Part of Series
Volume Two of the new series sees Usagi return to his home province to pay his respects, but ghosts from his past have other plans. In "Tatami," Usagi returns to his home province only to find intrigue and betrayal! An important tea ceremony is about to take place, but what sinister plan does Lord Hikiji have for it and how are the Neko ninja clan involved? Then, in "Mon," long ago, Lord Hikiji defeated Usagi's Lord Mifune to take control of the Northern Province. Usagi, now traveling through his old territories, still wears the mon (a family crest) of his former lord. But, there are those who still remember the Great Wars with bitterness and threaten to kill any samurai loyal to Mifune. What happens when they come across Usagi? In "The Return," Usagi is on a pilgrimage to his late lord's gravesite, however, wearing the Mifune clan crest in Lord Hikiji's territory has made him an enemy. Traveling through this dangerous land he has made his way to the one place he had been avoiding—the village in which he grew up. Bittersweet memories awaken with his long-time love, until the village becomes embroiled in a plot to assassinate an emissary of the shogun. Collects issues #8-14 of the all-new full-color Usagi Yojimbo series published by IDW and features an Introduction by artist Peach Momoko.
Author
Stan Sakai (Japanese: 坂井 スタンSakai Sutan; born May 25, 1953) is an artist who became known as an Eisner Award-winning comic book originator. Born in Kyoto, Sakai grew up in Hawaii and studied fine arts at the University of Hawaii. He later attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He and his wife, Sharon, presently reside and work in Pasadena. He began his career by lettering comic books (notably Groo the Wanderer by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier) and became famous with the production of Usagi Yojimbo, the epic saga of Miyamoto Usagi, a samurai rabbit living in late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth-century Japan. First published in 1984, the comic continues to this day, with Sakai as the lone author and nearly-sole artist (Tom Luth serves as the main colorist on the series, and Sergio Aragonés has made two small contributions to the series: the story "Broken Ritual" is based on an idea by Aragonés, and he served as a guest inker for the black and white version of the story "Return to Adachi Plain" that is featured in the Volume 11 trade paper-back edition of Usagi Yojimbo). He also made a futuristic spin-off series Space Usagi. His favorite movie is Satomi Hakkenden (1959).
