This is introductory book to our intrepid hero, Miyamoto Usagi. We follow him as he wanders the Japan and from one short story to another we slowly discover more details about Usagi's past (how he became ronin in the first place, after that faithful day on the battlefield where his lord was betrayed), and in parallel we are introduced to a list of what will definitely be recurring characters (like Tomoe, Gen, the blind pig swordsman, various ninja clans etc).

Art wise, it reminds me a lot of Aragones' Groo (later I found out that Stan Sakai worked on Gru :)) but with a great difference - pages are much more calmer (in Groo you had pages that were just overcrowded - to the extreme). Character design is on a cartoonish side (again very much like Groo) and this is somewhat in the contrast with the seriousness of the story itself. All in all art works for me, I especially like it is all black and white (which I think works wonders for these types of comics).

It is obvious that inspiration for the story is in action martial arts movies and I like the way pages and action are organized, it feels very cinematic. Entire book is collection of short stories, no large story arc is present here. I like short story collections but sometimes repetition can "kill" the enjoyment (for example overdose of Conan related short stories) but here author manages to avoid this and make every story stand on its own (and make it work with varying lengths of the pages).

Very interesting comic, as I said do not get sidetracked by rather cartoonish art - all stories are very serious, with some comic relief (especially between Gen and Usagi) but deadly consequences as well.

Highly recommended to all fans of adventure stories (and if you happen to like Japan setting there is an additional plus to it :)) ( )

4,0
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This collection has been reviewed so many times by so many people that I don't believe I can add anything new. The black-and-white art is amazing and Stan Sakai has a wonderful way of showing action. He blends Japanese history in his writing and the stories are wonderful! I love the idea of a ronin wondering the country while upholding his principles in a world where it's very difficult to stay true to one's values. Oh, and Miyamoto Usagi is a rabbit. Did I already mention that bit?

I've been reading Usagi Yojimbo in trade format for about 20 years. I believe I first read this one in the late 90s when Fantagraphics put the first trades back into print. Since then I buy one or two trade collections every few years and start reading again from this one.

I'm well past trade collection #7 as I restart this reading and I think I'll probably accelerate my purchases and reading because I've given up trying to buy them new. I so far behind that I've had to go through an online reseller site to find the ones where I left off. But that's good for me as I find new homes for these used copies. ( )

Honestly, I could read Stan Sakai's books everyday for the rest of my life. Easily the best comic project ever. ( )

Read this at the request of my friend and colleague Stueve. I don't gravitate toward comics and graphic novels on my own--I always need a good shove at them. I could see my nephews loving this, as it takes place in Japan and they lived there for four years. Usagi's adventures are engaging, and the writing is solid. I enjoyed Vol I enough that I'm set to read Vol II over Christmas break. ( )