Usagi Yojimbo - Yokai [2009] (Random Comics Theatre)

Random Comics Theatre

Usagi Yojimbo - Yokai [2009]

This was an original hardcover painted colour comic created by Stan Sakai to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his rabbit samurai character Miyamoto Usagi (now rapidly closing in on his 40th anniversary). Up to this point Usagi had mostly appeared in black and white comics, with some forays into colour, but usually standard comic colouring (mostly by Tom Luth). Sakai had painted a few covers and short stories, but nothing this extensive before, a full 56-page painted story.

Pretty much classic Sakai, one of the most dependable comics being published for almost four decades now. This is one of the Usagi stories with a supernatural element ("yokai" being translated as "haunts"), as he winds up in a dark forest and encounters various demonic creatures of either Japanese myth or Sakain imagination attempting to complete a once-a-century ritual to enable them to conquer the world of the living. Fortunately he encounters an ally from earlier in his years of wandering.

Sakai is always masterful, but it's a special treat to see him flex some other muscles like he does in this story. Not just the colouring, which is suitably gloomy when it needs to be, and also well suits the variety of strange creatures he brings in, but this also has a more open storytelling format than the standard Usagi story, with fewer panels per page, a greater use of splash pages and double page spreads and a generally quicker pace. 

This includes a short interview with Sakai, along with an example of the creative process of the book, with eight steps in the process to create one panel.

The story was reprinted in the USAGI YOJIMBO SAGA LEGENDS collection in 2017.