My thanks to Stan for the time he spent with us and for posing for the photos!

For those of you that don't know of Stan's early history in comics, the following is excerpted from the Wikipedia entry on Stan Sakai:

"Born in Kyoto, Japan, Sakai grew up in Hawaii and studied fine arts at the University of Hawaii. He later attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He and his wife, Sharon, presently reside and work in Pasadena.

He began his career by lettering comic books (notably Groo the Wanderer by Sergio Aragonés and Mark Evanier) and wrote and illustrated The Adventures of Nilson Groundthumper and Hermy; a comic series with a medieval setting, influenced by Sergio Aragones's Groo the Wanderer. The characters first appeared in Albedo #1 in 1984, and were subsequently featured in issues of Critters, GrimJack, Amazing Heroes and Furrlough.

Sakai became famous with the creation of Usagi Yojimbo, the epic saga of Miyamoto Usagi, a samurai rabbit living in late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth-century Japan. 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). He also created a futuristic spinoff series Space Usagi."

Tina and I can't keep Stan's publications in stock at our own online store at http://www.ComicBooksCircus.com.  It was really neat to see the the items that he brought for sale to the Expo that were one of a kind, plus his published works.

You can keep up with what Stan is doing by reading his own blog at:

http://usagiguy.livejournal.com/

Plus you can see more of Stan's works for sale at his own web site at:

http://www.usagiyojimbo.com/

You don't want to miss out on his 25th Anniversary collectibles on Usagi Yojimbo!

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Because of great one-on-ones visits with comics greats like Stan; Tina and I are looking forward to the upcoming 2nd Annual Long Beach Comic Con.  That's the 3 day event at the end of October 2010.

Here's a link to the Con's Facebook Fan Page, so you can be interactive with them between now and October:

http://www.facebook.com/LongBeachComicCon?ref=ts

There you can also find out who's going to be there as guests, and links to where YOU can purchase advance tickets!

Tina and I are definitely booking October 29th thru the 31st!  I suggest that if YOU are in SoCal area during that time, that You should drop in at Least ONE of those Days!