I'm a driven madman!

[shaxper]

That actually sounds like a pretty good idea! I'll need it after today...

I hope you got a chance to try it. It always makes my day.

Incidentally, up to issue #71 and counting...

[shaxper]

Up to issue #85, which is part of "The Treasure of the Mother of Mountains". I'm intentionally slowing down now because the thought of running out of Usagi stories is begining to upset me. I don't know if I can handle waiting a little more than a month for each additional installment. Inevitably, I'm going to have to finish this story. In the meantime, I'm reading over my wife's shoulder as she discovers some older Usagi stories for the first time.

[Spot the Tokage]

I only have the first 7 volumes so far, but I'm expecting #'s 8,9,10,11, and 14 in the mail this week. After those, my collection will nearly be complete since I got 12,13,16,and 17 about a week ago(I'll only need Grasscutter II, Travels with Jotaro, and Fathers and Sons). After those, I'll start hunting down the individual comics (from #76-93) since the graphic novels take a while to come out.

[Steve Hubbell]

Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 20: Glimpses of Death TPB
By: Stan Sakai
Genre: Action/Adventure, Humor

Features: 9 Desktops, 3 Ecomics, 2 Games, 1 Qtvr, See all 15 Downloads


Wandering ronin Usagi Yojimbo is alone once again, having emerged from his travels with young Jotaro. His brief respite from danger was not destined to last long, for adventure in feudal Japan waits for no one! In this volume of the internationally acclaimed series, master storyteller Stan Sakai treats readers to intriguing tales of Usagi on his own and catches up with a bevy of fan-favorite characters - "whodunit" maestro Inspector Ishida has another puzzling mystery to solve, bounty hunters Gen and Stray Dog are each on the tail of the possessed swordswoman Inazuma, bodyguard Tomoe has a new political rival in Lord Noriyuki's court, and Priest Sanshobo's temple is plagued by a vile demon! Throughout these stories we follow Usagi as he is roped into a covert smuggling operation, escorts a cantankerous old woman through dangerous territory, assists an inventor with a visionary flying machine, and once again encounters a vengeful young samurai.

• Featuring a rare short story starring Katsuichi and young Usagi which has never seen print in the Usagi comics series!

Publication Date: Jul 12, 2006

[shaxper]

I finished it all tonight, much to my delight and disappointment. The tea ceremony was absolutely amazing. Definitely one of my favorite issues yet. I was especially impressed by Stan's willingness to let the images talk without the assistance of unnecessary words. Powerful, powerful stuff.

"The Thief and the Lotus Scroll" was priceless, simply in bringing Tomoe and Kitsune together for the first time. Usagi's embarrassed expressions said it all!

"The Ghost in the Well" was great, and I particularly enjoyed reading the story notes, which were almost as engaging and fascinating as the actual story.

I have to admit that, for whatever reason, I wasn't really getting into "The Treasure of the Mother of Mountains" story, nor the character of Noriko, until the final installment. Whatever I wasn't seeing in Noriko immediately changed as I watched her desperate, brink-of-insanity struggle to survive and ennact her vengeance upon Tomoe once and for all. Even if it was just a dream (...or was it?), Noriko was really something in this issue, particularly in taking on the wild tokages with nothing but two hands and a set of jaws. Wow.


So here I am, all caught up. Now I have to wait patiently for the next issue like the rest of you

[Spot the Tokage]

So here I am, all caught up. Now I have to wait patiently for the next issue like the rest of you

I'll be there soon. I'm on "Demon Mask" now, now with all but books 18 and 19 in my collection. And, I bought all the comics from vol. 19 on to issue 93 so I wouldn't have to wait for the next TPB.

[shaxper]

So here I am, all caught up. Now I have to wait patiently for the next issue like the rest of you

I'll be there soon. I'm on "Demon Mask" now, now with all but books 18 and 19 in my collection. And, I bought all the comics from vol. 19 on to issue 93 so I wouldn't have to wait for the next TPB.

