Eat Sleep Geek

The Ronin Rabbit is turning 25 this year, and the good folks at Dark Horse Comics are helping him kick off a quarter century in print with style. For the first time ever fans of the long eared Samurai will get a full length graphic novel. I can’t possibly imagine why it took Dark Horse 25 years to give the world’s fuzziest Samurai a graphic novel all of his own, but I guess it’s better to get it after 25 years than never.

The graphic novel titled Usagi Yojimbo:Yokai will tell the story of Yojimbo’s quest to help a desperate woman find her kidnapped daughter. The Yokai, the demons, monsters, and spirits of Japanese folklore have kidnapped the girl with intentions of using her soul to allow their army to enter the world of the living, and Yojimbo, who’s been joined by Sasuke the Demon Queller must stop them from entering our plane. Dark Horse has promised a book full of adventure and intrigue in a supernatural world where readers and samurai alike will learn that things are never as they seem.

As icing on the birthday cake (no pun intended) Stan Saiki will be writing, hand painting, and lettering the whole book. In his own words:

Yokai is my most ambitious project to date–writing, drawing, and painting a standalone story that is a good introduction for new readers and expands on the Usagi storyline to appeal to longtime fans. I also had a great time researching the folklore and legends of Japan from its malevolent spirits to its goofier creatures,

We’ll be sure to give you the updates on this as the details (and hopefully little bits of the artwork too) are made available. This instant hardcover classic will hit stores in November.