Usagi first appeared in the anthology Albedo Anthropomorphics in 1984, and later in the Fantagraphics Books anthropomorphic anthology Critters, before appearing in his own series in 1987.

Usagi has appeared in stories published by Cartoon Books, Oni Press, Sky Dog Press, Wizard Press, and most recently in the benefit book Drawing the Line, the proceeds of which went to Princess Margaret Hospital and The Hospital for Sick Children, both in Toronto, for cancer research.

Usagi has also appeared several times in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ( the comic, both of the animated series, and the toy line ), and the Turtles have appeared in Usagi Yojimbo as well.

* The first episodes of Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo

The third is Dark Horse Comics, at which Usagi Yojimbo is still being published ( as volume three, over 140 issues ), and who also released a fourth Color Special.

* Usagi Yojimbo, an ongoing comic book series created by Stan Sakai in 1987.

Space Usagi was one of the action figures produced under the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line.

For example, the first issue, titled Boris the Bear Slaughters the Teenage Radioactive Black Belt Mutant Ninja Critters features Boris disposing of characters resembling the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Usagi Yojimbo, Cerebus the Aardvark, Adolescent Radioactive Black Belt Hamsters, and Hamster Vice in an extremely violent matter.

It is the second most extensive, long-running, entirely original creator-controlled, self-contained North American comicbook in history, only exceeded by Cerebus, and has the most issues among comics that are still regularly published, followed by Usagi Yojimbo and Savage Dragon.

In the manga, she even tells them she is the princess they have been searching for, although in fact she is merely serving as a decoy to protect the real princess, Usagi.

In the anime, having lived in England for some time, she is skilled at the language ( in one episode it is shown her skills are more refined than Ami Mizuno's ), and Usagi begs Minako to teach her.

When the other Senshi learn that Minako and Sailor V are the same person, they hide it from the irresponsible Usagi for some time.

True to the name, Usagi often takes work as a bodyguard, and works for various lords, most notably Lord Noriyuki, and teams with other Samurai, bounty hunters, and the like.

The series is also influenced somewhat by Groo the Wanderer by Sergio Aragonés ( Sakai is the letterer for that series ), but the overall tone of Usagi Yojimbo is more serious and reflective.

Sakai originally planned for Usagi and other characters to be human in stories explicitly modeled after the life of Miyamoto Musashi.

Stan Sakai has also been able to experiment with formats for Usagi Yojimbo, as when he published the color story " Green Persimmon " first as twelve separate 2-page chapters serialized in Diamond Comic Distributor's monthly catalog " Previews.

There was also an abortive project for a Space Usagi animated series before the failure of Bucky O ' Hare and the Toad Wars discouraged further development.

There was also a computer game called Samurai Warrior: The Battles of Usagi Yojimbo released for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC platforms in 1988, by the now defunct computer game label Firebird.

# 1996 Eisner Award for " Best Letterer " ( Groo and Usagi Yojimbo )

# 1996 Eisner Award for " Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition " ( Usagi Yojimbo )

# 1999 Eisner Award for " Best Serialized Story " ( Usagi Yojimbo " Grasscutter ")

# 2012 Eisner Award for " Best Lettering " ( Usagi Yojimbo )

Most significantly, the main character's name, Miyamoto Usagi, is a play on " Miyamoto Musashi ", Japan's most famous historical samurai and the author of The Book of Five Rings, and " Usagi " the Japanese language word for " rabbit " ( The story notes for one volume also cite as an influence Hiroshi Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy, which features Miyamoto Musashi as a protagonist.

Rei is the last Senshi to die in the battle against the DD Girls in the first season's finale, giving her life for Usagi.

In Sailor Moon R: The Movie, Rei is hysterical when Usagi gives her own life for her friends.

First published in 1984, the comic continues to this day, with Sakai as the lone author and nearly sole artist ( Tom Luth serves as the main colorist on the series, and Sergio Aragonés has made two small contributions to the series: the story " Broken Ritual " is based on an idea by Aragonés, and he served as a guest inker for the black-and-white version of the story " Return to Adachi Plain " that is featured in the Volume 11 trade paperback edition of Usagi Yojimbo ).

* 1996 Eisner Award for " Best Letterer " ( Groo and Usagi Yojimbo )

* 1996 Eisner Award for " Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition " ( Usagi Yojimbo )

The other regular contributors to the book are letterer Stan Sakai ( himself the creator / artist of the equally famous Usagi Yojimbo ), and colorist Tom Luth.

* Stan Sakai has mentioned his plans to include a character based Wong Fei-hung in a future issue of his comic book Usagi Yojimbo.

When Sailor V was enough of a hit to earn its own anime adaptation, Takeuchi was asked to expand the concept to include more girls, and when she did, she placed Usagi Tsukino as the protagonist, with Minako as a part of the team.

When the characters enter high school, she joins Usagi, Ami, and Makoto at Azabu Jūban.

In the manga, by contrast, Minako suspects Yaten of being an enemy ; while confronting the Starlights, she and Rei reaffirm that they do not need men because they have dedicated their lives to their duty of protecting Usagi.

Starting in Act 1, Minako is shown as a famous singer, of whom Usagi Tsukino in particular is an enormous fan.

In a twist, Usagi serves as a decoy Minako, chasing away a group of autograph hounds.

In 2011 IGN ranked Miyamoto Usagi 92nd in the top 100 comic books heroes.

Set primarily at the beginning of Edo period of Japan, with anthropomorphic animals replacing humans, the series features a rabbit ronin, Miyamoto Usagi, whom Stan Sakai based partially on the famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi.

Usagi wanders the land on a musha shugyo ( warrior's pilgrimage ) occasionally selling his services as a bodyguard.

Usagi Yojimbo is heavily influenced by Japanese cinema and has included references to the work of Akira Kurosawa ( the title of the series is derived from Kurosawa's 1960 film Yojimbo ) and to icons of popular Japanese cinema such as Lone Wolf and Cub, Zatoichi, and Godzilla.

Usagi was named the thirty-first greatest comic book character by Empire Magazine.

Usagi was first conceived as a supporting character in The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper and Hermy, a brief series that predates Usagi Yojimbo.

The Usagi Yojimbo series has been published by three different companies.

A fourth publisher, Radio Comix, has published two issues of The Art of Usagi Yojimbo which contained a selection of unpublished drawings, convention sketches, and other miscellaneous Usagi Yojimbo artwork.