A+
Title: Saga
Author: Fiona Staples and Brian Vaughan
Publication Info: imagecomics June 2013
ISBN: 9781607066927
Genre: Comic
Saga is the strangest, most twisted, perverse comic ever. It’s also the sweetest, most romantic comic ever. This is a story about a happily married couple, and a story in which the fate of many, many planets hinges on a romance novel. It’s funny and touching, and I did mention strange and twisted?
The premise for Saga is pretty simple. Alana and Marko come from different sides of a vast interstellar war. They fall in love, go on the run together, and have a baby, Hazel. Now they are trying to live on the run while dealing with a newborn. They aren’t trying to end the war or find a magic thingamabob or anything – they just want to adore their baby and figure out this diaper thing and be left alone. But the warring powers won’t stop chasing them, for fear that people will hear about this couple and see their relationship as a symbol that peace is possible.
What isn’t simple is all the insane stuff that happens and all the insane characters that show up. For instance, there is a babysitter who is the ghost of a teenaged girl. She was killed in an explosion in the war and her ghostly intestines dangle, glowing, as her torso, head and arms float through the air. She used to gross me out, but now I think of her like a sarcastic, gory nightlight – it’s strangely comforting.
There’s a hit man who seems pretty normal except that he’s accompanied everywhere by a large blue cat who knows when you’re lying and says so. At one point there is an actual, legitimate reason for this line to be uttered: “You’re going to ram a missile? With a plant?”
This comic is rated for ages 17+ which is not surprising as it is both sexually and violently explicit in very unusual ways. For instance, there’s a character who has a humanoid, naked, female torso, a humanoid, female face with eight glowing eyes, a giant spider abdomen and giant spider legs. I can’t even think of her without whimpering. There’s also an entire race of robot people with TV screens for heads. In one of the very first panels of the series, two of them are depicted having doggy style naked sex, which wouldn’t be that weird except for the TV heads.
But the thing is, all that stuff is sort of interesting but not what the book is about. The book is about hope, and relationships, and family, and survival. And the weirder things get the more normal they get, too. Of course the TV heads are strange, but it turns out that Prince Robot likes to read on the toilet just like anyone else. That explicit sex was happening because his wife is trying to help him overcome his PTSD (remember that interstellar war?). She’s pregnant, and he wants to fulfill his mission and find Alana and Marko, in time to make it home for the birth. The hit man suffers with unrequited love for the woman/spider character. All these weird beings are people, basically, with motives and emotions and needs. Only sometimes they have spider legs or TV sets for heads.
So, since this book revolves around the love story between Alana and Marko, let’s discuss. Alana and Marko met when Alana was a guard and Marko was a prisoner, and they bonded over a romance novel. Alana read it out loud to Marko and he loved it. Alana is a ferocious fighter, deeply protective of her family. She’s also a practical person. She’s impulsive and hot-tempered but she likes to think of herself as the pragmatic one – which she is, compared to Marko.
Marko is a pacifist. He uses spells to defend himself and his family non-lethally (this series has technology and magic). Marko is more of a dreamer than Alana. His thoughts on having a baby are,
“I know it wouldn’t be easy, but is there a better symbol for the terrifying new peace that you and I have forged than a child?”
To which Alana replies,
“A child isn’t a symbol, it’s a child! It needs applesauce and, and playpens and an ass-load of other things we can’t provide while we’re on the goddam lam!”
I just love that the first thing Alana can think of that a baby needs is applesauce. She’s not wrong; I just think they should line up some diapers before they skip ahead to applesauce. Alana and Marko are deeply devoted parents, but they haven’t got a clue about how babies work. They figure it out, though. And although Marko is a dreamer, he’s often right about how to handle things. Plus his spells are pretty kick-ass.
Alana and Marko as a couple are just made of win. They fight fair. They talk out conflicts. They balance each other. They have great sex, they make each other laugh, and they would do anything to support and to protect each other. When Alana meets Marko’s father, they have this conversation:
“It’s clear you love my boy very much”
“I haven’t always. At first, he annoyed the shit out of me. Marko can be a self-righteous ass, he has no idea how to sit still, and worst of all, he laughs at his own jokes.”
“Then why do you risk everything to be with him?”
“Because your son is so goddam beautiful”.
“Ha. I assure you, looks aren’t forever.”
“Oh, I know. I wasn’t talking about his looks.”
OK. I just…I…happy sigh…I have drunk of the Kool Aid that is Saga. Look at that art, you guys. Look at her face.
I adore the writer Brian K. Vaughan, but without the art of Fiona Staples this comic would be terribly diminished. She has the rare ability to create realistic faces and images and combine them with surrealistic images of alien landscapes. Her art is warm and wonderful and marvelously imaginative. And oh, BTW? The women and man come in various shapes and sizes, but they are all realistic. Marko is gorgeous with his shirt off but he doesn’t have crazy 12-pack abs. Alana’s breasts are proportional to the rest of her frame (bonus points for the fact that Alana refers to having “squishy bits” a few weeks after having given birth). When Alana and Marko are seen naked, or with shirts off, or, in one hilarious scene, in a towel, it’s for a specific reason, and most of the time they wear baggy, not very clean, practical clothes. They haven’t spent their time on the lam picking up spandex.
