Funny that i find this new posting from you today Shaxper. As yesterday after reading through some of the other Usagi posts at lunch i decided to renew my reading of the Ronin Rabbit. I had collected early Usagi back in the days along with Cerebus and over time and school and living and financial struggles had been forced to drop both series. With multiple moves i lost track of my Usagi floppies (still have Cerebus, need to finish that series collection) and they are lost in the void somewhere as i think those boxes were in a storage shed that i ended up losing many years ago.

So yesterday afternoon i ordered me up some TPB's off Amazon and await their arrival after Thanksgiving to begin anew my travels with Usagi. Looking forward to catching up with an old friend and know i have a grand adventure ahead of me. Now if i can only pace myself in ordering from Amazon as i still have my Elfquest, Palomar, Cadillac and Dinosaurs TPB's on the shelf all bought up this last year to begin reading. 

Keep telling myself this addiction of mine is better than other's because i derive more lasting pleasure from it and don't end up sick from overindulgence or going broke (okay, maybe a little poorer but i do limit my purchases each month) and losing the house and car:D

Rather than clog up the site with my thoughts in the individual issue posts i shall endeavor to inspire you all to follow the Ronin Rabbit's exploits with my insights of Usagi and his world from my return to reading this engaging series.

Beginning with the writing of Stan Sakai you can see that he has become a consummate storyteller who knows when the writing can explain or show more than the art. His writing of the characters all has a flow and rhythm from them which is able to be read naturally in the series, not detracting from the art or even overwhelming it (yes, some do write too much Mr. Claremont) but enhancing every story with an ease that Sakai probably works very hard at to create. The writing is so well done that in my head i can "hear" the voices very clearly even if they are of my own imagining. Usagi carrying a calm and detached intonation in most of his words, Gen the gruff, loud friendly (if slightly overbearing) personality, Mariko the soft lonely voice of a lost eternal love yet gratefully acknowledgement of the honor and nobility Usagi carries. Tomoe's youthful hearts hopes and desires held in strong control in her role to the young emperor. All speaking to the strength of Sakai's writing skills that you learn to care about these comic book characters and their lives and actions as though they are truly alive and in your life. These are friends and villains we all know or have met or come across in our own personal adventures s we grow and live our lives. They enrich, show, teach and entertain us with their every breath. That is the mark of a great writer.

The artwork. Oh the artwork. From the very 1st panel of Usagi crunching through the snow hunched over in attempting to stay warm as he approaches a lone home in the dark woods of the mountains as the moon glows brightly overhead you know you have entered a beautiful new world. Yet it is instantly recognizable this world, one which speaks of and evokes and resembles Japan in it's style and textures in our minds. To so immediately provide us this feeling of Japan in the subtle, simple lines on the page requires skill and much thought as to what to put in and what to leave out. Sakai excels at this through every story and even becomes stronger in his ability to show us a world we know yet do not truly know much about. 

There is a soothing, tranquil essence in traveling along with Usagi as his world reminds us of our own yet instills us with hope our own lives might better reflect his yet it is his worlds reflection of ours that we are learning and growing with every issue and step this wandering honorable soulful warrior takes. 

There are 2 favorite panels of Usagi which i truly admire and wish i had the original's of. 1st is the final story panel with Usagi at night standing and looking up through the night sky at the moon. The simple peaceful quiet moment of a warrior in contemplation. Who if not all of us hasn't stood in the middle of the night with a pure moment of thought and emotion gazing upon the moonlit starry sky pondering? My 2nd is an opening full page with Usagi striding forth across a grassy plain accompanied by dragonflies with the windswept clouds blowing along overhead in the same direction. Each of us carried along by the winds of fate to wander through life even as Usagi does, sometimes knowing where we are going and at other times places unknown beckoning us ever forward. Stan Sakai is a true poet in his artwork being capable of speaking to us with eloquence and elegance with not a word needing to be written.

The characters which populate the world of Usagi Yojimbo are not strangers to us. They are all people we know. From the boisterous begrudging genuine giving and taking friendship of Gen to the blind Ino who is only lost for his unwillingness to let go of his own vanity and preconceived notions so that he might find the peace and tranquility he seeks. The ninja master Shingen whom is at 1st seemingly yet another evil villain to fight only with time becoming a compatriot showing his own honor and courage and strength of belief in his dying breath. The ache of a lost love in Mariko and a child you can only dream of ever knowing or having whose love is always with you nonetheless wherever you travel. All of them and others being a part of Usagi's life and by the reading of their stories becoming a part of our life. 

This is why you need to be reading Usagi. It is a story of life. To be experienced, to be savored and to recognize ourselves in the context of a hobby that enhances our own being.

And it is a Samurai Rabbit for crying out loud! Why aren't you reading this exquisite series already? Quit putting it off and delve deeply into the glorious world which awaits you... 

Oh i know Shax, i thought about going in and doing individual notes to each issues posting but with the insanity of the holiday's in full assault and the work woes it delivers me i just didn't think i have the time and energy to giving proper attention to all the Usagi goodness. Every issue there is something to be found and explored and enjoyed. I haven't quite figured out why there aren't more people reading and talking about Usagi, Elfquest, Disney, Archie and their ilk. Considering how repetitive and disillusioning the BIG 2 are in recent years i have found myself searching out the alternative pleasures to be found in the comic book world. I like fun in my comic reading. I can bury myself into days of reading any of the above mentioned collections yet i can only read a few Marvel/DC at a time unless they are issues from the olden days of my youth. 

Adored Archie: the Married Life and how true to the characters it was while updating and moving them forward into young adult hood. One if my best pleasures at the moment is with each new Archie 1000 page giant i order and receive from Amazon. Mickey Mouse has been wonderful. I get each new Uncle Scrooge and Walt Disney's Stories as both carry a variety of fun every issue. Darkwing Duck is superb and funny and captures what is great about comic books. Each month i grab the newest Elfquest in support of the Pini's (have met and talked with them at Phoenix Comicon several times) and i am ordering each collected TPB as they come out. I could walk away from superhero stuff anymore and simply enjoy what i have collected quite easily yet there are still a few individual series to read. Can't recommend Powerman and Iron Fist enough or Hanna Barbera Future Quest as standouts of superhero adventures.

I have 2 friends who when combining both their personalities they create my own Gen. One a best bud since high school who started off a bit of a bully that i stood up to and from their a true friendship grew that many could never understand how we tolerated each other (complete opposites in a way: he being overbearing and loud and sports minded, me the rather quiet intelligent geek) but our differences were all placed aside in the common things we shared and liked. The 2nd friend i met here through work at the hospital and again he is a boisterously loud and annoying to some but our likes and interests in many things drew us together  in friendship. Both now are my brothers in a sense and i am closer to each of them than my own real brothers.

With Usagi and Gen it is seen time and again that they begrudgingly admire and respect one another even though at times they seemingly drive each other crazy. Both get something from the other that they miss in their solo wanderings and while Gen can be gruff, annoying, loud and in general a rather large horned pain in the butt he has time and again proven and shown his true friendship to Usagi. Gen brings out those hidden and clamped down aspects Usagi would normally keep to himself and therefore allowing Usagi to laugh, play and compete against/with Gen in a brotherly competitive yet loving way he may not usually let himself normally show. 

All this makes Gen and Usagi's friendship and so real to me at least..

As the kids say, I 'ship Usagi more with Kitsune, but I know you don't.   I'd rather Tomoe just be his friend. Tomoe is a great character, but is too like Usagi to make a good match with him, IMO.

And yet there have been moments where Gen has been the better friend, as well as the wiser of the two. Not a regular occurrence, of course, but Gen has had his moments.