Happy Birthday Sensei!

[Steve Hubbell]

Happy Birthday, Stan!

Wishing you a great day to celebrate "your" day on.....


(I was tempted to send you my new Chris Houghton sketch for your birthday, but I figured that you already have one...)

[Thomas Froehling]

Congratulations from me as well;
I hope you can get a few days off, or at least just one to celebrate....

[Maka]

Happy Birthday Stan,

Thank you for all the wonderful storytelling and art you have given us all these years.

I was telling my students today how much I love comic books. When I was six, maybe, I remember getting a couple of issues of x-men from the local 7-11 from my mom when I was sick. Then my parents bought me some of those comic three packs that came in a plastic bag from Toys-®-Us (Tarzan, Richie Rich, Star Wars, Star Trek). Those were great but then I became a teenager and I forgot about comics. When i got into college in 1988, some friends gave me issues of Camelot 3000 to read, then Watchmen and finally Dark Knight Returns. Whoa, I didn't know comics were like this! A friend took me to a comic book store in Hawaiian Gardens. There is a store that had wall to wall comics?!?! I bought the third issue of The Tick and was hooked. I started buying/collecting Sandman, Akira, LOTDK, Aliens vs. Predators, The Question and back issues of Swamp Thing. I became a "collector."

My memories fail me now: I know I bought some issues of UY vol. 1 towards the end of that run. I collected them but I don't remember being hook. In the 90's I visited my parents living in Hawaii. I borrow 2 or 3 UY graphic novels at the local library. I read through those in one sitting and I thought, "This is the best." Japanese culture, history and just fun stories being played out by a rabbit ronin, a blind pig, a rhino and ninja cats. I went back to that library and borrowed every UY graphic novel they had on the shelf. I read them all out of order but it didn't matter, it was all great storytelling.

Sometime around then the internet started and I discovered the first UY Dojo boards. I had started my professional career at UCSB and joined the Asian America Faculty Staff Association. AAFSA had an annual award to recognize Asian leaders and groups who made a difference in our culture. I decided to nominate you and I emailed Todd to ask if it was okay to nominate you. You emailed me to tell me it would be okay, which blew me away. I was fanboy in awe that i was communicating with the artist whose art I loved.

Since then, I'm still a fanboy of your work. But I've come to see you more as a complete human being dealing with real life vs. this comic idol I was in awe with. I've seen how you communicate with your fans, both first hand and on these boards: With respect and fun. I still admire your dedication to work hard every day and produce these stories for yourself that we enjoy so much. I am still proud, as a Japanese-American with a mother from Hawaii, to have "one of our own" be so successful in the comic profession I admire so much. I am glad to know you have a strong relationship with your wife. I am happy that you recently are experiencing the joy that a grandchild brings. Real life stuff, right?

Happy Birthday Stan Sakai. I wish you the best today. I wish that the joy you have brought this world through your hard work, storytelling and from just being a normal man will come back to you 7 fold throughout your life. I pray for your family and you to enjoy each other and for health and meaning each and every day that you have with one another. Thank you for enriching my life. Peace, maka

[SHIZEN]

Happy Birthday Sensei Stan

[joergwesti]

Happy birthday, Stan.

[coolray85]

a very happy birthday, stan!hope you have many wonderful moments today and in the days to come!!may you and your loved ones stay healthy and may you always be able to do what you love to do...
greetings, marcel

[cynlee]

Happy Birthday.
O-tanjoubi omedetou gozaimasu. (formal)
お誕生日おめでとうございます。
Tanjoubi omedetou. (casual)
誕生日おめでとう。

Ah, the wonders of Google and the Internet!

Happy Birthday, Stan!

[Robert Kassebaum]

Well . . . Here's another fine birthday you'll have!

[Mayhem]

Have a good one Stan

[go]

Dear Sensei Sakai,
Congratulations on another trip around our star!
Best wishes to all!
go

[TigerRider]

My best wishes to your birthday, Stan.
May come true, what you prefer.



Greetings from Germany,
Jens

[estee]

Happy belated birthday, Mr. Sakai.

[Stan Sakai]

Thank you all. I had a great day--penciled a page of 47 Ronin, had lunch with friends, and Sharon and I went out to a Chinese restaurant and had cuttlefish with pepper salt, lobster with ginger and scallions, and sauteed string beans with minced beef. Even better is that we have left overs for tomorrow's dinner.

[maichan]

Henji Ga okurete gomennasai.

I'm not on the board for a few days and look what happens, Stan has a birthday.
Sorry I missed the party, and thus I must leave belated birthday wishes for you Stan...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
It sounds like you had a GOOD day Sensei.
I promise to be more prompt next year.

P.S. Loved your story Maka. That is what it's all about, ne?
I too feel I have not only been entertained by Stan's art and writing, but my life has been enriched.
Thank you Stan and thank you Usagi - you guys make quite a team!