3 out of 5

I appreciate the idea behind adopting the term “director’s cut” for comics with behind-the-scenes extras, but also… no. A director’s cut is not necessarily extras, in my mind, rather suggesting an alternate version of a piece of media that better represents a creator’s vision. Maybe that is extras, but it might be taking things away as well. Either way, it’s an alternate take on the original end product; that is: it is re-presented in this new form. While I guess you could argue that IDW reprinting the first issue of Wherewhen in black and white is Stan Sakai’s vision, there’s nothing in his foreword to suggest that. Rather, he talks about loving books that give you the process stuff – thumbnails and etc. – and that’s what this is: it’s the complete first issue in B&W, then some examples of how Stan plans his books, some sketch-to-final comparisons, and the full script. I realize I’m harping quite a bit on what is surely just shorthand, but it’s additionally important to set some expectations, because Stan is the sole creator of Usagi, and it’s been said – from Dark Horse editors, from IDW – that his pages tend to make it to their published form with hardly any editorial changes. And because Stan writes and draws, and is a total seasoned pro, he knows exactly how to bang his books out on a regular schedule.

Which is to say – while it is always awesome to see your creators working, and I do not mean to diminish the coolness of Stan allowing us to see his handwritten script, and penciled pages, I’ll admit that I tend to find the way an idea evolves from script to artist to inks to be the most fascinating part of behind-the-scenes comics, and that’s… not present here. Stan has his flow down pat; once you’ve noted how seamlessly it moves from stage to stage, there’s not much more to it. There’s interest in looking at where some parts of the script have notes to move them around, but even that’s pretty minimal.

So let the rating be that of rating the pricepoint. If you already own the book, this seems like a stretch: IDW’s usual wallet-munching multiple-reprint practice. Not that you don’t get a full issue plus extra pages for those dollars, but this seems like material that could’ve been parsed out as backmatter in the original issues.