Adam Gallardo: Correct me if I'm wrong, the first issue of Usagi came out from Fantagraphics in 1991?
Stan Sakai: You are wrong.
AG: I am wrong, excellent.
SS: His first appearance was in 1984 in a comic book called Albedo, issue #2 and so that means in about a year and a half, it will be the 20th anniversary of Usagi. But the first Usagi comic book, you're right, did come out from Fantagraphics. That was the summer special. But before that he appeared in Critters on Fantagraphics, and like I said, Albedo.
AG: So between 1984 and 1991 were you doing other characters or were you just concentrating on getting the first issue of Usagi done?
SS: Mainly Usagi, but I also dabbled with other characters such as Nilson Groundthumper & Hermy. In fact, I think there may be a Nilson Groundthumper trade collection coming up from Dark Horse in about a year or so.
AG: Oh really? I didn't know about that.
SS: Yeah, yeah. Well, this is something very preliminary. Diana [Schutz, Sakai's editor at Dark Horse] and I were just talking about it. She says, "It's a go." and I said, "Well sure, it's a go for me, too." All that's left is just sitting down and collecting all the stuff.
AG: Is this all art work you still have or does it exist only as film somewhere?
SS: I have every page of Usagi artwork that I did. Usagi and Nilson. Except for the covers.
AG: Really?
SS: Yes. I have... I don't sell my story pages.
AG: I had no idea.
SS: Yeah, I sell some art on the Dark Horse Gallery website, some sketches and things from Usagi, and some miscellaneous covers. But there are no print published story pages.
AG: Is that just so it's easily collected or is there another reason you're doing that?
SS: Gee, I don't know.
AG: [Laughs] OK.
SS: I just never sold any of them.
AG: Right.
I was reading some things on the Web about you and I read a newspaper article that actually accompanied the last batch of sketches you sent for the DH Gallery. And I read that you were born in Japan.
SS: Um hum.
AG: But that your father is a Hawaiian Native?
SS: No, no, no, no. My dad -- well I'm third generation Japanese-American. My grandparents came from Japan and then settled in Hawaii. And my dad was stationed in Japan after WWII. Met my mom there and they got married and I was born in Japan; Kyoto.
AG: I see.
SS: My older brother was born in Tokyo.
AG: On a military base there?
SS: Um, by the time I was born he was all ready out of the service. And they just traveled around Japan for awhile. Before going back to Hawaii where my dad was from.
AG: Right. Well I was asking this because you obviously have a love of Japanese culture and history. And I'm wondering, is that something you picked up on your own or has there always been an interest in your family for the culture of Japan?
SS: Well I grew up in Hawaii and you know Hawaii has a huge Asian population. Part of the Japanese culture was always around me. There was a movie theater just down the street from where I lived that showed Samurai movies every Saturday. And you know, I'd be there every Saturday and pretty much I just grew up in the culture.
AG: So it's not something that you had to go back and re-discover.
SS: I actually had to do that too. Most of my research comes second hand from books and videos and such.
AG: How old were you the first time you returned to Japan?
SS: My family left Japan when I was three years old and I didn't gone back until 1998. I was a guest of the Osama Tezuka studios. Tezuka created Astro Boy and Kimba and all those. And the studio invited my wife and myself along with a couple of other cartoonists, for an International Symposium. And I got to meet, besides the Tezuka studio people, I got to meet publishers as well as animators and other artists. So that was really nice. So, I also got to, the also took us around as tourists. We had a great time.
AG: Is your work read in Japan?
SS: It's not translated into Japanese, no.
AG: Oh.
SS: I don't believe there's been an American comic book that has made any type of impact on the Japanese Manga market. American comic books have been published in Japan, but you know, they've been issued by smaller publishers and on a very small scale.
AG: Right. I remember that for awhile Dark Horse was trying to make a go of publishing in Japan.
SS: Um hum.
AG: And it, it didn't work out.
SS: Yeah.
AG: Did your trips in Japan renew your interest in the history of Japan?
SS: Oh yeah. I mean it was great. One of the things we did was made it a point to make a Pilgrimage to the Tokugawa Shrine at a Niko National Park and that's something I always wanted to do, so we got to do that. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of winter. But it was crazy. It was snowing and it was just gorgeous.
AG: Right. Cool.
SS: Yeah, there were a lot of snow monkeys too.
AG: Monkeys?
SS: Yeah, after we got back we were seeing all these reports on the news about all these snow monkeys in the area attacking tourists for their food.
AG: Oh, (laughter)
SS: Hey, that's where we were!
AG: But you avoided that?
SS: Yeah we didn't know anything about that. We just thought, "Oh, how cute, snow monkeys."
AG: Usagi seems to be one of the few titles on the stands that, well, it's not aimed at kids but it seems very friendly to kids. An adult wouldn't have to worry about handing their kid this book.
SS: You are right. Uh huh.
AG: Is that something that you do intentionally?
