Thank you for your patience

[coolray85]

Hmmm...that could be

[david20009]

Congrats on the move to IDW. The certainly are an active publisher right now. The new series in color sounds interesting. I am perfectly fine with B&W but reprinting the whole series in color will likely make it more attractive to an entire generation that is not used to black and white comics. My daughter is starting to get into Usagi but that the lack of color is pretty much her only complaint.

I will echo what others have said about variants. I hate them. I haven’t bought anything from Marvel in years because of their polethera of covers on everything as I tend to be a completist when I collect. I dropped everything non hardcover related at ISW years back for the same reason (except for the Usagi/TMNT which I bought). I love the Usagi stories and I have loved how the echoed back to simpler time when comics had one cover. It was easy to but together a run of ASM 1-441. Can’t imagine how someone could do the last 100 issues of whatever number it is at today as there likely are more covers to those 100 issues than the first 500. (My one aside for variants is I love the Star Wars action figure variant covers).

Again congrats with the move and I hope the switch to color brings a whole bunch of new readers to the wonderful world of Usagi.

[RobbieOhio]

IDW means "Usagi Yojimbo vs. Transformers" is coming soon.

I'll look forward to continuing stories of our near and dear rabbit friend in any way we can get them. Hopefully, the B&W trades will continue to be at Dark Horse for those who want them, just as the Fantagraphics books remain over there. Or, is IDW getting the entire Usagi library??

Congrats on the move to IDW, and hoping for new readers and much success over there.

[Stan Sakai]

I only hope that somehow we would be able to continue to be able to be reading usagi in its pure black and white form, however I know that Stan is inking with coloring in mind, so this may be out of the question for now.maybe some time in the future just as happened with the mirage studios material when being collected.

So if Stan is inking with color in mind, that might mean that it won’t take as long to make pages. Maybe that is why issues may come out monthly? More Usagi comics per year! Sounds good to me! . Peace, maka

I'm inking as if it was still coming out in b/w, at least for the first 7 issues, to see how the coloring affects the art. I did the same with the TMNT crossover, Namazu, and really liked the result. It should have read that the first 7 issues (at least) will be monthly. I will still hold to my traditional schedule of 9-10 issues a year, which is comfortable for me. I already have 4 issues completed (except for coloring) and have started on, thumbnailed, or plotted the next three.

I'm not a big fan of variants, except for marking a special occasions such as a new #1 from a new publisher on the 35th anniversary year. I'm still not sure how I feel about store variants--where a retailer pays to have a special cover for his store. I will be doing a few IDW variants for other books to keep a higher profile and bring a spotlight to Usagi (the Samurai Jack/Usagi cover was shot down by Cartoon Network, though). I am definitely not a fan of blank covers and am very reluctant to draw on them because of the wide variation in paper quality.

IDW also has a few special projects in the works, such as with the new "zombie cover" I recently drew, modeled after the original that Mayhem owns, and the Jei watercolor.

[Stan Sakai]

IDW means "Usagi Yojimbo vs. Transformers" is coming soon.

I'll look forward to continuing stories of our near and dear rabbit friend in any way we can get them. Hopefully, the B&W trades will continue to be at Dark Horse for those who want them, just as the Fantagraphics books remain over there. Or, is IDW getting the entire Usagi library??

Congrats on the move to IDW, and hoping for new readers and much success over there.

We jokingly talked about an Usagi/Transformer crossover but I already did a giant robot in feudal Japan story.

Fantagraphics and Dark Horse will still have the rights to their B/W books if they continue to want to publish them (which they do). IDW will eventually make new editions of those material in color, along with collections of the new stories.

[Maka]

We, by which I mean “I,” want a Usagi vs. My Little Pony miniseries crossover. Draw those ponies, Stan!

Peace, maka

[maichan]

Thanks for the clarifications Stan!


As for Variant Covers and Crossovers...

