shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Feb 12, 2016 6:29:58 GMT -5
How did you first learn about Usagi? What made you start reading? What was your first story? What makes you a Usagi fan? I'm curious to hear your Usagi story! (and I'll share mine when I can find more than five free minutes at a time to log in here  ) |
|
|
|
Post by wildfire2099 on Feb 12, 2016 9:35:41 GMT -5
I had only known of Usagi from his TMNT cartoon appearances.... I mean, I knew he had a comic, but was never really driven to pick it up until Shax and co. shared their love. I finally pulled the trigger just before the Samurai collection that used Usagi for advertising pulled into the MFA in Boston.
|
|
|
|
Post by lobsterjohnson on Feb 12, 2016 10:15:09 GMT -5
Here's the events leading up to me reading Usagi:
One day in the comic store, while searching for a new Spider-Man or Wolverine, I saw a strange book called Lobster Johnson on the shelf. I really liked the cover, and bought the two issues they had: Get the Lobster #'s 2 and 3 (still maybe my two favorite comics ever). I remember debating whether to get the first TPB or to get the two GTL issues. I eventually settled on the GTL issues, since they were cheaper and I liked the art.
I loved those two issues. I read them over and over, and couldn't wait to read more. I added all of the Mignolaverse books to my pull list and began catching up on the older stories, starting with Lobster Johnson. I became a big fan of all things Hellboy, and discovered the awesome Hellboy fan community.
Near the beginning of 2015, I finally became all caught up on the Hellboy universe. I needed something new to read.
Some months before that, I had recommended a book about a rabbit samurai to my sister. I didn't know what it was, but I thought it looked interesting. I skimmed a couple issues and liked it well enough, but the first issue I read all the way through was the Grasscutter 1 for $1. Wow! That issue is incredible, and it made me realize how good of a book Usagi Yojimbo is.
After that, I picked up the first two UY Saga editions, and I've followed the book ever since. That was last May, I think. Soon after, I joined the UY Dojoboard, one of the best fan communities in the world. I eventually caught up (I just finished catching up last month), and I can say that there are no bad UY stories. I enjoyed all of them.
That's my story!
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2016 11:26:11 GMT -5
Way back in 1987, when I was a senior in high school, I was flipping through a long box of b&w comics at my lcs, mostly refuse from the b&w boom and bust and came across a George Perez cover on a book called Anything Goes #4, a benefit anthology by the Comics Journal. Perez was a favorite, so I picked it up, and I discovered a lot of things in there I had never seen before and liked, so next time I went in I picked up the rest of the 6 issue mini and issue #6 had a Usagi cover. I was intrigued and the owner pointed me to Critters to find more and I bought and read a few issues and really like the character and stories. But alas, I left for college and was a poor student and indy books were twice the price of mainstream comics then, so I stopped buying indies for a long while and then sold off a lot of books when I graduated to help me get finances in order.
I would occasionally see Usagi on the racks here and there, but never got back in until I joined the old Classic Comics community at CBR and discovered people like Shax and coke & comics who had a passion for Usagi and it triggered memories of how much I had liked those early stories in Critters, so I eventually picked up the first 2 Fantagraphics trades and the first Saga softcover.
I met Stan briefly at Gem City Comic Con before I started buying those and my impression of him was very positive, as someone whose work I wanted to support, which was the tipping point for me wanting to get back into it. I bought Senso off the racks, and have picked up the 47 Ronin (not Usagi but Stan) hc and the second Saga volume since, and am slowly immersing myself in what I missed all those years between my first discovery of Usagi in Anything Goes and the ability to get it all in trade now.
-M
|
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Feb 12, 2016 11:40:39 GMT -5
I became a big fan of all things Hellboy, and discovered the awesome Hellboy fan community. Near the beginning of 2015, I finally became all caught up on the Hellboy universe. I needed something new to read. Speaking of which, I need to read more Hellboy. Have you checked the front page of the site recently? We've got a whole thread devoted to exploring Hellboy from the beginning  |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2016 12:01:39 GMT -5
This place. This place right here. And an Usagi book I kept seeing at my LCS. But, mostly this place. Especially when the new banner kept popping up whenever I visited the site. And now there's no going back.  |
|
|
|
Post by lobsterjohnson on Feb 12, 2016 12:03:59 GMT -5
I became a big fan of all things Hellboy, and discovered the awesome Hellboy fan community. Near the beginning of 2015, I finally became all caught up on the Hellboy universe. I needed something new to read. Speaking of which, I need to read more Hellboy. Have you checked the front page of the site recently? We've got a whole thread devoted to exploring Hellboy from the beginning Yeah, that's a fun thread. I like Usagi Yojimbo more, but Hellboy is a great series. And obviously I love the Lobster Johnson series ( Lobster Johnson: Metal Monsters of Midtown out on May 25th! ). |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Feb 12, 2016 12:36:16 GMT -5
Speaking of which, I need to read more Hellboy. Have you checked the front page of the site recently? We've got a whole thread devoted to exploring Hellboy from the beginning Yeah, that's a fun thread. I like Usagi Yojimbo more, but Hellboy is a great series. And obviously I love the Lobster Johnson series ( Lobster Johnson: Metal Monsters of Midtown out on May 25th! ). I may have to seek out your advice on what to start with. If I know the basics of Hellboy and BPRD, is there any required reading beyond jumping right into Lobster Johnson? |
|
|
|
Post by usagigoya on Feb 12, 2016 13:07:42 GMT -5
And now there's no going back. heh heh heh!
