COMICBOOKRESOURCES.COM, AUGUST 28, 2013

[Steve Hubbell]

STAN SAKAI ON BCC YEARBOOK, ’47 RONIN’ AND NEW USAGI STORIES
by JK PARKIN (COMICBOOKRESOURCES.COM, AUGUST 28, 2013)

Attendees at this year’s Baltimore Comic-Con are in for a special treat, as they’ll have the opportunity to purchase an art book featuring Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo as drawn by more than 30 artists.



Earlier today, we heard from Thom Zahler and Brad Tree on how the project came together, and now Sakai shares his thoughts on the book, his work on the recently wrapped 47 Ronin and some details on his next projects, which include a new Nilson Groundthumper tale and a Usagi story that will be out of this world. My thanks to Stan for his time in answering my questions, and to Thom and Brad, who arranged the interview.

JK PARKIN: Stan, first off, congratulations on 30 years of Usagi. What was your reaction when you were approached about this project?

STAN SAKAI: Thank you. I was very flattered and excited, because I have a copy of last year’s Baltimore Comic-Con book, 15 Years of Frank Cho’s Liberty Meadows. It was a great souvenir book, and I was anxious to see what artists would come up with for Usagi.

JK PARKIN: What kind of involvement did you have with putting the book together?

STAN SAKAI: My involvement was minimal — just doing the cover, and providing a link to Dark Horse’s website, which has an Usagi section featuring all my covers for them. Artists could use these as reference. The Baltimore Comic-Con staff, especially Thom Zahler, did all the real work. My cover, of Usagi on horseback in full armor, is an ink-and-watercolor painting based on a color sketch I did in Chris Sparks’ sketchbook. That sketch will be used as a variant cover.


The alternate VIP cover, by Stan Sakai

JK PARKIN: Have you gotten to see the final pieces that the artists submitted? If so, what’s it like seeing other artists draw your character?

STAN SAKAI: I have seen the art and love them all. I really enjoy seeing other artists’ interpretations of Usagi. They range from pure humor to very dramatic to high action, just like my own stories.

JK PARKIN: We actually haven’t seen any new Usagi stories in a while, as you took a break from the character while working on the recently completed 47 Ronin miniseries. What was it like working on something other than Usagi, particularly something you didn’t write, and now that it’s over are you itching to get back to Usagi?

STAN SAKAI: I am so glad I accepted Mike Richardson’s invitation to draw 47 Ronin but, to tell you the truth, I was itching to get back to Usagi after completing the first issue of the five-issue miniseries. 47 Ronin gave me a chance to stretch my artistic muscles, and this is a story I grew up knowing so is very important to me. I even made a pilgrimage to their grave site the last time I was in Tokyo, this is a couple of years before I knew about Mike’s project. I used my photos as reference for Sengakuji temple in the opening pages. Mike gave me full scripts, but he encouraged me to add or change things as I saw fit. He did so much research, however, that my input, story-wise, was very minimal. The 47 Ronin is one of the most well known incidents in Japanese history. I am really pleased that the reviews have been so overwhelmingly positive.

JK PARKIN: What plans do you have for the character?

STAN SAKAI: I just finished another non-Usagi story, this time for Dark Horse Presents. My characters, Nilson Groundthumper and Hermy, preceded Usagi by a year or two. This is the first Nilson story I have written and drawn in more than 20 years. Dark Horse will be publishing a color collection of Nilson and Hermy stories in 2014. Currently, I am working on a two-part Usagi story also for Dark Horse Presents. This will be a color story where Usagi meets a painter who was trained in Europe and brought some radical ideas and techniques to Japan. Because of this, the traditionalist Artist Guild have hired assassins to kill him.

Then I will finish a six-issue Usagi miniseries, “Senso,” that takes place about 15 years in his future. Usagi is now a retainer of the Geishu Clan, as well as his son, Jotaro, and Gen the rhino. It opens on the final battle between the Geishu and Lord Hikiji, who has been the great evil in the Usagi storyline. The battle is going badly for the Geishu, but the tide slowly turns and it seems they will be victorious … then the Martians attack. The entire premise is, “What if the Martians from HG Wells’ War of the Worlds had sent a few scout ships 200 years before their invasion of Victorian England?” It may not be as historically or culturally accurate as my stories usually are, but it sure will be fun.


Sketch of first page of Usagi Yojimbo: Senso


First page of Usagi Yojimbo: Senso

[Steve Hubbell]

ARTISTS HONOR 30 YEARS OF USAGI YOJIMBO IN BALTIMORE COMIC-CON YEARBOOK
by JK PARKIN (COMICBOOKRESOURCES.COM, AUGUST 28, 2013)

Baltimore Comic-Con, being held Sept. 7-8, sports an impressive guest list of comic book creators. This year it welcomes Joe Hill, Neal Adams, Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Brian Bolland, Amanda Conner, David Petersen, George Perez, Walt Simonson, Louise Simonson, Mike Mignola, Keith Giffen, David Finch, Adam Hughes and many more.



One guest is particularly notable: Stan Sakai, whose signature creation, Usagi Yojimbo, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. To help celebrate Usagi and his creator, the convention will offer a special yearbook featuring the long-eared samurai as drawn by a variety of creators who are attending the show.

