Dark Horse Comics Usagi Yojimbo #10             Return to Adachi Plain, The Crossing (inked by Sergio Aragonés), and The Patience of the Spider  February 1997 (Click on the thumbnails to view full size cover art)

USAGI YOJIMBO LETTERS COLUMN
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"Return to Adachi Plain" originally appeared in the Usagi Yojimbo, Book 4, hardcover edition ("The Dragon Bellow Conspiracy"), as a fully painted story done in watercolors. That 1990 edition, limited to 1500 signed-and-numbered copies with an original drawing in each, was an immediate sellout. There are no plans to reprint those color pages at this time; however, I did have the pencilled pages upon which the paintings were based. I had always intended to finish those pages, so I redrew a few panels and switched others around and, as a real treat for myself as well as the readers, I asked good friend Sergio Aragonés of Groo and Mad Magazine fame to ink over my pencils.

It was Sergio's idea for me to ink the framing panels, thereby giving the flashback an even more distinctive look.

I think the story turned out great. If you want to know Sergio's feelings about inking my less-than-detailed pencils, take a look at his drawing on this page.

Fan Art by Sergio Aragonés

Dear Jamie S. and Stan

In a box in my room, along with six volumes of Winsor McCay's Little Nemo, there are the last six volumes of Fantagraphics' Usagi Yojimbo library. I won't get to them for a while, but I keep looking at them, and each time I find something new to linger over: the rabbit ronin's early years; the history of Gen (who is a true samurai, however hard he tries to be an unemotional mercenary); the passage of the valiant tokagé Spot from Usagi to Zato-Ino; and the way Usagi interacts with children, from Jotaro to Genta, the would-be samurai of "The Silk Fair." There's a lot to look forward to, but there's certainly nothing to be disappointed in with the UY I have now.

Take "The Withered Field" in #7, for example.

Visually, I have to praise Stan Sakai for his flashback technique. As Nakamura Koji related his past, Stan dipped into what worked so well with "Gen's Story": the inking wasn't as tight, giving us a strong sense of a different time, one when "an obscure upstart" humiliated the proud Koji. This brought into sharper relief the "warrior pilgrimage" of the present, when Koji displayed such masterful reishiki and when he took out sixteen students of the Surudoi School.

You'll note that I didn't write "when Koji and Usagi took out sixteen students of the Surudoi School," though Usagi, that despiser of treachery, was with him. That was because I had the hunch that Koji could have beaten the sixteen students on his own: it might have taken a little longer that it did with Usagi's help, but it would have happened nonetheless. Koji was that good, and yet, the goodness was tainted. All of this superb swordsmanship was for a purpose: for a rematch with Katsuichi-Sensei, the mountain hermit who taught Usagi.

In my skimming of the six volumes, I've met Katsuichi and seen his majesty – with one eye, he still sees more than those with two, and Usagi's duel with him in Vol. 6 ended in Katsuichi's victory. A rematch with Koji would be quite dramatic, yet also rather a waste. The best swords remain in their scabbards, according to Katsuichi (as Usagi has learned to appreciate), and it should be enough that Koji took his defeat to heart and began the warrior pilgrimage. He should thank Katsuichi, not slay him.

Honor is a funny thing. We saw that well in "The Withered Field" with Koji, but also with Ishii and Ueno. Ishii lost his honor when he sent the students after Koji and committed ritual suicide. Ueno, when he learned what had happened, went out to find Koji and fought him, dying in the process. Sir John Falstaff would make light of this, and not without reason: eighteen dead in one issue because of "an obscure upstart" was a bit much. Yet, when Stan delves into ancient Japan, it always seems comprehensible. Sad, maybe, and tragic, possibly, but we understand these people and their ways by the time we're done with them.

I would like to see Katsuichi meet Koji again. Perhaps their differences need not be settled with blood, and Koji can become Katsuichi's pupil. In any case, long may the warrior pilgrimage continue for Usagi, and long may Stan continue to give us the excellent adventures of a masterless samurai with a great sword and a greater heart.

Charles J. Sperling
Flushing, NY