|
|
|
|
Post by lobsterjohnson on Feb 12, 2016 13:21:03 GMT -5
Yeah, that's a fun thread. I like Usagi Yojimbo more, but Hellboy is a great series. And obviously I love the Lobster Johnson series ( Lobster Johnson: Metal Monsters of Midtown out on May 25th! ). I may have to seek out your advice on what to start with. If I know the basics of Hellboy and BPRD, is there any required reading beyond jumping right into Lobster Johnson? The first Lobster Johnson book, The Iron Prometheus, takes place late in Lobster's career and involves the main villain of the BPRD: Plague of Frogs story cycle. It can be read alone, though, as it explains everything pretty well. However, I would recommend starting Lobster Johnson at book 2: The Burning Hand. This one takes place right at the start of Lobster's career and can be read entirely on its own. After that, the Lobster books go in chronological order through his career. The Burning Hand starts in February 1932, and the latest issue, The Glass Mantis, takes place in April 1935. In my opinion, the Lobster stories illustrated by Tonci Zonjic ( Burning Hand, Caput Mortuum, and Get the Lobster) are the best, but they're all great. The next issue, The Forgotten Man, is out on March 30, and the three issue Metal Monsters of Midtown is out on May 25, and this one is illustrated by Tonci Zonjic (yay!). There's a reading order for all of the Mignola stuff on multiversitycomics.com somewhere, but I can't find it. I'm not sure if their new site has a search bar. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2016 14:04:28 GMT -5
And now there's no going back. heh heh heh!
I...I don't know what this is, *pleasebegentle*, but I like it. |
|
|
|
Post by usagigoya on Feb 12, 2016 16:09:04 GMT -5
heh heh heh!
I...I don't know what this is, *pleasebegentle*, but I like it. This was a commission I got from Batton Lash several years ago featuring his characters Wollf and Byrd along with Jei-san.
Supernatural Law is another of the many excellent creator owned comics which not enough people know about....
A pin-up Stan did which was published in an issue of Supernatural Law
An illustration which accompanied a letter Stan sent to Batton Lash and which was published in one of the letter columns.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2016 17:55:43 GMT -5
I...I don't know what this is, *pleasebegentle*, but I like it. This was a commission I got from Batton Lash several years ago featuring his characters Wollf and Byrd along with Jei-san.
Supernatural Law is another of the many excellent creator owned comics which not enough people know about....
A pin-up Stan did which was published in an issue of Supernatural Law
An illustration which accompanied a letter Stan sent to Batton Lash and which was published in one of the letter columns.
Oh! New thing I need. You people making me need new reads. I love those. Thank you for the info! |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Feb 12, 2016 18:21:57 GMT -5
I would recommend starting Lobster Johnson at book 2: The Burning Hand. Just added it to my Amazon wishlist. Thanks much |
|
shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
Posts: 22,860
|
Post by shaxper on Feb 12, 2016 18:40:08 GMT -5
Okay, my story:
Like a lot of Usagi fans, my first brush with the character came via the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. Actually, to be fully accurate, I never saw the actual episode with Usagi in it (surprising, as I was an avid fan who almost never missed an episode!), so I knew Usagi instead from the action figure and (thus) knew pretty much nothing about the character itself. I wouldn't even say it was a favorite figure of mine, or a figure that intrigued me in any way. I just knew of it.
Then, in the winter of 1990, my friend and I (who were both ten) visited a comic shop we'd never been to before that had a sort of "If you like the Ninja Turtles" display going on, and we were shocked to discover that two characters we knew from the show had their own actual comic books. My friend grabbed a few issues of Panda Khan, and I grabbed issues #4, 22, 24, and 25 of the original Usagi Yojimbo series (the only issues the shop had on that display).
To be honest, I don't think I read them then, or at least I have no recollection of doing so. It was more of a curiosity purchase, and I don't think I ever saw another issue of Usagi between that point and when I stopped collecting comics as an adolescent in 1994.
But, in 2002, I pulled out my old comic collection and rekindled my passion for the medium. Only a shortwhile after pulling out my old comics and moving them all into mine and my wife's tiny studio apartment, I stumbled upon my Usagi comics again and realized that I had absolutely no memory of the series. I was long done with the Turtles by this point (I never really rekindled my love for them, though I do enjoy the original Mirage run), but I decided I wanted to give Usagi a try, especially as I found it intriguing that the character on the covers really didn't match the figure I'd known in childhood.
I originally skipped reading #4 and #22, as they were later chapters in larger story lines, but #24 intrigued me (though it really wasn't focused on Usagi), and #25 ("The Bridge") positively took my breath away. I then doubled back to read #4 (the final chapters of "Samurai") and, even while having missed the beginning of Usagi's origin story, I knew from this issue that the series was something special. I sought out more info about the series on the web, discovered the original Dojo site, followed usagigoya's list of Usagi appearances religiously, and acquired a full run of every Usagi comic ever printed.
The rest is pretty much history.
What makes me an Usagi fan today? There just isn't anything else out there like it. It's the complete range of tone that draws me in the most -- you never know whether you're going to get the most light-hearted, endearing story ever or the darkest, most dire one. Some stories are sweeping epics that knock you off your feat, and others are charming or memorable done-in-one's. Usagi is just the complete package, and even a single issue can provide me with moments where I'm turning the pages at the speed of sight in order to keep up with the action, and then pages where I'll spend five minutes savoring the tone depicted in a single panel. Usagi just has and does everything in a way that no other comic can. I don't know any other work with that kind of range except maybe Hugo Pratt's Corto Maltese or Don Rosa's The Life & Times of Scrooge McDuck. Like them, Usagi is a masterpiece that I will never stop appreciating.
In 2002, when I first went online to find out more about the series, I remember almost praying in my mind "please still be in print; please still be in print!". Fourteen years later, I'm still every bit as grateful that there's new Usagi hitting the shelves ten times a year.
Thank you, Stan.
|
|
)
