Usagi Yojimbo: Senso #3
Dark Horse
Words and Pictures:
Stan Sakai

I know I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but mash-ups are my jam.  I dig ‘em.  So it makes complete sense that I would be into Usagi Yojimbo: Senso.  Samaurai/ninja action with a sci-fi alien invasion from the heavens all in an anthropomorphic setting.  Tasty.

I’ve read this issue several times already, for a number of reasons.  First, it’s cool.  Second, it reads really quickly.  It’s kind of like when one of your favorite movies happens to be on so you sit down to watcha little bit of it, and the next thing you know the end credits are rolling.  That’s a quality experience.  And those twenty three pages just fly by.  It’s a literal page turner.  When you’re opening scene is Usagi tearing through town on horseback telling folks to run while a giant Three-Walker rains down destruction behind him, you know things are going down.

Clearly in a book with octopod aliens commanding giant mechanical walkers, the action is going to be up front, and it is.  But there’s some genuinely funny moments as well (the attempt on Usagi’s life for instance.  Well played sir.)  There’s also some genuine personal moments that remind us, while yes, seeing samaurai fight all out with aliens is super fun to look at, it’s still war and there are still sacrifices that are made.  By dialing in the focus a time or two on certain characters, this idea that it’s people who fight and die in any conflict… even if they have the face of a rhino.

And yes, I admit it.  I feel a bit like an idiot for not checking out Usagi Yojimbo before now.  Stan Sakai delivers.  Period.  I’m really digging this series.  And way to leave us hanging at the end there, Mr. Sakai.  Geesh.

4.5 out of 5 Scampering Lizards