Personally, I'm not much in favor of either. A few variants here and there are nice, and fun to see, and I do like to see other artist's take on Usagi, but trying to track down numerous variant covers when the content is the same is too much of a gimmick. However a book compiling various covers would be neat.

TMNT & Usagi Crossover was fun, especially since it originally dates way back... but otherwise crossovers seem more gimmicky than variant covers. I did have an idea for a different type of crossover, and that would be where the characters interact with each other in the "normal" world. Remember those candid times we've seen Usagi not directly in an ancient Japanese adventure, but instead where he was hanging out with Stan or in a present day environment? So now imagine Usagi as an actor, where he plays the role of Miyamoto Usagi, but otherwise he lives a normal life. And imagine that happening with various others characters from IDW and what a day at the office might be like.

[coolray85]

@maichan that is actually an amusing idea, very nice:)

stan, I love that you are keeping the 'complete' look to the book, just adding colors on top of it!
I actually agree very much with you and maichan on the habbit of the variant cover..it is more a thing of business than anything to do with the actual stories most of the times in my oppinion.

I cannot wait to read the puppetry story that you have already completed! coincidentally I have refound my love of jim henson's work recently and to have a usagi story dealing in the field of my research now is a double win:)

[Gaffey]

maichan's idea reminded me of the Sam and Ralph cartoons. Not exactly the same, it just brought back good memories. Thanks!

[maichan]

maichan's idea reminded me of the Sam and Ralph cartoons. Not exactly the same, it just brought back good memories. Thanks!

haha... yeah, I remember those also!

[david20009]

I'm not a big fan of variants, except for marking a special occasions such as a new #1 from a new publisher on the 35th anniversary year. I'm still not sure how I feel about store variants--where a retailer pays to have a special cover for his store. I will be doing a few IDW variants for other books to keep a higher profile and bring a spotlight to Usagi (the Samurai Jack/Usagi cover was shot down by Cartoon Network, though). I am definitely not a fan of blank covers and am very reluctant to draw on them because of the wide variation in paper quality.

IDW also has a few special projects in the works, such as with the new "zombie cover" I recently drew, modeled after the original that Mayhem owns, and the Jei watercolor.

That is great to hear about variants. That was my only concern about the otherwise great news about the IDW move. I do think IDW and color will help expose another generarion/set of readers to Usagi. Here’s hoping for plenty more new readers to get to enjoy the Usagi saga.

[Chopalong Slashity]

RE: New publisher: Not too familiar with IDW but they've proven they're a pretty steady bet, so looking forward to it! Still curious why the swap from Dark Horse to IDW, though (did I miss the explanation?)

RE: Variant covers: No strong opinions one way or the other as long as it doesn't directly or indirectly affect the quality of the stories---'tis what I signed on for, after all!

RE: Crossovers: Agreeing with general sentiment above, more crossovers isn't necessarily bad but crossovers for crossovers sake makes diminishing returns. Usagi and TMNT works because the characters mesh well with each other and the authors are friends, other cases might vary for better or for worse.

[rs2]

the questions I have are slightly... off-kilter

will the s&n hc’s continue?
will the sizing/style of them change?
with the re-issued coloured versions are they gonna be safe or individual volumes?

really looking forward to this regardless!

while it’s sad to see the end of an era with dark horse, if it works for you Stan? that is really all that matters...

and! totally badass to see that it was the nytimes that covered this!

[estee]

Congrats on the new home.

Hope everything works out.

[jabba359]

A couple tidbits from Stan's comments on his Facebook page:

The new series will have the same continuity, just as it did when I went from Fantagraphics to Mirage then to Dark Horse. The first IDW issue will also indicate something like "UY volume 4 #1, Number 239 in the series" in the indicia.

Regarding a potential Saga vol. 9

We have not discussed this yet, but Dark Horse does have the rights to do a Saga 9. It would be a slimmer volume containing UY Book 32: Mysteries and Book 33: The Hidden.