There are a lot of things to say about this comic, but before you crack it open, here’s a warning: be careful who you read it around. I recommend opening the first page with your back to the wall, comic close to your face. You are now safe to read “Saga” without random passerby mistaking you for some pervert.
Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Illustrated by Fiona StaplesIt’s an intergalactic family reunion, as Hazel’s parents and grandparents join forces to escape a dying world.
As a warning: it is very difficult to talk about this issue critically without having some kind of spoilers. I will not name any names, but anyone who read the previous issue and maybe the issues before it will very easily be able to figure out what I’m talking around. If spoilers are a big deal to you, please skip this first paragraph.
The cliffhanger ending is a staple of episodic media, and comics are no exception to this — in fact, they probably abuse it even more than television. Particularly notable has been the character death cliffhanger, the final page that shows a hero or villain collapsed and seemingly lifeless, but does not specifically say whether they have survived or perished. It’s used as an obvious trick to get readers to pick up the next issue, and has been taken to such ridiculous extremes as showing someone being shot in the face, only for readers to find out next issue that the character were wearing some bullet-deflecting mask. We see something similar happen in this issue — the previous issue’s final page is revealed to be not as dire as we thought, though still hardly ideal — but in this case Brian K. Vaughan isn’t using it as an insurance policy. Instead, this “fake out” serves to make readers let their guard down just before Vaughan lets loose a real blow. Character death is something comic fans have become particularly desensitized to, so a writer can’t just kill someone off and expect the death to carry any sort of weight just by it being “surprising.” Vaughan instead chooses to opt for a “sudden” approach rather than a surprise one: we knew that it would happen, just not so soon. Add the “fake out” from the issue before that is revealed in this issue, and you have a loss that is much more a shock than any normally seen in, say, mainstream cape comics, and shows a writer who knows how to skillfully cope with the disillusionment of long-time comic readers.
Of course, there’s always the argument that death is often used in fiction as a cheap shot at sentimentality, but at a certain point that becomes more a matter of opinion. Your mileage may vary, I suppose.
A large portion of the issue deals with what you would expect: the direct aftermath of the rather, er, explosive issue preceding it. However, a couple excerpts are flashbacks that let us know more about this young couple that we still barely know. The first continues the recent parallel telling of their child’s “secret origin,” and gets down to the dirty details. Sexual content aside, this segment is another good example of what sets “Saga” apart from other science fiction series, in how… normal Alana and Marko sound. In order to seem more “believable,” many sci-fi stories include dialogue that matches the setting. The genre is filled with author-created slang, and while it often helps the experience be more immersive, it can also distract (remember “Spaceman?”). Vaughan is risking making his dialogue seem “wrong” by not sci-fi-ing it up, but with his gift for clever yet natural dialogue, perhaps it isn’t much of a risk after all. The other scene goes even farther back, to Marko’s childhood, and (very timely) helps us identify with his love for his parents. In sharp contrast to the opening scene, this one uses no dialogue at all — or, at least, none the reader can understand. This is essential to making the scene work — readable dialogue would create a barrier between the reader and the raw emotion that Vaughan is handling. By stepping out of the way and allowing Fiona Staples do the job with her art, Vaughan lets much more weight be carried than would be by his words. It’s an interesting way to begin and end a book, and demonstrates that Vaughan both knows when to talk our ear off and when to shut up.
Continued belowSpeaking of Fiona Staples, she really can do it all. As previously mentioned, one scene is entirely left up to her expert storytelling capabilities, and this scene that is crucial to making the issue “work.” With her impressive grasp of facial expression, Staples is able to convey broad, abstract emotions such as childish excitement and parental pride with deceptively effortless grace. At the same time, her more dynamic action scenes are riveting, The Will’s daring spacewalk in this issue being an excellent example. The constantly rotating point of view adds to the chaos of the scene, and evokes the directionless aspect of floating in space. This manipulation of view is crucial to any kind of science fiction with a scene or multiple scenes set in space. Without any definite grounding, or the ever-useful horizon line, artists need to use every trick they have to effectively communicate motion. And, of course, there’s the easily recognizable color pallet, comprised of hues that pop and breathe that extra bit of life into her lines without coming off as garish or overwhelming. Once she and Vaughan wrap this yarn up, there is no way any publisher is going to let her go without work.
Issue number one of “Saga” was great. Issue number two of “Saga” was great. Issue number three… are you seeing a pattern here? “Saga” hits that pleasant middle ground that many other comics miss — it may not be everyone’s favorite comic, but nearly everyone is reading it. That could be because it is one of the most well-crafted comics being published these days, and avoids falling into a niche subgenre (of which there are many in science fiction). In fact, I’m willing to be that’s exactly why.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy It!
