5 out of 5

We’d been waiting for a multi-part Usagi story, and Sakai absolutely delivered.  A letter writer in one issue praises Stan’s ability to re-present similar tales in completely compelling fashions, and not only is that true and evident here – and Stan has proven to be the foremost pro at this, in my opinion, as he writes completely without pretension, so there’s no waggling of hands to distract us from these familiar, and yet still entertaining beats – but Hell Screen delivers that rare delightful jolt of an extra swerve you weren’t expecting.

More rain, which we’ve seen a lot of in Usagi, and thus a reason for the rabbit to seek shelter in a nearby temple.  It just so happens that Inspector Ishida is visiting the same temple, empowered by the Shogun to make a ruling on a land dispute between a local lord – raze the temple for my hunting grounds! – and the resident priest, whose sole purpose is to worship there.  It also so happens that Usagi’s arrival coincides with a mysterious murder, which the lord is convinced was done to bring scandal to his rightful land claims, and which the priest states is the spiritual vengeance of ‘the hell screen,’ a piece of artwork in the temple that depicts what’s essentially the apocalypse.  This particular edition is huge and haunting, and said to be a gateway to hell itself.

Given Stan’s joy of tweaking overt moralizations in his stories, we suspect the lord isn’t directly involved, and that the assumedly pious priest might be.  Regardless of the accuracy of these suspicions, Sakai expertly guides us through, with Usagi falling under a bit of hell screen paranoia while Ishida remains enjoyably Columbo-esque as always; another murder happens, more accusations, more rain.

Sakai’s post-Senso looseness is in wonderful effect here, scratchy inks perfectly capturing the panic of some sequences and some brilliant background work throughout.  He also applies an interesting snapshot-type montage above the title in each issue, which I don’t recall seeing him do before.

‘The Secret of the Hell Screen’ is, in a sense, a classic Usagi tale, and what a world we live in where the ‘classic’ version of something is so excellent.  Giving his narrative a few extra issues to breathe, though, is also very much in the story’s benefit and gives Stan some page room to unpack his storytelling.