Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

A few months ago Tom Luth informed us he will be retiring from coloring. He just announced it on his FaceBook page. His last issue of Usagi will be #14, the conclusion of The Return story arc and his final Groo story will be The Gods Against Groo on which we are halfway done. Tom has been coloring the Usagi covers and interiors since the Fantagraphics days more than 30 years ago. He had been coloring Groo even longer.

Sad news.

Tom Luth was a large part of my decision to start buying Usagi Yojimbo when it moved to Mirage in the early 90's. For the longest time, the only comic I read & collected was Groo the Wanderer. I have always loved Tom's work on Groo, even more so after the switch to better paper (somewhere around the 80th issue) at Epic, or maybe it was the switch to digital coloring.

Any truth to the rumor (that I just started) that Emi will be taking over for Tom on both Usagi and Groo?

Congratulations to Tom. His coloring from the covers, color specials and color issues added to Usagi’s look and world. Thank you Tom! Peace, maka

P.S. I’m glad Tom is not dead. That’s what I first thought when I saw the subject line.

After a lifetime of great work I hope he enjoys his retirement!

Not only have his color issues of Usagi been terrific, but the very fact that he has been the consistent colorist for the covers over the years provided a rock-solid template for how color Usagi should look, making the transition from black and white comic to color comic pretty smooth.

I certainly recommend the hardcover collection of covers Dark Horse put out last year, which is just as much a showcase of Tom's work as it is of Stan's.

I love Tom's coloring and don't thing Usagi would be the book it is without him.

Have a great retirement Tom.

I'm not sure if it's serendipity, but the two titles I have followed the longest, and completely independent of each other, are Groo and Usagi Yojimbo, and both have been colored by the fabulous Tom Luth.

I saw Stan's and Tom's announcement on Facebook this morning. I sad that we'd be losing Tom as a colorist, but I was happy for Tom and the new adventures that await him. I'd like to thank Tom for his wonderful and artistic colors, bringing these comics to life for all these years.

If you read this Tom, best wishes to you and may you enjoy your retirement!

Now I'm going to put on one of my Rick Wakeman albums in Tom's honor. I think I'll go with Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Oh man, this is sad news. No one knows how to lean into hues of blue like him.
Here's hoping he's got a long and enjoyable retirement ahead of him. His colors will be missed for sure.