To celebrate thirty years of Usagi Yojimbo, and to raise donations for the series’ creator Stan Sakai, Dark Horse have today announced The Stan Sakai Project. An oversized hardcover, the project will feature a number of different creators as they pay tribute to the character and series. All proceeds from the book will go to Sakai himself.

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A whole heap of people are taking part in this project, who’ll all be drawing the characters and stories from the series in their own style. Among those featured are Tim Sale, Mike Mignola, Art Adams, Matt Groening, Dave Gibbons, Allison Sohn, Alex Maleev, Walter Simonson, Richard Corben – an incredible range of creators will be involved.

Marking the thirty year anniversary of Usagi Yojimbo, the project also comes at a time when the entire comics industry are wishing Sakai the very best. This is a benefit comic, and all the proceeds from it will go directly to Sakai and his family during a difficult time. The Stan Sakai Project hardcover will be published on July 23rd.

Here’s a full press release:

The most amazing artists in the world have come together to celebrate thirty years of Stan Sakai’s marvelous samurai rabbit saga, Usagi Yojimbo, in a new oversized hardcover benefit book: The Sakai Project: Artists Celebrate Thirty Years of “Usagi Yojimbo”!

 

“It has been an absolute pleasure publishing Stan’s work over the years, and recently collaborating with him directly on 47 Ronin,” said Dark Horse’s president and founder, Mike Richardson. “With the thirtieth anniversary of his most beloved creation, Usagi, and in a time of need for Stan and his family, we are honored to publish this tribute to Stan and his work. We are donating all of the proceeds to Stan and his wife, Sharon. We hope you will join us in honoring one of the comics industry’s shining lights.”

 

The participating artists bring their own interpretations and their own styles to the subject, making this book a one-of-a-kind treasure.

 

The Sakai Project is produced in association with the Comic Art Professional Society (CAPS). All proceeds from this book will go to Stan and Sharon Sakai.

 

ADAM HUGHES | ALAIN MAURICET | ALEX MALEEV | ALLISON SOHN | ANDY GRENEN | ARTHUR ADAMS | BATTON LASH | BILL MORRISON | BRIAN CHING & MICHAEL ATIYEH | BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS | CARLOS D’ANDA & GABE ELTAEB | CHRIS SCALF | DAN PANOSIAN | DAVE GIBBONS | DAVID MACK | DOUG WHEATLEY | EDGAR DELGADO | ERIC POWELL | GABRIEL HARDMAN | GEOF DARROW | HOWARD CHAYKIN | JAN DUURSEMA | JEFF SMITH | JOYCE CHIN | MARK CRILLEY | MATT GROENING | MATT WAGNER | MICHAEL ALLRED | MICHAEL AVON OEMING | MICHAEL GOLDEN | MIKE KUNKEL | MIKE MIGNOLA | OSCAR MARTIN | PAUL GULACY | PAUL RENAUD | PHIL YEH | RICHARD CORBEN | SCOTT SHAW | SERGIO ARAGONÉS | STEPHANIE GLADDEN | TIM SALE | TOM MANDRAKE | TOM RICHMOND | WALTER SIMONSON | WILLIAM STOUT | & MORE!

 

Industry professionals, Dark Horse encourages your participation! The deadline for art submissions is February 20, 2014. For technical specifications and other information, e-mail Dark Horse at [email protected].

 

The Sakai Project will be released on July 23.

15 COMMENTS

  1. I’ve been reading UJ for almost two decades now, I’m definitely onboard for this. Sakai is an amazing creator, anything to help him and his family out in their time of need…

  2. Stan is probably the most gracious creator I ever met. I had the fortune of meeting him and his wife back in ’05 and both were the nicest of people. He made me this incredibly gorgeous sketch of Usagi which I’ll treasure forever. I wish him the best.

  3. Sakai is a total badass. Everyone should buy this book. I just hope the art isn’t simply a reprint of the recent Baltimore Con Sakai book.

  4. Good to see. I look forward to picking it up.

    Should also note that just about the entire run of USAGI is available on Dark Horse Digital, and several of the books are available for the Kindle on Amazon, and presumably Sakai will get a decent royalty from any sales.

  5. I’m sorry, I’m fairly out of the loop. Can someone tell me (or point me in the direction) of what’s going on with Stan Sakai that he needs a benefit? In any event, he’s an amazing cartoonist, and Usagi is a brilliant comic, so I’m more then willing to chip in.

  6. Y’know, it might be good if, at the same time, they actually committed to keeping USAGI in print properly — at any point somewhere between a quarter and a third of the volumes are OOP, making it extremely hard to sell the others….

    -B

  7. To add to Brian’s point, I just check Dark Horse’s website, and out of the 20 volumes of USAGI YOJIMBO they’ve published (vol. 8 to vol. 27), only three seem to be available to order, plus the ART OF USAGI and SPACE USAGI books. Hopefully this is an anomaly, and maybe there was a sudden run on the books to help Sakai with his financial problems, but it really should be rectified. For the record, all seven of the earlier Fantagraphics books seem to be in print, so anyone wanting to start the book can get those, and hopefully Dark Horse will get the later ones back in print.

  8. I have been slowly reading my way through the Usagi Yojimbo comics on Dark Horse App. Would love to know if Dark Horse are sending more of the proceeds directly to help Stan and his wife. Plus it would give me a bigger excuse to catch up and buy the whole caboodle.

  9. His wife’s ill and his young grandson died just recently. Something like this, aside from the financial assistance, has got to help bring his spirits up a little.

  10. When I spoke to Stan at this past year’s Baltimore Comic-Con he said that Dark Horse was planning on putting out some USAGI omnibus volumes.

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