepburn was never chased by a horde of ninja - but then Usagi was never chased by Gregory Peck.

In the first part of two, Gen and Usagi part company again. Usagi arrives at a town where the Lady Hasano's procession is commencing.

He flashes back to when he was a retainer for Mifune. Mariko has just been married, and to get his mind off it, he is given the task of escorting the princess Kinuko to Hasano territory. Neither likes each other, one a rough peasant samurai, the other a spoiled princess.

They are the sole survivors of a massive ninja attack on the entourage, and have to disguise as peasants to escape. They reconcile their differences when Usagi saves her from a scout troop of ninja.

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.