USAGI YOJIMBO
Discoveries
by Kurt Busiek

Kurt Busiek is the writer for such comics as Iron Man and The Avengers, and is the creator of Astro City.

I have to admit to a certain thrill, sitting down to write this introduction. This is Usagi Yojimbo, after all. There'll be a Usagi Yojimbo trade paperback out there that I had something to do with. I like the thought of that, and that's why I said, "Sure, you bet!" the moment I was asked to do this.

But that leaves me with a problem. Now I've got to write the piece, and there's not a lot I can tell you, whether you're new to Usagi, or a longtime reader like me.

I can't, for instance, tell you much about Stan Sakai. I could tell you about the time we went up in a hot-air balloon together – Stan had come up to my neck of the woods for a comics convention, and one of the things the convention organizer (the ever-affable Richard Finn) likes to do is show the guests a fun time in return for signing autographs and such at the con. On this particular day, we got up at the crack of dawn and watched as the folks from the ballooning company laid out the brightly colored balloon, fired up the burners, and filled it with hot air until it was straining to be aloft. And then a bunch of us piled in and took to the sky.

It was spectacular – being above the familiar countryside turned it strange and exotic; the early-morning mists, the sensation of absolute stillness as the world rolled by beneath us, the sudden awareness of speed as we descended to just above the treetops. If you're a comics creator and Richard Finn ever invites you to a show, by all means say yes; you'll get to do this yourself, or go river rafting, or skiing, or some other such similar delight. But Stan? He was the quiet guy at the back. I can't say I got to know him, memorable though the trip was.

Other than that, I've talked to Stan on the phone a time or two, and seen him at conventions signing books and doing rabbit-head sketches for healthy lines of Usagi devotees. He's a nice guy – pleasant, friendly, modest, and amazingly talented – but I don't really know him well enough to share any incisive insights about him.

And I can't exactly rattle on about 16th-century Japan, setting the stage for the adventures you're going to be reading. For one thing, Stan's already taken care of it, with the elegant and informative four-page prologue to the first Dark Horse issue of Usagi, which was done to bring new readers up to speed, and which I expect runs either at the beginning of this collection or at the start of the two-part "Noodles" story it originally introduced. And for another, I don't really know that much about the subject. Basically, all I know about feudal Japan, I learned from James Clavell novels and Usagi Yojimbo – and probably some Wolverine comics, but I have my doubts about their dependability as historical resources.

It's funny. I'm a big proponent of doing comics for specific audiences, catching readers' attention with the content rather than trying to tempt customers into buying stuff they're not interested in – if you want to attract mystery buffs, do mystery comics, don't do superhero comics with mystery elements and expect that'll be enough. If you want to attract romance buffs, do romance comics, and so forth. And I firmly believe this – but I'm the antithesis of the argument, since feudal Japan and samurai adventures aren't a big interest of mine. It's not like I go out of my way to avoid such material – but I don't seek it out either.

And yet, the setting and culture of Usagi Yojimbo are immensely important to the series. Story after story features introductions to and explanations of aspects of feudal Japanese culture and legend, and this volume is no exception – from the seaweed farmers of "Kaiso" to the authentic (if corrupt) village justice system and soba merchant of "Noodles" to the repercussions of Western intrusion into Japan in "Bats, the Cat, and the Rabbit" and more.

And I've got to say, I love it all.

That brings me to the third thing I can't tell you that much about, which is the comics themselves.

I can tell you my reaction to them, which is flat-out awe. I referred to some of Stan's work as "elegant" a few paragraphs back, and that's an understatement. In an industry overwhelmed by in-your-face spectacle, Stan is a master of restraint, setting the stage slowly and deliberately and letting the story amble forward at an unhurried pace, which seems peculiarly appropriate for the adventures of a samurai traveling on foot. But it also results in comics far more exciting than the gaudiest of the in-your-face stuff, since the restraint provides a context against which the violence and danger that permeate these stories come as a shock, an ugly interruption of life.

I could point out examples: look at the first page of "Lightning Strikes Twice," at the panels Stan has chosen – birds over the woods, the high aerial shot of the road, and the slow zoom-in that introduces us to ordinary, everyday people going about their business – only to break that carefully constructed mood in a single panel, as the people turn out to be anything but ordinary, and Inazuma reacts to their imminent attack. And then we turn the page and the scene explodes in action, the peace and beauty shattered. How much less effective would that have been if Stan had opened with the action, without first giving us time to relax into the setting? (Of course, Stan does open stories with action, but they're worth a careful look, too, as in the way "Noodles" intercuts between the anger and emotion of the chase and Usagi's slow, relaxed walk, building to a gag rather than an explosion.)

And I could point to the way Stan frames his panels – no dramatic angles for the sake of it, no wild layouts to "jazz up" the page – just clear, straightforward storytelling that lets the beauty of the drawing come trough, focuses on content and mood, and always, always, tells the story rather than distracts from it.

I could explain why it is that the setting and culture fascinate me so much here, how Stan is such a good storyteller, such a good explainer, that the history and mythology lessons we get along the way don't feel like lectures but discoveries – as you'll see in the many pages of "Kaiso" that are devoted to showing the reader (and Usagi) what seaweed farming entails, and how it shapes the lives of those who make their living at it.

But that's the thing, isn't it? You're going to see it in "Kaiso." You're going to read that first page of "Lightning Strikes Twice," and the opening sequence of "Noodles." You have the book. If you're a longtime Usagi reader like me, you know this stuff already. If you're a newcomer, you're about to find out. And either way, you don't need me telling you about it ahead of time. There's stuff I'd love to talk about – the heartbreak in these stories, the moments of poetic justice, the treachery and resourcefulness – but I don't want to spoil it for you. You'll read it in the stories, as you should.

So what is there for me to tell you? These are the stories from the final two issues of Mirage Publishing's run of Usagi Yojimbo and the first six issues of Dark Horse Comics' run (plus a stray back-up story from an earlier Mirage issue). You're gonna love 'em. That's all you need to know.

But humor me – if you see me at a convention and you're got this book, pretend like I accomplished something in this intro, okay? I've wanted to be a part of this series for years, and I'd hate to think I was completely irrelevant...

– Kurt Busiek, March 1998

“Usagi Yojimbo” and "Space Usagi", including all prominent characters featured in the stories and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Stan Sakai and Usagi Studios. Usagi Yojimbo is a registered trademark of Stan Sakai.  Names, characters, places, and incidents featured in this publication either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events, institutions, or locales, without satiric content, is coincidental.