Media Release -- Earlier this year, Usagi Yojimbo creator Stan Sakai was named the 2011 Cultural Ambassador by the Japanese American National Museum. Shortly thereafter, the JANM opened their Year of the Rabbit exhibit—the most comprehensive collection of Sakai's work to date.

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Media Release -- In celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Stan Sakai's best-loved character, Dark Horse brings this fluffy, badass bunny to life with an all-new plush toy, with art direction by the creator himself!

Usagi Yojimbo is a long-running comic set in seventeenth-century Japan, with anthropomorphic animals replacing humans, featuring the lovable rabbit ronin, Miyamoto Usagi, who wanders the land as a shugyosha (student warrior on a pilgrimage), occasionally selling his services as a yojimbo (bodyguard). Usagi Yojimbo is one of the most celebrated ongoing comics, adored by critics and fans of all ages for the last twenty-five years.

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Media Release -- Dark Horse has teamed up with the LA-based clothing label The Hundreds for the creation of two extremely limited T-shirts featuring new art from creator Stan Sakai, to be released this coming Saturday. The T-shirts, which have been produced in a limited run of only two hundred of each design, will hit retail at The Hundreds' Los Angeles and San Francisco locations this coming weekend. Usagi creator Stan Sakai will be at the Rosewood location in LA from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. to sign copies of the latest issue of the monthly comic. In addition, the first twenty-five people through the door will receive a signed copy of the first-ever full-color Usagi Yojimbo graphic novel, Yokai.

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by Elisabeth@TFAW

The creator of Usagi Yojimbo, everyone’s favorite rabbit Ronin, has joined our SDCC Autograph Card/CBLDF Auction event! That’s right, the legendary Stan Sakai has donated a black-and-white sketch in support of the CBLDF’s mission of protecting the First Amendment rights of the comics community!

Usagi Yojimbo celebrates its 25th anniversary this year! To celebrate, you’ll want to get your hands on one of the limited-edition autograph cards that we will produce from Sakai’s donated sketch and distribute at SDCC this year. The original artwork will be auctioned off at SDCC ‘09 by the CBLDF on July 25th, 7 p.m., at the San Diego Convention Center. Check out the complete list of contributing publishers and creators and start practicing your samurai moves now!

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Media Release -- JUNE 1, NEW YORK, NY – Hailed across the world for his unparalleled storytelling, comics auteur Stan Sakai sets the bar even higher with Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai—writing, hand-painting, and lettering a thrilling original story.

Yokai are the monsters, demons, and spirits of Japanese folklore, such as the shape-changing kitsune, the obakeneko demon cats, and the evil oni ogres. Usagi faces all these and more when a desperate woman begs for his help in finding her kidnapped daughter. In his quest to find the girl, he encounters these creatures of Japanese legend, who need a living soul as the captor for their army to enter the world of the living. Fortunately, Usagi is joined by Sasuke the Demon Queller, who fights for the same cause. However, things aren’t always as they seem, especially when dealing with the supernatural!

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The Cartoon Art Museum proudly presents The Art of Stan Sakai: Celebrating 25 Years of Usagi Yojimbo, a career-spanning retrospective featuring over 60 pieces of original artwork by the critically-acclaimed artist. It has been 25 years since Sakai’s signature character, a samurai rabbit named Usagi Yojimbo, first appeared in comic books, and this exhibition follows the entire existence of Usagi, from the very first pencil sketches to completed story pages, covers, and watercolor paintings.

Details about the Cartoon Art Museum’s February 27 opening reception will be announced shortly.

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