This episode host Ed Moore discusses The Doors from Usagi Yojimbo Color Special 2 published by Fantagraphics Books in September 1991.
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This episode host Ed Moore discusses The Doors from Usagi Yojimbo Color Special 2 published by Fantagraphics Books in September 1991.
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Another great podcast!
A couple pieces of trivia about this story and the Usagi stories in the other two Usagi Yojimbo Color Specials from Fantagraphics…..
Even though these three stories were published by Fantagraphics well before Stan Sakai moved to Dark Horse Comics, these stories were actually collected by Dark Horse in one of their reprint books rather than in any of the Fantagraphic books. They were not even included in the Usagi Yojimbo Special Edition two-volume omnibus edition from Fantagraphics.
The reason was because when Stan Sakai wrote the stories, he set them a little bit forward in Usagi’s future compared to the ongoing timeline of the regular issues. And as he continued to write new stories (for Fantagraphics, then for Mirage, and finally for Dark Horse), that future kept slipping back farther and farther.
Finally, these three stories were finally reprinted in Usagi Yojimbo Book 22 (Tomoe’s Story) in 2008. That was a full 19 years after the first Color Special was published and 17 years after this particular story. I guess you could say it took a while for the continuity of the regular issues to catch up with these three stories.
During those intervening years, Stan also managed to write an awesome story that works as a prequel to this story, a three-part story where Usagi and fan-favorite cast member Sasuke the Demon-queller have their first encounter with a strange Sumi-e paint set, a story which is collected in 2004’s Usagi Yojimbo Book 18 (Travels with Jotaro).