Sakia's 2nd Graphic Novel with Drawing
Usagi Yojimbo: Book One
Publication: Agoura, CA: Fantagraphics Books, 1987. First Edition.
Notes: A landmark graphic novel: the first of what would become 40-odd Usagi Yojimbo books. This first volume collects stories from Albedo (a legendary independent comic), Critters, Doomsday Squad, and Usagi Yojimbo Summer Special.
Usagi Yojimbo is one of the longest-running comics series written and illustrated by a single artist, spanning 250 comic book issues over four decades. This is a young adult samurai epic set in the Edo period in Japan, with animals replacing humans (the title translates to Rabbit Bodyguard after the main character, a ronin, or masterless samurai). Rather than one continuous narrative, Sakai writes and illustrates vignettes, short stories, and novel-length sequences about his characters and their world. Sakai's characters have crossed over into the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics, another anthropomorphic samurai series, and have won a number of Eisner and Harvey awards. The Netflix series, Samurai Rabbit, is based on Usagi Yojimbo characters.
Sakai (born Sutan Sakai in Kyoto, Japan, in 1953) was raised in Hawaii and lives in California.
See Rothschild, Graphic Novels: A Bibliographic Guide to Book-length Comics, 209.
[6], 146 pages.
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing, with a numberline ending in 1). A fine copy in wrappers (minute edge wear). This copy comes from the collection of cartoonist Bob Foster, who drew The History of Moosekind for Marvel's Crazy in the 1970s and later worked for Hanna-Barbera and Disney Publications, among other animation and cartooning jobs.
Sakai signed this copy in the year of publication with a nice drawing of the title character and his small dinosaur-shaped pet, Spot.
First printings of this Book One are uncommon; it was reprinted many times and was later reissued in hardcover. Copies signed with early drawings are particularly hard to come by.
Item No: #366188
Price: $600