Almost. Through. The. Day.
Of course once the working day is done, there’s a good six inches of heavy snow at home that needs clearing. Yikes.
- Back: Makeshift Miracle. Yay.
- Coming soon: Wasted Talent book 3. Do not step to Jam, she will slash you.
- Won’t somebody please think of the children: Ryan North and David Malki! are at loggerheads. Heavens preserve us.
- Time jump resolved: 90 years.
- Anybody that’s been in comics — creating or reading — learns pretty quickly that there’s possibly no creator more respected and beloved than Stan Sakai, creator of Usagi Yojimbo. Sakai has meticulously researched and presented Japan during the Shogun’s peace, with dress, social standings, customs, culture, and conflict all presented with the highest standards of accuracy¹ — and if the characters who inhabit this feudal Japan are all anthropomorphic animals, well, that’s okay.
Nobody draws panels and action sequences that are as easy to follow as Sakai, nobody has as fluid and organic a line as Sakai, nobody has kept an independent creation going for per-near thirty years with the consistency and quality that Sakai has. It should go without saying that in person, he is the most gracious and kindly of people; he is like a beloved uncle to entire convention halls.
Unfortunately, Sakai has had some horrible months of late; his wife, Sharon, has been struggling with a severe illness that has depleted their insurance, and just before the new year his infant grandson died in his sleep. A benefit to defray the medical costs has been set up through the Cartoonist Art Professional Society, and last week Dark Horse announced a 30th anniversary tribute book to Usagi Yojimbo, all proceeds to benefit the Sakais.
If you’re a creator and can contribute art to the CAPS project (which will be auctioned), please do so. If you want to contribute to the Dark Horse book, please do so.
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¹ Did use knowledge of Tokugawa-era Japan gleaned from Usagi Yojimbo when touring Osaka to make a tour guide wonder how the hell I knew about the hollyhock crest and the relative power centers of Edo, Kyoto, and clan centers? Maaaaybe.
[…] off. The demands of keeping up with weather kept me from noticing details in things I referenced yesterday, so let’s play […]
By Fleen: Try Our Thick, Creamy Shakes » Twenty Centimeters Of Wet Snow Yesterday; One Centimeter Of Ice Expected Tonight. Somebody Kill Me. on 02.04.14 6:15 pm
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