Fantagraphics Blog Mike Baehr

The Seattle Weekly asked hometown 'tooners Peter Bagge, Jeremy Eaton (who did the cover, above), Pat Moriarity and Jessixa Bagley to comment on Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn's first year in office in comics form. (Thanks to Larry Reid for the tip-off!)

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions: • List: David Wolkin names some memorable comics he read this year: "It hurts to read [It Was the War of the Trenches], but Jacques Tardi’s renderings are still quite beautiful as far as I’m concerned, which makes the whole thing that much more painful." "Blazing Combat blew my mind. […] The only thing this book has to say is that war is always terrible and people always die… Most of the stories are written by Archie Goodwin, but are duties are handled by a whole mess of the greats, including John Severin, Gene Colan,…

Tony Millionaire! Drinky Crow! Art show! At Scott Eder Gallery in Brooklyn, opening Jan. 28, reception 6-9 PM. Mark yer calendars. More details when we get 'em. UPDATE 1/14/11: The full press release with all the details is here.

This interview was conducted by Fantagraphics' Eric Buckler, making his Flog debut. Thanks to Eric and Stan!

Stan Sakai has crafted the adventures of his Ronin Samurai rabbit, Usagi Yojimbo, for more than 25 years. He has made Usagi one of the most recognizable "funny animals" or anthropomorphic characters in the comics universe through his unique storytelling and peerless craft. Usagi wanders through Edo period (1600s) Japan, running into the likes of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird) and Groo The Wanderer (Sergio Aragones). Sakai's work has been praised by the likes of Stan Lee and been awarded three Eisners for storytelling, overall talent, and lettering. Fantagraphics released a special commemorative edition of the first seven books of Usagi's travels last month.

ERIC BUCKLER: What is it like to revisit some of those first stories?

STAN SAKAI: I re-read them and I was quite pleased at how well they read. These were stories that I had done 25 years ago, even more. They really read coherently and they still play a part in the Usagi saga that I have been telling. You can tell how much the character has matured since then, of course, but I am quite pleased at how well the stories worked.

BUCKLER: What do you think Usagi Yojimbo has contributed to the pop-culture image of the samurai?

SAKAI: I think it has made comic-book readers more aware of the true samurai culture, even though we are talking about a rabbit samurai. It is because I have tried to keep the spirit of the samurai in my stories, both in the research of the history of Japan as well as its culture. I try to convey that.

BUCKLER: How much of you is in Usagi? Do you and the rabbit share a lot of qualities?

SAKAI: He is very idealized. I would like to think that Usagi has a bit of me in him. I have worked with him for a long time, and I think I have infused more of myself into him. You can see that his personality has changed from the early days; back then he was a bit more stoic, a bit more reserved. Now he is more engaging, he just seems to be more well-rounded now. I think it has to do with both my getting familiar with the character as well as — like you said — perhaps there is part of myself included in Usagi.

BUCKLER: So you feel like you guys have aged well together? [Sakai laughs].

Which elements do you think set Usagi Yojimbo apart from other anthropomorphic characters both in comics and elsewhere?

SAKAI: Well he is unique; physically there is no other samurai character that has his ears tied. So that sets him apart, as well as, I think, putting a character in an actual historical and cultural setting. I built walls around it and the walls are made by the history and the culture of Japan. But I try to keep it as a fantasy series. I can't really tell you what sets him apart from other anthropomorphic characters. I like to think it's the quality of the artwork as well as the writing. My wife was telling me that the artwork might attract new readers, but it's the quality of the writing that keeps them coming back every month.

BUCKLER: What was the most memorable moment for you in the first seven books as far as story genesis?

SAKAI: My favorite story is the kite story and that is in Book 5, and that for me was a turning point. That was the first time I did a lot of research for my stories and that story took about a period of two or three years. I had bought a book on Japanese kite making, and thought, " Oh, it will be nice to make a story about kites one day." But it wasn't until a year or so later that I was sketching in my sketchbook, and drew Usagi being lifted by a kite and that sparked the idea; I can do a story around this drawing. I dug out that kite-making book and did a bunch more research, and the story about kites came together. It's still one of my very favorite stories. It is told from the viewpoint of three characters — a kite maker, gamblers and Usagi. I told the process of making an odako, giant kite, for a festival. The gamblers come to town, and start cheating the people. Usagi comes to see the festival, and exposes the gamblers. Then the action begins.

BUCKLER: I love it when you go through and follow the manufacturing of the kite. That is really great.

SAKAI: For me I think that was a big turning point in my approach to doing Usagi; before then it was pretty much an action/adventure series, a fantasy series. But it was with the kite story that I really did put a lot of research and time into my storytelling.

The Last Rose of Summer by Monte Schulz cover illustration by Cathy Malkasian 332-page 6" x 9" hardcover • $29.99ISBN: 978-1-60699-401-6 Ships in: February 2011 (subject to change) — Pre-Order Now With the Great Depression looming and about to define America's next decade, three strong-minded women related by marriage form an uneasy household in the summer of 1929. Forced by her husband Harry to uproot their two small children from Illinois and take up residence in East Texas, Marie Hennessey struggles to find a place not only within her mother-in-law's home but in a Southern town whose troubling unfamiliarities compound…

Today's Online Commentary & Diversions from Publishers Weekly, John Porcellino and other sources: • List: Publishers Weekly Comics Week posts the results of their Fifth Annual Critics Poll, with 5 of our titles placing with 2 votes each (and a bunch of honorable mentions): "Castle Waiting Volume 2 by Linda Medley… The simplest actions — moving into another room, raising a child — are enlivened by being placed in an exceptionally illustrated fantasy environment, full of unusual outcasts who've formed a family. The cast is immensely appealing, both visually and through well-written dialogue. […] Always a pleasurable read underlined by…

A brilliantly awesome tribute to Igloo Tornado's Henry & Glenn Forever. Please, Johnny, please do a whole comic of this.

Something interesting that recently popped up in our Flickr group pool: Jeffrey Meyer created this artwork titled "Edit: Maze" by carefully carving up a copy of Daniel Clowes's Eightball #22. See larger here.

Frank Santoro's "New Values," an exhibit of artwork inspired by and interpreting Greco-Roman mythology, opens on Thursday Jan. 20 at Dem Passwords in West Hollywood, CA.