Aieeee! So very tempting! UY is (to my mind) not so much a 'furry' or 'funny animal' comic as much as it is a period piece where all that character just happen to be talking animals. As a result it didn't die the death that all furry comics seem to...
However, I think the fact that Stan Sakai has kept Usaji Yojimbo coming out on schedule, month after month, year after year, certainly helps keep it alive and well. There have been several "furry" comic books which were well-regarded outside the genre fandom, and could have had long and successful runs (and might still be going today), but their creators either couldn't or wouldn't sustain a monthly, or even semi-monthly output, and the title died off because the fans got tired of waiting a year between issues, and the publishers got tired of dealing with flaky artists and writers who constantly missed deadlines and dropped out of sight for weeks or months at a time
( ... )
An artist of my acquaintance once said that the sole requirement to be a professional in the commercial art world (and let's be honest, that's what comics are) was the ability to produce salable work in a timely manner. You didn't have to be a spectacular artist: If you could produce material consistently, you would have a job. In this sense, you are right.
But what truly set UY apart from the morass of 'furry comics' out there was that Sakai never stopped doing what he wanted to do. He never changed his stories to 'give the fans what they want' or to be more accurate give the fans what he thought they wanted, the way most furry comics did: Even KATMANDU started out as an action/adventure story before it started 'selling to the audience' and descended into yet another bisexual soap opera, the only difference being that this one was slathered in Cherohonkee BS.
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However, I think the fact that Stan Sakai has kept Usaji Yojimbo coming out on schedule, month after month, year after year, certainly helps keep it alive and well. There have been several "furry" comic books which were well-regarded outside the genre fandom, and could have had long and successful runs (and might still be going today), but their creators either couldn't or wouldn't sustain a monthly, or even semi-monthly output, and the title died off because the fans got tired of waiting a year between issues, and the publishers got tired of dealing with flaky artists and writers who constantly missed deadlines and dropped out of sight for weeks or months at a time ( ... )
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But what truly set UY apart from the morass of 'furry comics' out there was that Sakai never stopped doing what he wanted to do. He never changed his stories to 'give the fans what they want' or to be more accurate give the fans what he thought they wanted, the way most furry comics did: Even KATMANDU started out as an action/adventure story before it started 'selling to the audience' and descended into yet another bisexual soap opera, the only difference being that this one was slathered in Cherohonkee BS.
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Alas, quite some time ago things were bad enough I had to sell my Albedo #2. But I got $850 for it.
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