Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #4 Review

 

Writer, Artist & Letterer: Stan Sakai

Colorist: Hi-Fi Colour Design

Cover Artists: Stan Sakai & Emi Fujii; Derek Chew; Mitsuhiro Arita

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Price: $4.99

Release Date: July 17, 2024

 

Inuyoshi captured Yukichi. The vicious leader doesn’t want competition from Gen, Stray Dog, and Usagi as his bounty hunters track the bandit Jimmu. Inuyoshi demands that Usagi and his friends leave town or he will kill Usagi’s cousin. Will Usagi, Gen, and Stray Dog do Inuyoshi’s bidding? Let's grab our katanas, charge into Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #4 and find out!

 

Story

While Gen drinks, the boy eats. Isamu lives on the streets, and can rarely afford seconds, let alone thirds. But Gen calls a halt to Isamu’s feasting and demands Yukichi’s location. Isamu wonders why Yukichi matters to them. Usagi explains that Yukichi is his cousin. The boy is envious, as no one looks out for a street urchin.

 

In Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #4, the latter includes the bounty hunter, Nobu, who asked Isamu to help capture Yukichi, then refused to pay the orphan. Nobu’s boss, Inuyoshi, waits to hear if Usagi, Gen, and Stray Dog have left the area. But Nobu insists it would be easier to kill Yukichi than wait to learn if Usagi and his friends have left them area. While Inuyoshi is dour and ruthless, Nobu believes the world owes him. So when a situation arises that would help him advance, he grabs it, regardless of the cost to others.

 

Like Inuyoshi, Usagi knows what it’s like to lose his clan. He wanders the land as a ronin, without a place or a people to call his own. Yukichi was an unexpected blessing: someone to share the journey with. So, while he worries about Yukichi, he empathizes with Isamu’s plight.

 

Stan Sakai fills his story with ruminations on family, loyalty, and honor, as Usagi takes another person under his wing. When imprisoned, Yukichi looks out for his adversaries. While bounty hunters fight over money and position, the bandit leader Jimmu attacks merchant caravan. Like Nobu, Jimmu is a harsh and brutal pragmatist. Inuyoshi is bitter over how his lord dismissed him. But in Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #4, the grim bounty hunter who has lost the joy of living must choose between the pragmatism that helped him survive and sacrificing his wealth and position to protect another’s interests. Or worse, a skull in a dialogue balloon hovering over his still body.

 

 

Art

Isamu smiles wide and his eyes drift closed as he eats. Usagi shares the boy’s smiles and offers gentle nudges. Amid this warmth and bonding, Gen acts as the strict taskmaster. The boy’s eyes bulge when Usagi hands the boy a gold Ryo. But it’s Usagi’s friend who makes sure the boy earns his reward in Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #4.

Hi-Fi Colour Design showcases brightly colored characters against brow, tan, beige, and gray as Usagi, Gen, and Stray Dog question Isamu in the North Inn. Even though he’s seated on the floor in the abandoned temple, Yukichi looks intense and driven as he makes his assertions. Nobu frowns as he argues. Dressed in orange and gray-blue, he clenches his fist as he grumbles. Despite not paying Isamu the money he owed him, and snitching Yukichi’s hefty purse, he’s unhappy that his leader, dressed in warm maroon and gray-blue, kneels before Yukichi.

 

In addition to his appealing characters and settings, Stan Sakai rewards readers with generously sized letters in white dialogue balloons. Raised voices swell and darken words, while colored question and exclamation marks join a skull in dialogue balloons. Amid the grunts, groans, and gasps, Sakai fills the air with the Pows and Wops that made the 1960s Batman TV show so much fun. And then there’s the immense samurai cries as Usagi and his friends crash the party in Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #4. Thanks to Dark Horse for providing a copy for review.

 

 

Final Thoughts

Stan Sakai muses on the importance of family, society’s need to care for orphans, and the link between money and happiness in Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #4.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #3 Review

 

Writer, Artist & Letterer: Stan Sakai

Colorist: Hi-Fi Colour Design

Cover Artists: Stan Sakai & Emi Fujii; Derek Chew; Mitsuhiro Arita

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Price: $4.99

Release Date: June 12, 2024

 

Inuyoshi captured Yukichi. The vicious leader doesn’t want competition from Gen, Stray Dog, and Usagi as his bounty hunters track the bandit Jimmu. Inuyoshi will kill Yukichi unless Usagi and his friends leave the area. But will Inuyoshi release Yukichi if Usagi, Gen, and Stray Dog agree to his terms? Let's grab our katanas, charge into Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #3 and find out!

