Usagi Yojimbo #9

Stan Sakai's cover for this 1997 Dark Horse issue throws readers straight into the chaos, with Usagi — long-eared rabbit ronin, swords at the ready — leaping above a sprawling brawl alongside a blue-clad companion while a fierce mob of animal warriors armed with blades surges around them before a traditional Japanese rooftop. "The Conspiracy of Eight" promises the kind of layered, action-packed storytelling that made this series a standout of late-'90s indie comics. With Sakai handling every creative duty from script to lettering, this is a beautifully unified vision of feudal Japan filtered through an unmistakable anthropomorphic lens.