Usagi Yojimbo Vol. 14: Demon Mask (Dark Horse, 2001)

The close of 16th century Japan was a violent age, as rival feudal lords fought for land and power. Miyamoto Usagi braved many a battle only to lose his lord and find himself a masterless samurai, or ronin. While many ronin became bandits or mercenaries, Usagi chose the warrior pilgrimage: wandering the land, fighting injustice, seeking enlightenment. Eisner Award winner Stan Sakai has crafted a truly original and delightful work, an all-ages adventure epic that creates a world of excitement, mystery, and imagination, while building each story on painstaking research of Japan's history, culture, and mythology. Demon Mask is a collection of diverse Usagi stories, featuring a graveyard encounter with creatures from Japanese folktales, a whodunit clash with a mysterious masked assassin, a young adventure-lover insistent on receiving Usagi's sword training, a peasant village terrorized by a ravaging Spider Woman, and more. Few works of graphic fiction offer -- or deliver -- as much action, depth, and sheer fun as Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo.