If I were a comics creator, I would hate Stan Sakai.
The man has been drawing a funny animal comic for nearly 40 years now and hasn’t lost a step. He’s been coursing a path for the rabbit ronin Miyamoto Usagi for decades, and continues to execute some of the most exciting cartoons in the business.
Usagi Yojimbo #17 follows up on a fable from well into Sakai’s career, the 2003 “Usagi and the Tengu.” In a memory of his training, our young warrior battles a mystical Tengu and learns to temper his own limits. The Tengu, in a sign of mercy, chooses not to take Usagi’s hand, the pound of flesh wagered on the duel, but instead claims a marker. That debt comes due in Usagi Yojimbo #17 as the Tengu and all manner of yokai sit on the brink of war. The famed Yojimbo must help the mysterious Tengu Sojobo as the fate of Japan hangs in the balance.
Sakai has never worried much about world-ending stakes. Most of his stories are small affairs. A town or a family might be in danger, but it’s rooted in battles against bandits, not gods. The current arc, “Tengu War,” finds the creator at his most mystical. While folklore and legends have always been a part of Usagi Yojimbo, rarely have they been so front and center. Sakai pulls this off by tying the conflict into themes he has used time and time again. The disgraced warrior, tribes feuding over a border and Usagi’s steadfast sense of honor are the gears that keep this story turning.
These known elements allow Sakai to get more varied in his art and character designs. These aren’t sword fights with the same vaguely mountain-lion looking samurai Saki has drawn for years. It’s beastial mountain Tengu or whimsical sky Tengu, adding a jolt of new to the mixture. His paneling is consistent, valuing clarity above all else, betraying his beginnings as a letterer.
Where he excels, where he has always excelled, is in clear, clean action. While many modern comics use busy lines and chaotic layouts to emphasize movement and action, Sakai opts for a controlled, methodical approach. The duel between Usagi and the crowlike Buichi is a textbook example of how to sell a fight. Sakai pulls back to orient the reader on the location, and then pushes and pulls the characters through the scene. Thirteen panels over four pages, each precisely chosen to emphasize a slash, a parry or an ambush. It’s a skill honed through one of the most illustrious careers in the industry. It’s a skill that makes you curse at how simple he makes it look.
That’s the beauty of Sakia’s work. Usagi Yojimbo #17 is simply another notch on the most impressive belt in comics. He’s been doing this for years, and even now, he makes it look easy.
The bastard.
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
