SAMURAI JACK #20: Pitch, Pacing, Full Script (Patreon)

Samurai Jack Season 5 wrapped up over the weekend and, with that, the entire series. I want to wish Genndy and the rest of his crew all the best after putting their seminal series to rest at last. It was incredible watching a new season of the series in full HD, filled to the brim with big set pieces and visual splendor.

A couple years ago, before news of the fifth season finally arrived, I was writing the official Samurai Jack comic series for IDW. At the time, the idea that Jack might return in animation seemed like a real long shot and so, when it came time to wrap up the comic series, I wrote a possible alternate future/ending for the series to try and give some kind of closure, just in case it became the final Samurai Jack story.

Samurai Jack #20: Mako the Scribe is intended as a tribute to Mako Iwamatsu, the actor who voiced Aku, the shape-shifting demon wizard from Samurai Jack. He passed away in 2006. It also includes nods to Jack voice actor Phil LaMarr, designer Andy Suriano, and callbacks to a multitude of characters and creatures from the series. It posits a much different ending for Jack, one that keeps the dark future Aku created intact, but I think it also carries a similar hopeful finish in its own way.

Posted here for everyone is the pitch, my page pacing notes, and the full script for the issue.

If you enjoy reading this and want to see how it turned out in the final issue, you can read it by itself on comiXology:

https://www.comixology.com/Samurai-Jack-20/digital-comic/238949 

or read it as the final chapter in the Samurai Jack: Tales of the Wandering Warrior collection:

https://www.comixology.com/Samurai-Jack-Tales-of-the-Wandering-Warrior/digital-comic/457154