365 Days of Star Wars Comics, Day 334: Usagi Yo-yoda

Stan Sakai's variant cover for Star Wars #1, pencils and inks:


Variant cover of Star Wars (Marvel 2015 series) #1 (March 2015), pencils and inks by Stan Sakai
Colored version:
Colors by Tom Luth
And the finished cover:

Monday Night Murals: Who's to say where the wind will take you

Let's do a nice, simple, springtime mural today to celebrate the first week of spring! And what better time than spring for...flying kites!

Usagi Yojimbo (Dark Horse) #46-47 (March-April 2001), art by Stan Sakai and Tom Luth

(Click picture to kite-eating-tree-size)

Here's a lovely pastoral landscape from the world of Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo #47 and 46. Yep, I got those in the right order...if open up the issues and lay them down, the back and front of #47 go to the left of #46. This isn't Usagi's first encounter with kites:—there's an earlier comic called "A Kite Story" in the Fantagraphics Usagi #20:



I had a Batman kite when I was a tiny bull, but nothing like the wonderful colorful Japanese kites featured on these covers. Here's a great site on the creation, design, and multiple purposes of Japanese kites.

Now stop hanging around staring at a computer screen and go outside and fly one!

Bully's Sketchbook: Stan Sakai

Here's another wonderful drawing from my sketchbook...heck, it's one of my favorite sketches of all! At San Diego Comic-Con 2008, I was lucky enough to meet Mister Stan Sakai. Y'all know him as the creator/writer/artist of one of the Funnest Comics of All Time, Usagi Yojimbo, as well as the letterer on Groo the Wanderer. Stan was funny and pleasant and created a beautiful sketch of me that I prize tremendously: it's me as an Oushi Yojimbo!



Stan even posed for a photo with me (taken by the ever-delightful Lucy-Anne):



Arigato, Stan! You're tops in my book! And if you're interested in Stan's books, you can pick 'em up at your local bookstore or comic book store, on the official site, or at Amazon.com: