Usagi Yojimbo reaches issue #100 in January and Stan Sakai is celebrating by inviting a ton of fellow cartoonists to help out with the issue. Sergio Aragones, Guy Davis, Mark Evanier, Frank Miller, Jamie S. Rich, Mike Richardson, Jeff Smith, Rick Geary, Scott Shaw, and Andi Watson are all contributing words and/or art to the 32-page roast-style issue.
I’ve been wanting to check out Usagi Yojimbo for years and this’ll be a perfect opportunity to dip my toe in the water. Now, if Dark Horse would just release a comprehensive, numbered collection of the first 99 issues, I’d be all set.
[Update: Check out the comments to see the most helpful readers in blogdom set me straight about the trade collections and provide links to aid in sorting out the reading order. Thanks, guys!]
October 10th, 2006 at 3:41 pm
But Dark Horse has released all previous issues in trade form; what more are you looking for? (And there are actually more than 100 issues; Fantagraphics and Malibu published more than 50 issues of UY).
October 10th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
I want to read Usagi Yojimbo too, but I’d also like to hold out for newer, larger trades. (Those darn Essentials are spoiling me.)
October 10th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
I knew very little of Usagi before last spring, when I attending a series of panels hosted by Stan Sakai. He’s hands down the nicest guy in comics, and the Usagi comics are a real treat. They don’t really require a jumping on point, most everything you need to know is there. It’s a real classic, it reminds me of Tintin in a way, just good all-ages adventure stories.
October 10th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
“But Dark Horse has released all previous issues in trade form; what more are you looking for?”
Numbered, mainly. Last time I browsed the Dark Horse collection, it was impossible to tell where to start.
Have the Fantagraphics and Malibu issues also been collected by Dark Horse? I’ll be needing those too.
“They don’t really require a jumping on point, most everything you need to know is there.”
That’s good to know. I can’t wait to get started.
October 10th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Michael!!!!
As noted above, most of the Usagi Yojimbo stories don’t need a jumping on spot. There are very few stories that are continued of from previous stories.
Mirage published a few issues, but I don’t remember Malibu doing so. Here’s a link.
http://www.toonopedia.com/usagi.htm
October 10th, 2006 at 7:43 pm
Fantagraphics issues were traded by Fanta; Malibu were traded by DH. But the numbering continues. The first seven trades from Fanta are all numbered, so you can start there.
October 10th, 2006 at 8:42 pm
Yeah, the lack of numbering on the GN’s is confusing. A chronological list can be found here: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usagi_Yojimbo)
October 10th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
Man, you guys are helpful! Thanks!
October 11th, 2006 at 11:12 am
Dark Horse made new printings of all their Usagi collections a while back that are numbered on the spine. I’m not sure if that is reflected in catalogs. They continue the Fantagraphics numbering and start with #8.
October 11th, 2006 at 2:11 pm
Obligatory link to the UY Dojo.
October 13th, 2006 at 9:54 pm
Just visited the UY site linked directly above, and doing so reminded me that Usagi Yojimbo has been well received around the world. I recently read a report of Stan going to europe for a comics convention.
I first tried UY because of all the good things I had heard about it. I am forever hooked on UY.
November 19th, 2006 at 4:29 pm
Just to clarify an error, Usagi Yojimbo was NEVER published by MALIBU.
After 38 regular issues and a few color specials published by Fantagraphics, Usagi moved to MIRAGE, publishers of the TMNT comics, for a run of 16 full color issues.
Usagi Yojimbo moved to Dark Horse Comics after Mirage suffered severe damage during a east coast hurricane which forced them to discontinue their comic publishing efforts for a while.
Dark Horse has included the stories originally published by Mirage in the first couple trade collections they (Dark Horse) released, but reprinted in black and white with touch-ups on the art by Stan Sakai.
Abayo…..
http://usagiyojimbo.com
http://usagiyojimb.fr
http://usagiyojimbo.pl