USAGI YOJIMBO, Books 1-5 by Stan...

USAGI YOJIMBO, Books 1-5 by Stan Sakai (Fantagraphics Books: $10.95-$14.95, 144 pp.; paperback originals). In his serial graphic novel about a rabbit Ronin (masterless Samurai), Japanese-American cartoonist Stan Sakai uses the format of an American comic book to present ambitious, illustrated retellings of traditional folk tales and Samurai stories. After the death of his feudal overlord in the civil wars that established the power of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Miyamoto Usagi roams a Japan inhabited by a variety of animal characters, using his peerless swordsmanship to combat bandits, demons, evil ninjas and other oppressors of the weak. The often elaborate artwork reflects considerable research, including the details of the flamboyant Samurai armor and the anatomy of such mythical monsters as Kappa (aquatic vampires) and Hannya (female demons). These bittersweet adventure stories offer entertaining reading, especially for young Asian-Americans who feel excluded from mainstream juvenile literature.