Usagi Yojimbo

Just got my first trade paperbacks of Usagi Yojimbo (volumes 1 and 2). You can really see the influence of Sergio Aragones in Stan Sakai's work (Stan has done lettering for Sergio's work since back in the day). Not a bad thing to have rub off. I think I naturally tend toward these more cartoony stylizations in my own comic work. Blame it on my earlier work as a gag cartoonist through my college years. To picture Usaji Yojimbo, basically take the old Japanese tales of Lone Wolf and Cub, Yojimbo, etc and cross them with cartoon animals and you have the jist of the comic series.

I like the compilation of short stories in these books. The original comics must've had 2-3 tales in them. All the stories stand on their own, but also move the global story forward. Lenore by Roman Dirge is sort of like this too in its more recent incarnation. Though the first installment of the Peck is 24 pages, I think I will do this in the future as well.