Usagi Yojimbo: Kaitō '84 #1
#1 of 5 · Cover C by Jim Rugg · first printing · Dogu Publishing / Dark Horse Comics · Collect Forever Soft Slab
11 March 2026
First-print Cover C of Usagi Yojimbo: Kaitō '84 #1, the opening chapter of the five-issue 2026 Dogu Publishing / Dark Horse series that moves the Usagi lineage into 1984 Osaka. Zack Rosenberg scripts the story, Jared Cullum provides the full art, and Eisner- and Ignatz-winning cartoonist Jim Rugg supplies this variant cover.
Read the catalogue note →- Issue
- #1 of 5
- Publisher
- Dark Horse Comics / Dogu Publishing
- State
- Collect Forever Soft Slab
- Condition
- Near Mint appearance, provisional and ungraded inside a Collect Forever Soft Slab.
- Completeness
- Complete under the standing TMR accession rule. The comic is enclosed in a Collect Forever Soft Slab and no missing issued component is reported.
Catalogue note
First-print Cover C of Usagi Yojimbo: Kaitō '84 #1, the opening chapter of the five-issue 2026 Dogu Publishing / Dark Horse series that moves the Usagi lineage into 1984 Osaka. Zack Rosenberg scripts the story, Jared Cullum provides the full art, and Eisner- and Ignatz-winning cartoonist Jim Rugg supplies this variant cover. The issue introduces Kaitō Usagi, a thief descended from Miyamoto Usagi, and uses an 1980s urban setting, a legendary spear and inherited destiny to expand a creator-owned comics universe first launched by Stan Sakai in 1984.
Writer: Zack Rosenberg
Artist: Jared Cullum
Cover: Jim Rugg
Edition: Cover C · Jim Rugg variant · first printing
Why this object matters
The 1984 Osaka setting and Cullum/Rosenberg development of the Usagi lineage give Kaitō ’84 a useful intergenerational comics context. Rugg’s variant strengthens artist comparison. This is a later expansion of Sakai’s creation, not the original Usagi debut.
Evidence limits: Complete under the standing TMR accession rule. The comic is enclosed in a Collect Forever Soft Slab and no missing issued component is reported.
Score and assessment method
Archive Importance: 7.8 / 10.
This is a curatorial judgement, not a measurement accurate to one tenth or a market valuation. Read the explanation and its evidence limits together.
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Recorded contributions · 3
- Zack RosenbergWritingCatalogue credit
Writing credit: Zack Rosenberg Original catalogue credit
Find other objects with this contribution → - Jared CullumArtworkCatalogue credit
Artwork credit: Jared Cullum Original catalogue credit
Find other objects with this contribution → - Jim RuggCover artworkCatalogue credit
Cover artwork credit: Jim Rugg Original catalogue credit
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