Usagi Yojimbo (vol. 40): The Crow

As Usagi and Yukichi continue their wandering path down the Warrior’s Road, they encounter a man being accosted by people who appear to be bandits.  They’re able to help him, and his pet crow, fight them off before they part ways.  When the two arrive in the next town, however, they encounter Gen, Stray Dog, and a whole host of other bounty hunters.  They’re after the bounty that’s been placed on the bandit leader Jimmu… who is best known for having a pet crow.  Which means that not only did they save a certified villain, but they also beat up a group of bounty hunters in the process.  Those guys can hold a grudge, and it probably doesn’t help that their leader is someone who has had business with Usagi in the past.

While “Ice & Snow” came with big expectations (that weren’t really met), “The Crow” arrives with nothing more than being the next volume of “Usagi Yojimbo.”  That works in its favor as what’s here is a fun but fairly standard story of ronin, bounty hunters, and bandits.  There’s a decent amount of stuff going on throughout as we learn Jimmu has his own army at hand, that the bounty hunter leader is a more complex character than you’d think, and seeing Yukichi learn the hard way that there’s more than one way to define that concept.  Creator Stan Sakai also finds time for amusing bits like two traders who share a very funny exchange before jumping to what they think is their deaths, and a random bandit who dies in a very disrespectful way.

I do wish that Sakai had found time for the development of other parts of the narrative.  Jimmu only has his crow and his army to define him, and he remains a thinly drawn character through the volume’s end.  There’s also that bounty hunter leader, who was featured in a story way back in vol. 27, and appears much the worse for wear here without any real explanation.  I still enjoyed this volume, but it was missing the kind of details needed to really flesh out its new and returning characters that would’ve made its familiar narrative weigh against it less than it does.