SS: No.
AG: It just happens naturally?
SS: It just happens because basically I don't write to any specific audience except for myself.
AG: Right.
SS: And these are just types of stories I would like to read. But you're right, it has, you know, mass appeal. Just this year, Usagi received an American Library Association award. Which is kind of neat. I did a library tour in Hawaii at about a dozen libraries and I'm actually doing another library presentation in October here in Pasadena.
AG: Do you find kids responding to Usagi?
SS: Yeah. Very much so.
AG: Do you think it helps that it's anthropomorphic?
SS: You know, it might be. It might be a little friendlier, kid friendly, just because it is funny animals, but I just draw funny animals because I think they're pretty fun.
AG: (laughter)
SS: They're kind of cool.
AG: Have you ever thought about doing things that aren't anthropomorphic?
SS: Oh yeah.
AG: And I know you have done certain things but I guess I was asking about maybe doing a bigger project.
SS: Um, no. I'm not interested. I really enjoy working with Usagi. I would, you know, take on other projects but just as on a short term basis. Such as the eight-pager I did for Star Wars Tales, the Grendel story that I illustrated for "Red, White and Black."
AG: I looked through the issues today that are going to be collected in Shrouded Moon. And they're all shorter stories.
SS: Right.
AG: I think the longest one is two issues; is that a pattern you like to follow where you do a long arc followed by shorter stories ?
SS: Exactly. The newer readers seem to like the shorter stories. It's a great jumping on point for newer readers.
AG: Right.
SS: Where as the older readers seem to enjoy the longer stories because I can do a lot more with them. I do a lot more research and do more character development. So like I said, the shorter stories are great jumping on points for newer readers. Also, the shorter stories set up the longer epics. I mean, characters that appear in the shorter stories would, you know, become major characters in the longer stories.
AG: Right. That was actually something I wanted to ask you about. A lot of times, reading a story, I realize that you've brought in a character or a theme that you first introduced years ago. Is that difficult for you to keep track of everything you've...?
SS: Not, no, not for me. I can do that because you know, I write and draw everything. So I can set up a situation or start a thread that won't be fulfilled or realized until years down the way. Such as, I just finished the duel at Kitanoji shrine in issue #60 of Usagi. But that was set up way back in issue #7. Which is what, about five years ago?
AG: Right.
SS: And there've been characters there that I introduced that, you know, I haven't brought back, but I do have plans for them.
AG: Okay. Do you ever re-read your work?
SS: Ah, yeah occasionally.
AG: When you do, do you ever stumble upon a character that you think; "I should bring him..."?
SS: [Laughs] Um, sometimes but more it's , I just think of a situation and say; "Hey, this character might be nice in it." The current story arch I'm working on now, I re-introduced some other main characters but then I also introduce some new characters. It's more a case of just, you know, finding a story and finding a character that fits into that story.
AG: Right. Do you ever find yourself giving into pressure from fans who want to see certain characters?
SS: Ah, once in a great while. The priest Sanshobo was just introduced in a four page story way back in issue #4 of the Dark Horse run, and I think that character got the most reader response; favorable reader response, I ever had. So I brought him back and made him a prominent player in the "Grasscutter II" story. So even Gen; Gen the Bounty Hunter; which you know has a big presence in Shrouded Moon, started off as a one shot character and you know, I got a lot of reader response and I really liked him myself, so I developed him a lot more. Gave him a back story and, yeap, like I said, he plays a prominent part in Shrouded Moon now.
AG: So what is going to happen in Usagi past the duel?
SS: Past the duel? Usagi and Jotaro are traveling around together for awhile to get to know each other a bit better. Usagi's in a dilemma whether to tell Jotaro that Jotaro is really his son.
AG: Right.
SS: And along the way they have adventures. They meet up with a lot of characters, friends from Usagi's pass. So it just seems to Jotaro, you know, Usagi knows everybody. And these are characters from, you know different walks of life. Right now I'm working with a story in which they meet up with the thief; Kitsune. In another story, they meet the Ninja; Chizu. And further on down the line, they'll meet the Lone Goat & Kid again.
AG: Oh, (laughter) great. Now I've seen in different places sketches of a modern day character you've worked on as the descendant of...?
SS: Oh yeah. I did a series of stories about Usagi's descendants and...basically, it follows the ownership of Usagi's swords. And the present day descendant, the contemporary descendant, is an Investigative Journalists called Terry Miyamoto. She owns Usagi's swords and the story that she's involved in is like a murder mystery. A who-done-it based upon Agatha Christie's "Ten Little Indians." It's a story I never finished.
AG: It's not something you plan to finish?
SS: Well I would like to. I had it all plotted out and a few of the pages were actually roughed in. But again, it's just that I don't have the time to do it.
You can do your part to defy the powers that be by picking up Usagi Yojimbo: Shrouded Moon, a 184-page trade paperback collection by Stan Sakai, which will be available in comics shops January 8.