“Last year Baltimore Comic-Con started doing an art book celebrating the art of an independent creator/creation,” Thom Zahler, creator of Love and Capes and the designer of the art book, told ROBOT 6. “Last year we started with Frank Cho’s Liberty Meadows. This year, we’re continuing that with Stan Sakai and Usagi Yojimbo. A select group of the attending artists are invited to offer their interpretations of Stan’s classic character.”

I spoke with both Zahler and Brad Tree, director of operations for the convention, about the project, which will be on sale at the show. I also spoke with Sakai about it; look for that interview later today. My thanks to Thom and Brad for answering my questions and for also supplying some of the art from the book, which you can see below.

JK PARKIN: With this being the second art book you guys are doing for the con, tell me a little bit about where the initial idea for last year’s book, honoring Frank Cho, came from. Also, how did it do at the show?

THOM ZAHLER: It was all [BCC founder] Marc Nathan’s idea. He’d talked about doing a convention art book, but wanted to do something special. A lot of it was hatched over drinks at the bar at HeroesCon. And I remember being in the parking lot of a Target when he called and said “Hey, what if we focus on a creator?” I was honestly a little reluctant about that, but he convinced me, and I’m glad he did. Marc has a relationship with Frank Cho, so he became our crash test dummy for the project.

I believe it did pretty well. Definitely well enough to do another one. One of the other things we did that made it engaging for the fans was our Signature Quest. For various reasons, a couple pieces didn’t make it into the 2012 book, so we turned them into prints. To get the print, attendees had to get the book signed by 15 or so artists. Once they did, they got the tip-in print.

I know it generated a ton of traffic at my table.


Cover to the Usagi Yearbook by Stan Sakai

BRAD TREE: While one goal of the book is to honor Stan, there is also a goal to introduce fans to artists and creators they may not know. If you are a fan of Usagi, this is a great chance to talk to Craig Rousseau and learn about The Perhapanauts, or Chris Kemple and the Red Vengeance, or another dozen guys that have their own characters that get to appear in the book with Usagi.

JK PARKIN: Besides this being the 30th anniversary of Usagi Yojimbo, why else did you decide to honor Stan Sakai this year?

BRAD TREE: This is often a combination of a relationships, a key anniversary and, in the end, it is a gut feel. Marc and I and our top guys know our fan base, and we know our potential contributors, and we think we know what will be fun to draw. In the case, Stan is a wonderful man who has been a guest of ours in the past, and with him returning, it all clicked into place.

JK PARKIN: How did you go about selecting the artists to contribute pieces? How did they react when you told them about the project and honoring Stan?

THOM ZAHLER: We go through the guest list and start picking people we’d like to see or think would be interested in contributing. All the people I had direct contact with were pretty excited about getting to play with Stan’s Usagi Yojimbo characters. There’s a lot there, from funny and fuzzy to action and drama that you can spotlight. I think it was the kind of thing that everybody could kind an artistic handhold to grab onto.


Title page from the yearbook

BRAD TREE: Some of our contributors started sharing with the social media world that they were working on Usagi pieces. As the word spread, a number of guys called or emailed us to see if they could contribute. That Stan was a hero and an inspiration to them, and they would be honored to be a part of the book. It was really cool to see that happen.

JK PARKIN: How closely did you work with Stan on the project? For instance, did he have any input on the artists chosen to submit pieces?

THOM ZAHLER: I worked with him quite a bit. One of the things we try to do is make it as easy for our honoree as possible. So, we went supplied him with an artist list, but if he had anyone he knew wanted in, or anyone he wanted to suggest, we contacted them as well.

Stan supplied the main cover art and the VIP cover (thanks to Chris Sparks, who let us use a beautiful sketch that Stan did for him as the alternate cover). I designed everything and made sure to get him to sign off on everything. Stan was nice enough to supply scans of the cover in the process stage, so I got to write the blow-by-blow account of how Stan crafted the cover art, too.

Ultimately, Stan approved anything. Unless there’s a typo, in which case, that was all Brad.

BRAD TREE: Any typos or errors are completely my fault!

JK PARKIN: Are there plans to sell the original art each artist submitted?

BRAD TREE: Yes. There will be an auction Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m. at the show.
JK PARKIN: For fans who can’t attend the show, is there a way for them to purchase the book?

BRAD TREE: Our goal is to sell all of our books while at the show, but should there be some left afterwards, we will explore ways to make them available. I would encourage interested folks to sign up for our mailing list at our website baltimorecomiccon.com!

JK PARKIN: I know it may be early, but are there plans to continue this tradition next year? Are you already scoping out other comics celebrating their anniversaries next year?

THOM ZAHLER: Are you kidding? I’ve already claimed 2016 as the 10-year anniversary of Love and Capes! So, yes, we’re continuing. We’re already looking at who will be the focus for next year. Obviously, we don’t want to spoil anything.

BRAD TREE: This is part of the show. We have visions of an even bigger book, although I have not told Thom about that yet By sticking to the comics medium, and the general comics-centric spirit of the show, the book is good for the fans, the show, the honoree and for the contributors.

Check out some of the artwork from the book below, and watch for my interview with Stan Sakai later today.