General discussion about Usagi Yojimbo, the comics, the stories, the characters, collectibles, TV appearances, Stan Sakai, Space Usagi, Nilson & Hermy, and all other related topics.
I just thought I'd get a thread started for this issue, which is coming out soon.
It's been listed for Feb. 5th for a while (and was included as "coming next week" in the IDW email last Wednesday), but the email I got today from Usagi Studios said both issue #8 and Color Classics #2 are coming out Feb. 26th. None of the sites I checked have changed the release date yet, including ComicList and TFAW (both of whom tend to be on top of release dates). I guess we'll find out pretty soon which date is correct.
And just in case you missed it, there will be a variant cover for issue #8, but not until April:
Stan Sakai wrote:IDW will have a WonderCon Variant available at the convention. The interior will be issue #8.
That's all the news for now. I'm looking forward to discussing this issue once it comes out.
I think it comes out Feb 5 because we just received our comps yesterday, and we usually get them after they are in the stores. We still cannot figure out IDW's comp policy. We still have not received Color Classic #1 even though it has been out for a couple weeks.
I spotted a summary for the ninth issue too, and apparantly, Chizu will show up. I hope this means that it won't be long before we finally see Tomoe again too.
Restriction Number 666 Released! Dimensional Interference Field Deployed! Code SOL! BlazeBlue Activate!
But I noticed there was a lot of explanation, concerning the past.
I guess that was to bring new readers up to speed without having to read 150 bazillion issues.
Hey, kids, Usagi is an unemployed samurai righting wrongs and fighting for the little guy. He's like Robin Hood, but doesn't steal cuz that's dishonourable. He just kills the guy who's harming the people. Much more effective, really.
I'm glad Chizu's back! She's my favorite character. I can't wait to check out the issue!
And yeah, the exposition's been a problem for a while now. Even if you've never read Usagi before, it can feel a bit heavy-handed. It's a problem with American comics in general. From what I understand, the American comic book industry goes out of its way to not make older issues available. They're trying to target speculators and collectors, and if someone just picked this up in a comic store, it would be a shame if they got lost and didn't enjoy the issue.
Also, I feel that there should be different animals (or species of the same animal) for new characters and background characters. I remember Stan mentioned in an interview that barring Gen; he wanted to stick to animals that were actually present in Japan at the time. Which is a pretty cool tidbit, but the characters are starting to feel same-y. I remember there were some recurring characters who looked a lot like other one-off or recurring characters that I wasn't sure who was who. I'm thinking of the assassin who was a killing machine, and who's girlfriend was a "lady of the night." He kind of looked like a lot of other characters but with a buzz. This is especially a problem with background characters since some of them are clones of the same template, and I'm not even sure which animals they're supposed to be sometime .
"If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it."
First Sasuke came back, then Gen did, and to a lesser extent Kitsune too, and now, Chizu has returned. Hopefully it's only a matter of time before Tomoe comes back too.
Restriction Number 666 Released! Dimensional Interference Field Deployed! Code SOL! BlazeBlue Activate!
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