Happy New Year Dojo!
Posted: Tue Dec 31, 2019 23:51 -0700
Dear UYDers,
35 years of Usagi! Wow! Incredible. There has never been a comic that has the same writer, artist, inker, letterer, and cover artist (minus that one issue in Fantagraphics run and the recent variants at DH and IDW) for that long on a series. Yes, there is Cerebus' and Savage Dragon's but Dave Sims had Gerhard and Eric Larsen had colorists. Stan Sakai did/does it all (I guess you can say that Sergio inked a story and Tom Luth colored the Mirage issues). Still, that's a world record in my book.
A lot of us have been on that ride for more than a decade, some for two decades, and some for the whole 35 years.
I think the reason this comic means so much to me is that I didn't see my Asian face very often in media. And when an Asian actor did show up in pop culture, it was often offensive (I'm looking at you Long Duk Dong), sexist, and stereotyped. When you don't see yourself in pop culture, it means you don't matter.
Along came Usagi Yojimbo into my life somewhere towards the middle / end of the Fantagraphics Vol. 1 run. They were animals, so they could represent any race of people, but the world was set in Japan. I knew these characters were Japanese. I saw myself in them. That means I mattered.
And then I discovered this little community called the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo on line thanks Todd creating it with Stan's Support. We would talk and discuss topics here and Stan would join in. He acknowledged us, even wishing fans happy birthday or welcoming them to the Dojo when they first arrived. I admired his work ethic and heart. I felt seen here by all of you and Stan. That means I mattered.
On facebook memories the other day, I saw I had shared a post from Stan about the death of Sharron. In that post, I wrote something about it also being the one year anniversary of Stan's grandson's death. Man, what a tough year for Stan. I don't know how Stan deals with grief but we all have losses in our lives and it is difficult even after years have passed. Grief is a human experience. I saw myself in Stan's suffering. And in a strange way, that means I matter.
I had the honor, thanks to Todd, to give a short speech after the SDCC's 25th Anniversary of Usagi Yojimbo session. I was younger then but words hold true today: https://vimeo.com/6211436 (and the old website I used some software that doesn't exist anymore, with all the broken links, represents some of the great Dojo members here: http://25yearsof.usagiyojimbo.com/files/video.html).
Happy New Year to you all! Look forward to see you all here in the future!
Peace, maka
35 years of Usagi! Wow! Incredible. There has never been a comic that has the same writer, artist, inker, letterer, and cover artist (minus that one issue in Fantagraphics run and the recent variants at DH and IDW) for that long on a series. Yes, there is Cerebus' and Savage Dragon's but Dave Sims had Gerhard and Eric Larsen had colorists. Stan Sakai did/does it all (I guess you can say that Sergio inked a story and Tom Luth colored the Mirage issues). Still, that's a world record in my book.
A lot of us have been on that ride for more than a decade, some for two decades, and some for the whole 35 years.
I think the reason this comic means so much to me is that I didn't see my Asian face very often in media. And when an Asian actor did show up in pop culture, it was often offensive (I'm looking at you Long Duk Dong), sexist, and stereotyped. When you don't see yourself in pop culture, it means you don't matter.
Along came Usagi Yojimbo into my life somewhere towards the middle / end of the Fantagraphics Vol. 1 run. They were animals, so they could represent any race of people, but the world was set in Japan. I knew these characters were Japanese. I saw myself in them. That means I mattered.
And then I discovered this little community called the Usagi Yojimbo Dojo on line thanks Todd creating it with Stan's Support. We would talk and discuss topics here and Stan would join in. He acknowledged us, even wishing fans happy birthday or welcoming them to the Dojo when they first arrived. I admired his work ethic and heart. I felt seen here by all of you and Stan. That means I mattered.
On facebook memories the other day, I saw I had shared a post from Stan about the death of Sharron. In that post, I wrote something about it also being the one year anniversary of Stan's grandson's death. Man, what a tough year for Stan. I don't know how Stan deals with grief but we all have losses in our lives and it is difficult even after years have passed. Grief is a human experience. I saw myself in Stan's suffering. And in a strange way, that means I matter.
I had the honor, thanks to Todd, to give a short speech after the SDCC's 25th Anniversary of Usagi Yojimbo session. I was younger then but words hold true today: https://vimeo.com/6211436 (and the old website I used some software that doesn't exist anymore, with all the broken links, represents some of the great Dojo members here: http://25yearsof.usagiyojimbo.com/files/video.html).
Happy New Year to you all! Look forward to see you all here in the future!
Peace, maka
