Usagi Yojimbo returning with new series and more

Dark Horse Comics is welcoming back an old friend. Usagi Yojimbo is back with a brand new monthly as well as some new collected editions that are musts for fans.

Created by the legendary Stan Sakai, Usagi Yojimbo has been around for a good long time now. The rabbit samurai has fought his way through over 200 issues and 30 years of action, set in an animalized version of old Japan. Now Sakai’s masterwork has gotten the nod for a new mini-series from Dark Horse that’ll see the character and his world take on a very different sci-fi bent.

Twenty years in his future, Miyamoto Usagi fights as a general for Lord Noriyuki, against the treacherous Lord Hikiji. In the fury of the final battle, a metal rocket crashes to earth—and inside is an enemy that neither side could have ever imagined! Witness the final fates of your favorite Usagi characters, in this all-new samurai epic with a startling science fiction twist!

Also on the way to celebrate the 30th year of the rabbit ronin is a special series of books under the The Usagi Yojimbo Saga name. Spread out over three volumes the Saga is a master collection of deluxe compilations  of the character’s best tales. Volume 1 will focus on Usagi as he “protects a village from a band of assassins, reluctantly engages in a duel for blood money, hunts a gangster who has stolen his swords, and more”.

In total, The Usagi Yojimbo Saga will collect Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 2 #1–#16 and Vol. 3 #1–#6. That’s over 600 pages and a perfect collector’s treasure trove of Sakai’s work (and more than a little samurai action). Expect to see both hard and softcover editions of The Usagi Yojimbo Saga on the shelves of your favorite comics and/or bookstore this October the 15th.

As for the new monthly mini-series, look for Usagi Yojimbo: Senso #1 to slice into comic racks on August 6th.