Question for Stan: Expanding the Usagi universe

[shaxper]

Hi Stan,


I just finished re-reading the last story arc (because I adore Sasuke!) and it got me thinking. Over the past few years, you've introduced several incredibly successful characters in Usagi's world who really stand on their own, Ishida and Sasuke being the greatest examples, in my opinion. In fact, whenever Usagi runs into them, it often feels like he's almost unnecessary to the story, showing up just so that you can tell amazing stories featuring these great characters. In the last arc, as Sasuke received news about his next mission, and he and Usagi went their separate ways, I actually found myself wishing we could follow Sasuke instead.

So, to the question:

Now that you've spent 25 years developing our favorite long-eared Ronin, and now that you have so many compelling characters who clearly have their own compelling adventures occurring outside of Usagi's wanderings, have you ever considered taking a several month hiatus from Usagi to explore any of these characters in their own mini-series?

I know the new Usagi graphic novel may end up being a Sasuke story (which thrills me), but I can't help but wonder whether the character (and several others like him) deserves a chance to shine on his own, away from Usagi's shadow. I could even see a Gen story or (gasp) a Jei story working brilliantly on its own. Gen has really surprised me with the amount of depth he has begun to develop since Grasscutter II, and I wonder how a serious Gen story might work on its own without Usagi there to make him into a comic sidekick.

So is this something you would ever consider, or will these brilliant characters always remain as secondary figures in Usagi's ongoing story? I realize that, despite all of your creative genius, you are only one man on a tight schedule, but I'd love to see some of these characters get their own breathing room.