“Saga” had quite a weekend at San Diego Comic-Con. Not only did the series do a bit of an Eisner sweep (with both the book, Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples each winning individual awards), but the series was spotlighted in its own panel at the con. During this panel, they debuted the brand new cover for the upcoming deluxe hardcover, which looks like this:
“Saga: Book One” will feature 500 pages that collect the first three trades-worth of the series. The cover is the first in a few planned hardcovers, all of which will feature lead narrator Hazel at different stages of her life. For this first installment, that collects the immediate story of her infancy, we essentially get an inverse of the cover to “Saga” #1 but with a close-up on Hazel as she breastfeeds.
Of course, you may remember that “Saga” has had quite a few controversies since its release. While it’s a critically acclaimed creator-owned darling to comic insiders, the book has certainly rubbed a few people the wrong way — whether it was with the robo-bukake that got an issue removed from Apple’s iOS store or, well, the original “Saga” #1 cover that quite a few people were upset over, also featuring breastfeeding. A few retailers even refused to carry the book due to the cover.
“Saga” has not been shy about graphic imagery and adult content, whether it’s the breastfeeding or Sextillion or any number of intimate sequences present in the book, and you better believe that the cover here is very much on purpose. As Staples noted in a quote from the panel, “We’re doubling down on our breastfeeding stance.” Vaughan remarked that they created the cover as a response to that pushback, remarking “If your store doesn’t like that cover, if you don’t want to read a book with that cover, then we’re not the book for you.”
So there you have it. “Saga: Book One” arrives in November, just in time for the holidays and all your favorite friends.
For the full press release from Image Comics, please see below.
Image Comics Press Release
On Saturday, July 26 at San Diego Comic-Con, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples announced to a packed audience at the SAGA panel the November release of SAGA: BOOK ONE, the first in a series of deluxe hardcover volumes of their award-winning and beloved Image Comics series. Collecting the first three paperback volumes of SAGA, the 500-page-plus BOOK ONE will feature brand-new cover art by Staples. It will be released on November 25, 2014.
As Vaughan and Staples revealed in their Comic-Con panel, the cover of each hardcover edition will feature the series’ main character, Hazel. BOOK ONE’s cover depicts Hazel breastfeeding as an infant.
“Saga is the story of Hazel, and each hardcover edition will feature her at a different stage of life in a new cover from co-creator Fiona Staples,” said writer Vaughan. “I have no idea how Staples will top this first one, which perfectly captures our heroine’s first few months in the universe. But we’re even more proud of what’s under the cover, 500 pages of story and never-before-seen extras, including a weirdly detailed creator roundtable about how the team makes a complete issue of our comic, from daydreaming to shipping.”
Vaughan’s and Staples’ announcement came the day after they received three Eisner Awards at the annual ceremony held during Comic-Con. SAGA received a Best Continuing Series Eisner, Vaughan received Best Writer, and Staples was awarded Best Painter/Multimedia Artist.
Telling the story of a family escaping an interplanetary war, SAGA is an ongoing comic book series, released monthly by Image Comics. It has won a Hugo Award, a British Fantasy Award, and multiple Eisner and Harvey Awards. All three volumes of SAGA have reached number one on the New York Times best sellers list, and volume one has been in the top ten for more than seventy weeks. SAGA’s next issue, #22, will be in comic book stores on August 27. Three trade paperback collections are now available, and SAGA: VOLUME 4 will be in stores in December.
SAGA BOOK ONE Deluxe Hardcover by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Continued below
ISBN 978-1-63215-078-3
Diamond Comic order code MAR148090
504 pages, $49.99
In stores November 25
Collects issues #1-18 of SAGA
Rated Mature
PRAISE FOR SAGA:
“…a great, star-faring epic about space-crossed lovers in an interplanetary war, their baby, who has horns, and robots with televisions for heads. It is strange, sexy, funny, delightful, and probably un-filmable, certainly for grown ups, and on every page, new.” –John Hodgman
“Vaughan’s witty dialogue is laced with universal commonalities—the sharp fingernails of babies, burping techniques, love—that ground the alien nature of the characters and heighten the sense that the war between planet and moon and the hatred between enemies is tragically pointless. Staples’s character designs are fantastic—even the weirdest aliens reveal human emotion—and her two-page spreads, whether of battle or of tree-grown rocket ships, are glorious.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Vaughan’s whip-snap dialogue is as smart, cutting, and well timed as ever, and his characters are both familiar enough to acclimate easily to and deep enough to stay interested in as their relationships bend, break, and mend. While Vaughan will be the star power that attracts readers, do-it-all artist Staples is going to be the one who really wows them. Her character designs dish out some of the best aliens around, the immersive world-crafting is lushly detailed and deeply thought through, and the spacious layouts keep the focus squarely on the personal element, despite the chaotic cosmos they inhabit. Add another winner to Vaughan’s stable of consistently epic, fresh, and endearing stories.” –Booklist (starred review)
“With each new issue, Vaughan and Staples top themselves in cinematic grandeur and intimate character development. By taking inspiration from issues faced by ordinary couples—dealing with ex-lovers, finding a babysitter, meeting the in-laws—Vaughan is able to keep the fantastic plot grounded in reality, creating characters that are instantly relatable, even though they have horns or wings.” –Oliver Sava, The A.V. Club
“There is literally nothing I can say that will convince you of how utterly tremendous Saga looks, courtesy of artist Fiona Staples, more than actually looking at it will. Every gonzo, insane concept writer Brian K. Vaughan comes up with, Staples manages to realize on page in a way that’s never been seen before, but seems somehow authentic. But it’s her character work that’s most amazing; you could take out every single word balloon and caption and still know almost exactly what’s going on thanks to the pitch-perfect expressions on the characters’ faces.” –Rob Bricken, io9.com
ABOUT IMAGE COMICS
Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.
