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Post by jabba359 on Apr 9, 2017 19:31:08 GMT -5
I'm intrigued both by the limited edition hardcover format (with all sorts of goodies included) and by how continuity is going to play out in this thing -- has Usagi met these guys before or not? And what's Jei doing there?? The TMNT crossovers are always lighthearted fun. It sure sounds like Stan has poured a lot of energy and creativity into this! I do hope this will encourage more new readers to check out Usagi (or to come back to him). In the article it says that Usagi has not met these particular Turtles (being rebooted Turtles, we can assume they're from a different, but slightly similar universe). That said, Usagi should remember his previous encounter, but the Turtles will not since it wasn't them that last met Usagi. Interesting, indeed.
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Post by jabba359 on Mar 12, 2017 18:56:58 GMT -5
Thanks! That's close to how I was pronouncing his name, but I don't think I was exactly right. Now, maybe I'm just mixing the Spanish/Portuguese pronunciation for vowels in, but it seems like using that methodology gets you really close, as the English spelling is just a Romanization of the sounds the Japanese words make. In that context, it makes sense to use fixed pronunciations for the vowels, which is an odd quirk of English that isn't shared with Spanish or Portuguese (and probably other Latin based languages). English is a really hard language because the sounds the letters make change all the time depending on what other letters surround it and even the usage, such as the word read (present tense is pronounced "reed" and past tense is pronounced "red"). In Spanish or Portuguese, if I can see the word, I can say it correctly. And if I hear the word, it's usually spelled exactly how it sounds.
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Post by jabba359 on Mar 12, 2017 18:42:31 GMT -5
Does anyone know how Lord Hikiji's name is pronounced? I'm pretty sure it's pronounced: hee- kee-jee. I believe that, when written in English, the proper Japanese pronunciation for the vowels are: a - ah e - eh i - ee o - oh u - oo
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Post by jabba359 on Jan 25, 2017 16:33:34 GMT -5
Congrats Johnson513 on your epic crossword winning skills!
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Post by jabba359 on Jan 21, 2017 15:53:35 GMT -5
I did the puzzle for fun, but don't participate for obvious reasons.
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Post by jabba359 on Jan 20, 2017 16:03:36 GMT -5
I'm reading Hellboy (just finished the Hellboy Library vol. 5), still have the last 3 Usagi trade paperbacks to read before I'm caught up anyway (though I have been reading the monthly comics for the past nine months or so), and then Space Usagi. Then I have a giant pile of other comic volumes to read, including: The Maxx, Sweet Tooth, From Hell, The Sixth Gun, Ms. Marvel, Y: The Last Man, Strangers in Paradise, Locke & Key, the last couple TMNT Ultimate Collections, BPRD, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, and a few others, so plenty of comic reading materials for me.
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Post by jabba359 on Jan 5, 2017 16:02:46 GMT -5
Also, that gets me thinking... would you ever want someone else doing a Usagi book? Indy comics in the past have tried with varying degress of success (TMNT and Elfquest spring to mind). Could the market sustain, saym and Inspector Ishida book? Or Ren? Would someone else come close enough to Stan's style to make it work? If we were to have someone else do some Usagi stories, I'd love to see something similar to the Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard books where it would be Stan drawing a couple pages in each issue of his characters getting together to tell stories, but the actual stories would be done by guest artists/writers of Stan's choosing. That way the stories can use the Usagi universe and characters, but aren't necessarily canon since they're just stories being told around a campfire (or over a cup of saké). I also wouldn't mind if these stories were longer than the 2-5 pages in Mouse Guard. Maybe only a story or two per issue/book? People that I'd love to see do these Usagi Yojimbo: Tales - Julie Sakai (though she should just get her own Chibi Usagi series), Matt Kindt, Mike Mignola (and if he wants to write, but not draw, bring in Duncan Fegredo to illustrate), David Petersen, Jeremy Bastian, Jeff Smith, Travis Hanson, and Skottie Young.
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Post by jabba359 on Dec 18, 2016 23:21:50 GMT -5
I recently started buying the individual issues for the letters section and to support Stan. So now I'll have the floppies as well. Then I'll continue to buy the trade paperbacks as they come out. Once three of those come out and are collected into the Saga format, then I'll buy the hardcover of that. So lots of Usagi redundancy for me.
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Post by jabba359 on Dec 18, 2016 23:18:01 GMT -5
I've been watching this one and wish someone would buy it. I need to save money up to get one of Stan's covers at some point.