 

Story

As Merchant Yamada’s convoy traverses a narrow mountain pass, Jiro assuages Masa's concerns by reminding him that mercenaries protect them on their journey. Like his fellow porter, Masa is tired and wishes Merchant Yamada paid them as much as he did the mercenaries. When the two porters spot a crow flying overhead, Jiro muses that the bandit Jimmu reportedly has a crow, just like his legendary namesake. Masa dismisses Jiro’s worries that the crow could be a scout for Jimmu. Crows are stupid. They have no sense of loyalty!

 

Despite the friends’ attempts to distract and comfort each other on the long journey, Jimmu has laid a trap for them. As Jimmu’s people attack and people die around them, Jiro and Masa help each other. As their end nears, the friends confess how they wronged each other. Then Jiro opts for a reckless escape, and Masa follows his lead.

 

In Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #3, Stan Sakai contrasts the need to survive versus the value of loyalty. Inuyoshi was once a samurai but became a ronin. The way his lord dismissed him embittered him. He admires strength and results, and those he hires emulate him. Two of his scouts worry about the cost of hiring additional bounty hunters to take on Jimmu’s organization. They comfort themselves that some new hires will die, leaving more of the bounty for them.

 

Jimmu also demonstrates how ruthlessness achieves results. Anyone who watches the news knows how vicious political battles can be. How many lords in Usagi's day began as bandits and built an organization so strong that others had to recognize their legitimacy? The legendary Jimmu was the first emperor who united the warring factions of Japan. The bandit in Sakai's story exhibits the organization and prowess necessary to become a rising power.

 

Much of Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #3 concerns Masa and Jiro, Jimmu and his crow, and Inuyoshi and his bandits. Usagi and Yukichi bear some blame for their predicament, as they rescued Jimmu from Inuyoshi’s bounty hunters earlier. Usagi’s history with Inuyoshi tells him the vicious ronin cannot be trusted. Yet what can he do? Even if Usagi knew where  Yukichi was, how could he rescue his cousin from the bounty hunters? Could Usagi prevent Inyoshi or his people from killing Yukichi in such an attempt? Or, for that matter, prevent them from freezing his cousin in carbonite?

 

 

 

Art

Stan Sakai shows the sheer cliff along which the merchant party travels. Evergreens dot the mountainside, their exposed roots clinging to the rocky slope. The convoy traverses the narrow path single-file, or two people walk together like Jiro and Masa. There are a few packhorses, and some porters pull a wagon. The porters carry heavy packs while the mercenaries walk unladen by extra weight. Unlike the mountain pass of Coradhras, snow covers the mountainside, but a storm doesn’t make the path impassable.

 

Jimmu displays none of the lightheartedness he showed Usagi and Yukichi. As his spy alights on his shoulder, Jimmu issues orders. Trees fall. Arrows fly. Warriors leap to attack, swords drawn. Jimmu’s bandits don’t resemble Uruk-hai, but they inspire the same fear. While others run and chaos explodes around them, Jiro and Masa look out for each other. When the end comes, Jiro and Masa grasp each other’s hand in Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #3.

 

Amid the white and gray mountains, Hi-Fi Colour Design helps characters pop by painting their clothing in bright colors. Yukichi brightens the gray and brown temple where Inuyoshi holds him captive. The surrounding greenery reminds us how the temple once contributed to the community. Intriguingly, the bounty hunter who brings Yukichi’s broken swords and relates Inuyoshi’s demand wears blue like Stray Dog and Usagi.

 

Stan Sakai rewards readers with generously sized letters in white dialogue balloons. Raised voices swell and darken words as trees crack and crash along the mountain pass. A boy's thoughts appear in a cloudy balloon, while colored question marks and exclamation marks join a skull in dialogue balloons. Thanks to Dark Horse for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

Fate offers Usagi a hand as an act of selfishness returns to bite Inuyoshi’s bounty hunters amid a powerful meditation on friendship and loyalty in Usagi Yojimbo: The Crow #3.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.