Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Kenshiroh wrote:What's an Ashcan?

Ashcan copy

An ashcan copy is a term that originated in the Golden Age of comic book publishing, meant to describe a publication produced solely for legal purposes (such as copyright), which was not normally intended for distribution.

The word "ashcan" is an older synonym for wastebasket, trashcan, or other garbage receptacle. The implication is that the printed material will go straight from the printer to the trash, which was often the case. Ashcan editions frequently contained unlettered stories, unfinished art or even just whatever wastepaper had been conveniently available at the time. The goal in making them was to get something out with the wanted title slapped on as quickly as possible so that the publisher could make some claim to having been the first in print if a competitor tried to publish a similar title.

One example is Flash Comics #1 by Fawcett Comics which introduced Captain Thunder (later Captain Marvel). This particular example of ashcan publishing was in vain, as a competitor had already beat Fawcett to publishing a "Flash Comics".

Other entertainment industries have equivalents. The most famous film example is the 1994 version of The Fantastic Four, produced by Roger Corman, allegedly only to maintain the license to the property. The movie had a two million dollar budget and was not distributed.

In modern comics, ashcans may be used as a promotion or as an inexpensive format for independent self-publishing. The term is sometimes synonymous with minicomics.

Stan Sakai brings Usagi Yojimbo to Dark Horse

Beginning in January 1996, Stan Sakai's rabbit samurai Usagi Yojimbo will make his home at Dark Horse Comics. Usagi will appear in two separate miniseries in 1996, the first one beginning in January with Space Usagi. The second miniseries commences in April with Usagi Yojimbo.

As the title of the first miniseries implies, Space Usagi puts Sakai's sword-wielding hero into a very different milieu than the one to which his legions of fans have become accustomed. In this series, Usagi must accompany the leader of his clan, Lord Kiyoshi, on a perilous quest through space to recover his clan's lost treasure and to prove that the youthful liege is fit to rule.

"Space Usagi is a very solid adventure story," said editor Jamie S. Rich. "It's the sort of story fans have wanted to see return to comics for a long time. It's a suspenseful tale of loyalty and betrayal."

Retailers can obtain a special 16-page preview booklet of Space Usagi #1 by sending a business card to Dark Horse Comics to the attention of the marketing department. "The preview booklet is free," said vice president of sales and marketing Lou Bank. "It's a very high-quality package, with a color cover, and it can be handed to customers to interest them in the series. And in the back of the preview is a sign-up sheet, so that those interested customers can give you a concrete promise that they will buy the comic from you if you'll order it from Diamond. This is a very simple, common-sense approach to elightening retailers and consumers to a series about which they may know nothing."

Space Usagi is a three-issue monthly black-and-white miniseries, starting in January 1996.