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Post by jabba359 on Sept 19, 2016 20:58:09 GMT -5
I enjoyed the story. Probably my favorite part, however odd it may seem, was the story notes in the last issue where Stan talked about how the Japanese have so many words for the different kinds of rain. I find little things like that fascinating and it just adds to my appreciation of the series.
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Post by jabba359 on Sept 19, 2016 2:35:32 GMT -5
Three new pieces from Long Beach Comic Con: Usagi and Gen by Stéphane Roux10x14 watercolorI met Stéphane at Palm Springs Comic Con last month while getting my Sakai Project book signed. After the convention, however, I stayed around to hang out with some artist friends and Stéphane was part of the group. We all had a great time and I enjoyed getting to know Stéphane. So when he came to Long Beach Comic Con this weekend, I stopped by to chat and ended up hanging out with Stéphane after the convention both nights. He's a super nice guy and I was happy to add this piece of art to my collection. Usagi by Dave Crosland11x15 ink and watercolorDave is a really cool guy as well and I just met him at the Long Beach show. I love his art style (having a very similar type of energy as some of Skottie Young's looser pieces) and I had fun chatting with Dave. He was also on a panel about science and art and I found out that Dave had originally been studying chemistry and physics before becoming a full time artist. Being the science lover that I am, I found this very interesting. Dave says he had a great time doing this commission and that he hasn't drawn Usagi since he was a kid, so enjoyed revisiting the character. Usagi by Erik Whalen9x12 inkErik is another convention find, as he was tucked away towards the back of artist alley and was doing extremely affordable commissions. I liked his style so asked for an Usagi piece. Erik has self published multiple graphic novels and is continuing to work on his own projects.
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Post by jabba359 on Sept 3, 2016 15:33:43 GMT -5
I made the 2 hour drive out to Palm Springs Comic Con for a single day to pick up a Hellboy commission from an internet friend/artist, Matthew J. Fletcher. This is the first year of the convention and they had some big names and great artist lineup, though Palm Springs is a ways from both the Los Angeles market as well as the Phoenix market, so it wasn't super busy. One of my favorite artists, Christopher Uminga, was there as well and seemed a bit bored, as Sunday was very slow. So, with only a couple hours left in the convention, I asked if he'd be willing to do a quick Usagi for me. This is the piece I got and I'm thrilled with how good it turned out, especially seeing as how there wasn't a whole lot of time left. Usagi Yojimbo by Christopher Uminga. 9x12 inks and Copics. It seems I also forgot to post my Chibi Usagi and Stan as a Samurai piece I got from San Diego Comic Con this year. This piece was done by Julie Fujii Sakai and is exactly what I wanted. I had the idea of her doing an Usagi/Stan piece while reading one of the 1-pagers that Stan does with Usagi and himself. Chibi Usagi and Stan as a Samurai by Julie Fujii Sakai. 12x9 ink and watercolor.
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Post by jabba359 on Jul 29, 2016 5:14:57 GMT -5
Perhaps I just need to spend some extra time reading my gallery edition. After that beast, the Saga HCs should seem just as small and light as a trade paperback!
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Post by jabba359 on Jul 29, 2016 2:50:50 GMT -5
I like the trades for reading. It lets me read a bunch of issues all at once, as I prefer to binge read. While the Sagas are nice and also give me the ability to binge, I think the lesser thickness of the trades makes them more comfortable to hold than the super thick Sagas. That said, I do like the larger image size and better paper quality in the Saga edition so collect both the trade paperbacks and the Saga hardcovers.
So my preferences are:
To read: collected editions (trade paperbacks) To collect: Saga hardcovers
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Post by jabba359 on Jul 27, 2016 23:14:45 GMT -5
I'm still impressed by the idea of approaching other artists for their take on Usagi. Do they all react favorably? Has one ever said "What's a Usagi?" or declined, stating that they only draw their own characters? Personally, I'd love to see a Mike Mignola Jei. All super positive responses to my requests, with almost every single one of them saying how much they like Stan and enjoy Usagi. A couple have even told me that they were super excited to do an Usagi commission, as they've wanted to do one for a while. It seems that most comic artists are open to taking commissions of characters other than their own or characters they work on professionally in the comics. I'd imagine that doing a different character is a fun little change of pace. I really wish I could get a Mike Mignola commission, but I don't believe he takes commissions (other than doing covers for other comic books). Even if he was taking commissions, I couldn't afford one of his!
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