The Pull List – Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden #3

Getting a tip from the town’s seedy snitch, Inspector Ishida and Usagi discover that Matsuhaira, the murdered Kirishitan, was carrying a box that was sought after by the Shogunate. This box was created outside of Japan and contained something worth to be kill over. But was the box was not found with Matsuhaira’s body, leading to Inspector Ishida to conclude that a thief had gotten to the dead body first.The Snitch mentions that the likely person to purchase such a convent item would be Kin the Fence, a known merchant that trades in illegal goods. Inspector Ishida and Usagi head to Kin’s compound to get answers.

Issue three ventures heavily into a detective story, with Inspector Ishida and Usagi gathering clues, squeezing confessions and forming a narrative with the evidence. It also shows how Inspector Ishida and Usagi get their information. Ishida is a famed detective that people respect. Ishida is a peaceful reasonable person, that some people can relent to or take advantage of. Usagi operates as a consultant, and is not a veteran of the police like  Inspector Ishida. Some people are unaware of Usagi’s temperament. In the case with Kin the Fence, Usagi’s deploys some unusual interrogation techniques to get Kin to break.

Since this is a 7 part issue arc, the plot is paced very slowly, building up the mysterious of all the people involved in Matsuhaira’s murder. The story follows along nicely as Inspector Ishida and Usagi discover more factors into their case. There is still plenty of plot to dish out, and it is paced very evenly to not make every issue a giant exposition. It’s cool to see Inspector Ishida and Usagi use more of their wits than their swords in this issue, but the next issue promises some rumble with assassins and rogues that try to interfere with the investigation.

 Usagi Yojimbo: The Hidden #3 will be on sale May 16th 2018