Keep us updated! I sort of regret not posting my thoughts on memorable stories as I read them. Good nostalgia discussion for the rest of us fans

Did you solve the two mysteries in Demon Mask before they were revealed?

[Spot the Tokage]

Inspector Ishida was awesome in book 13. It was also good to see how the beginning of Grey Shadows starts right at the end of Grasscutter, with Usagi and Gen still at Priest Sanshobo's Temple.

Did you solve the two mysteries in Demon Mask before they were revealed?

I'll have to get back to you on that. I'm just about to start Demon Mask today. (I was just waiting for Grasscutter II to come in the mail- but I'd rather read Demon Mask now )

[spacepro]

Gen's story is probably my favorite, I read it everytime I dont have anything pressing to do and just relax.

Circles is another I love because im a Jei maniac. I especially like the part where Usagi and Jei are starring at each other with Jotaro held hostage.

Usagi: "Let him go, he means nothing to you."
Jei: "No, only because he means so much to you"

Totally awesome dialogue.

Grasscutter is cool, however I didnt really care for Jei's death (Grumble)

Thats the cool thing with Usagi Yojimbo, I can read the issues over and over and not get tired.

[shaxper]

There are SO many excellent Usagi stories (and truly no bad ones!), though I feel the overall quality goes through the roof following Grasscutter. You can tell there's a new energy in the book starting with the epic storyline that took Stan five years to research and plan. Everything that follows Grasscutter (especially Grasscutter II) is top knotch in my book. Usagi at his best.

Circles was an early favorite of mine too. While I love Jei, I love Jotoro and Spot II even more

Spot: Regarding Grasscutter II and Demon Mask, you can't go wrong either way. Grasscutter II is more epic and involved (probably my favorite longer storyline to date), but Demon Mask is a damn good mystery.

[tayocham]

Jei and Keiko seriously creeped me out at the end of Grasscutter. But, since that's what Jei's supposed to do, I would contend that this is a good thing.

[spacepro]

Acctually the end of circles kind of depressed me. When Usagi is talking with Mariko that is... I found it pretty heartless of her to keep the secret of Jotaro from Usagi for so long. Not only that, Usagi cant even stay in his village, It was a cool bitter sweet ending.

Although I will admit, the dialogue Usagi has with Jotaro acctually made me smile, I acctually found the drawing of Jotaro sitting in the tree pretty cute.

[shaxper]

Acctually the end of circles kind of depressed me. When Usagi is talking with Mariko that is... I found it pretty heartless of her to keep the secret of Jotaro from Usagi for so long. Not only that, Usagi cant even stay in his village, It was a cool bitter sweet ending.
.

Well the honor of Mariko, Kenichi, and Jotoro are all on the line so long as Usagi sticks around. As for Mariko being heartless, well she got pretty badly screwed over, forced to marry a man she didn't necessarily love and nearly dishonored because of a mistake she and Usagi made together. Mariko will have to live with the reprecussions of that mistake for the rest of her life. Usagi just has to stay away so as not to mess things up. True, he lost out on the first love of his life as well as his son but, as we see later, Usagi moves on in the romance department and Mariko does find a way to bring Usagi and Jotoro together discretely.

[spacepro]

I admit I was probably looking at the situation from a "Current" point of view, thanks you gave me a new way to look at it.

I guess Usagi is destined to walk alone

Well until Chizu shows up again. (I always liked her far better than Tomoe, Mariko and even Kitsune)

[Spot the Tokage]

I'll take a guess in Demon Mask as to who he really is. Is it Inspector Kojo? He seems to be pretending to be nice (and I'm up to the part where Usagi discovers Kojo's son is really alive, meaning the Inspector lied). Kojo is also really smart, as he beat Usagi in Go.

And a question regarding this story (book 13, I believe): In the story where Kagemaru betrays Chizu's orders to allow the 2 ninja to escape, it ended with the runaway escaping and hating Chizu. When is this continued?

I'll be back on when I finish Demon Mask.