It’s Usagi Yojimbi! Awesome!
Moreover, it’s Space Usagi!
I still don’t understand why he never got his own spinoff show… It looks like a CG show was made in 2018, but it’s about one of his descendants in the future 😞
IIRC, it’s because Stan Sakai is a treasure of a human being, and didn’t want to sign a terrible deal that would have any lasting, negative effects on Usagi or his awesome readers. Might be a little off on the details, as it was 20+ years ago that he said as much on a convention Q&A panel.
Also, here’s the art that your post inspired!
Ahem, Ahem…Fuck Yeah!
That looks awesome dude! I was actually thinking they could have given him a really good spinoff from the 2003 series. The character had a lot more depth and they clearly took it much more seriously in that one! I grew up on the original 80s series but the 2003 run has always been my favorite lol
Right on! Same here 🤘🏽
Also, trivia time! Eastman & Laird were two unknown artists back in the day, getting salty about the recent success of a certain simplistic, stylized samurai comic when they decided: if ya can’t beat 'em, join 'em. With a healthy dash of occupational spite, a squad of juvenile irradiated reptiles and their oversized rodent sensei were born.
It wasn’t long before the two ran into Stan Sakai and learned that he, true to form, was a huge fan of their comics — and wanted to put together a crossover! The rest is history. 🤣🤗
Oh wow! I always thought TMNT was inspired by Frank Millers Daredevil run! There are so many similarities: ninja jumping across rooftops at night, an older martial arts mentor named after wood “Splinter/Stick”, a clan of ninja bad guys named after a body part “The Foot/The Hand”, a secret war going on in the sewers of NYC, etc
That, and the original comics were b&w with the only other color being red. Very bloody, all four masks were red, etc. Also, Shredder straight up died in the first issue. (Splinter dropped a grenade inside the dumpster he’d kicked Shredder off a building into) Their previous styles were much grittier, frenetic, violent, but when they decided they wanted some of that anthro cartoon pie, they shifted completely. 😅 Sometimes, ya gotta go to unusual lengths to get ahead, ya know?
Usagi-wan Kenobi?
