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| Front cover of the Usagi Yojimbo Saga book 1 |
Score (out of 5 Capes)
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| 4 out of 5 Capes |
Award-winning beauty, history and entertainment earns 4 Capes out of 5.
My Review
Since 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of Dark Horse Comics, I am doing a short series of reviews that look at some Dark Horse graphic novels and trade paperbacks.
The publishing catalog for this remarkably successful late-80s upstart comics company covers a broad range of styles, topics and genres over the years. They found some early critical success with the likes of Paul Chadwick's beautiful and profound Concrete series. Dark Horse then moved into limited series movie tie-ins and spin-offs, with popular movie franchises like Aliens and Predator.
More recently, their tie-ins have been in the gaming universe with titles like Assassin's Creed and Halo. And always they have made room for innovative graphical storytelling and early-wave Manga.
Dark Horse has long been the publisher of Stan Sakai's award-winning work with the rabbit warrior and samurai, Miyamoto Usagi, and his tales chronicled in Usagi Yojimbo. The earliest appearances, dating to the late 1980s, were published by Fantagraphics but, starting in 1997, Usagi Yojimbo moved to Dark Horse.
This hefty book, well over 600 pages, collects in one handsome collection the first 22 issues published by Dark Horse. It was originally published in 2014, with a second edition released in 2021, coinciding with the 10th Eisner Award won by Usagi Yojimbo, this time for "Best Continuing Series"
The issues included, dating from 1997-98, date from the era of the first Eisner Awards it won, including the 1996 award for "Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition."
It is easy to see, in these pages, why it has won so many awards over the years. The visuals are lush, rendered with a deceptive simplicity that rests on top of a real depth of knowledge of the era and of the foundational principles of visual storytelling. And the tales themselves are often serious, intelligent, moving, sometimes challenging, always grounded in its anthropomorphic portrayal of 16th-century Japan.
One of my personal favourites comes early in the collection. Entitled Jizo, it is a short 8-page story about a woman who lost her son, murdered by five bandit outlaws. She erects a simple carving of a god near the spot on the road where the attack happened, dresses it in a coat for warmth, and makes a simple offering, hoping that other travellers will be encouraged to do the same, and that the god will protect the travellers from the same fate suffered by her son. Every panel reuses the exact same framing: statue in the foreground, crossroads, road-sign and trees in the background, passers-by in the middle. Within this simple framing, and with very few words, the story of the bandits and their defeat unfolds. This short, simple tale has so many layers and beautifully encapsulates much of the best to be found in Usagi Yojimbo as a whole.
The wandering Ronin samurai warrior rabbit has so many adventures in these pages, most of which include at least a few battles with sword, staff, fist, foot and other weapons of the martial arts. Writer and artist Stan Sakai does amazing work in these battles. They are intense, violent, filled with many emotions beyond the basics of anger and fear. Yet they always remain both compelling and accessible. Does blood, stabbing and slashing make you queasy? Have no fear in these pages - it is visually very clear what happens, yet nothing is shown that you would want to hide from your child. The violence and killings are safe and sanitized for young or sensitive eyes.
Especially charming is the skull-in-word-balloon motif Sakai draws for showing the death of a combatant.
Some stories, like Usagi's Garden or Battlefield, shed light on Usagi's youth and his training under his Sensei. He has much to learn in these tales, about honesty, honour and courage. The wise Sensei guides the much shorter-eared young lad in thinking through his lessons.
The most regrettable choice I see in these pages is the presence of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. In some ways - courageous and heroic martial artist warriors from the animal kingdom - it seems like a natural pairing, to have Usagi and the Turtles meet. And no doubt it would raise awareness of the rabbit, to overlap with the more famous turtles.
The result is a three-part Shades of Green tale, pitting rabbit and turtle against a clan, the Neko Ninja, and their feline members. Cross-over marketing is the only purpose I can see for the turtles; Usagi Yojimbo's world is so rich, so well-developed and beautifully rendered, that the famous turtles add little to the tale itself.
It also is the lead story in a collection called "Book 1" even though it is clear that this is not the first time rabbit and turtle have met and shared an adventure. Had it come farther into the tome, it might have passed more quietly, but by leading with a tie-on, it feels like the otherwise fantastic Usagi Yojimbo is grasping at the coattails of some more successful creatures.
Beyond that rough start, this is a stellar collection. With Sakai's beautifully simple and textured art illustrating his richly layered and historically rooted stories, this award-winning series got an amazing new collection from Dark Horse. Keep your eyes open for future editions!
What I loved
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| Battle scenes are violent without being visually disturbing |
Creator Stan Sakai gives us page after page of amazing images. With his deft touch, these images look so clean and simple, yet are so layered, detailed and lovingly shaded that the results are all amazing.
A samurai rabbit must of course get into some battles. Sakai renders each battle in the same simple yet deeply layered ways. And manages to keep the bloody and often fatal battles clean and PG.
He does not hide from the slashing and killing, but never indulges in any gore or on-panel blood-letting. Let your eyes wander to the evocative faces of the combatants in these battles.
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| Beautiful nods to Japanese history and culture |
Sakai also weaves Japanese history and culture through these tales. Be they social structures and the relationships between peasants and their overlords, food and drink, religious practices and more, they add an educational depth to the tales.
What I didn't love
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| Animal martial artists from another universe make appearances |
As I mentioned in the main review above, I find the presence of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles an annoying distraction. Their modern-day, urban human world is so starkly different from the amazingly textured and nuanced historical and pastoral Japanese setting of Usagi's tales that they bring immediate stylistic contrasts and challenges.
The differences are too stark to overcome the similarities of anthropomorphic animal martial artists fighting for justice and freedom.
Usagi Yojimbo might not have the pop cultural cachet of the turtles but suffers more than benefits from their presence.
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| Dino-lizards are more annoying than comic |
The stories in this collection are sweet, exciting and intense, almost always with a serious and carefully considered tone.
Almost. But every once in a while a lighter tale, a comic moment of humour, slips in. Usually the comedy is carried by the small dinosaur-like lizards, animals that are portrayed as animals and not people.
The comedy too often falls flat. The break from the more common serious tone is not needed.
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Quick Reference Details
Writers: Stan Sakai
Artists: Stan Sakai
Published By: Dark Horse Comics
Published When: April 6, 2021 (2nd Edition)
Parental Rating: Parental Guidance
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| Back cover of the Usagi Yojimbo Saga book 1 |