Here’s another great moment that combines romance and realism, and shows the chemistry and comfort between this couple in a single image:
I love this couple SO MUCH.
But seriously, before we all get too emotionally invested here (whoops, too late) I have to issue a warning. Brian K. Vaughan is a wonderful writer. Y: The Last Man and his time on Runaways were astounding. BUT, and I cannot stress this enough, his comics tend to end on heartbreaking or on bittersweet notes. I don’t know how Saga will end up and I cannot promise a HEA. I have tissues ready at all times, just in case, because unlike a romance novel where I have the intense comfort of knowing things will be OK, in this case I have no idea how this will all end up and it is freaking me out.
I have read the two collected editions of Saga (Vol. 1 and Vol. 2). That takes me up through Issue #12 and currently it looks like the writers have published two additional issues. I like to read comics in collection as opposed to individually, so technically I can’t vouch for the most recent two issues. But I sincerely doubt that they suck because nothing I’ve read by Brian K. Vaughan has ever sucked although it has occasionally ripped my heart out, put it through a shredder, and converted it to compost. So there’s that. I could say, “Read Saga, everything will be happy” But then a big blue cat would glare at me and say:
So I won’t. But read it anyway. If nothing else, because in this book a rmance novel is the catalyst for personal and political liberation – and that’s exciting! For formatting purposes, I’m typing up this review as a review of Volume Two, but of course you’ll want to start with Volume One.
As Alana says about her favorite romance novel, “Just promise you’ll at least read the first chapter? I’m so jealous you get to experience it for the first time!”
Saga is available at Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Sony | Kobo | iBooks.
YES YES YES YES SAGA IS SO AMAZING
It’s basically Star Wars, but completely un-filmable and completely AWESOME. I just gave the first volume to a friend to read while she’s visiting and I can’t WAIT to talk about it with her. Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughn are the most amazing duo I just can’t even with them.
EVERYONE GO READ SAGA IT IS SO WORTH YOUR MONEY
Oh this looks amazing! I’ve been meaning to give it a try. Fun fact: I own a nail polish inspired by that cat! Here’s a blog post about it in case you’re interested: http://acciolacquer.com/swatches/digital-nails-saga/ (Digital Nails polishes are awesome! The Etsy shop is full of sparkly polishes inspired by Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones etc.)
Ooh, that’s just gone on my wish list (esp. since my husband and I are in the middle of raising a new baby right now). Thank you!
I wish there was a grade higher than an A+.
I’m joining the masses in saying that Saga will rock your socks. Literally. Right off your feet.
I love your review, you are totally spot on about every single thing, especially the artist, but I do want to add a caveat. There is a fairly unsettling subplot about a sexually exploited child. I know that can be a deal breaker for some people. For what it’s worth, I think it’s handled very well within the fiction. It’s not gratuitous and neither is she sexualized for us, the reader. Sophie is a fabulous character in her own right and her interactions with Lying Cat actually make me sob like a tiny child. That being said, read this. Read this right now. You will care about these characters. I don’t think I’ve seen a more unsentimental portrayal of childbirth in any medium anywhere, and it made me laugh so hard I nearly peed. I love this comic so freaking much.
Saga is it. If people have ever wondered if graphic novels are truly an art form, Saga will convince them. I cheered when it won the Hugo Award for best graphic novel this year, and I cannot wait for Volume 3!
I have to echo Sarah’s comment about that one storyline. It’s been a bit difficult for me to deal with even though I think it’s handled well given the circumstances of the story. That being said, I looooove his comic so much. If you’re not sure if it’s for you, check out your local library and see if they have it. I checked out both trades from the library. Granted, my local library has a pretty big comic/graphic novel collection an Vaughan is a heavily checked out author so Saga was basically an instant buy for them.
Thanks for the review! My husband’s been on me to read Saga for AGES, and now I know why. (He refused to tell me anything about the plot aside from: “You’d love it”. Yeah, not so helpful, dear.) I’ll be picking the first book up tonight.
Re Sophie and Lying Cat – I just read a description of their conversation – not even the actual panel in the actual issue (I think it takes place in Issue #13 and Volume 2 ends at Issue #12. Just the description had me bawling my head off. Lying Cat, you win all the comics, forever.
Lying cat and Sophie Panel. Crowning moment of heartwarming alert. Trigger alert. Click at own risk. HAVE TISSUES.
http://vwoopvwoop.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/lying-cat-and-sophie-2.png
I love that evil Lying Cat.
For me, I think I really fell in love with this series in the flashback scene to Hazel’s conception in the second volume. Alana just seemed so REAL to me – like a real woman might be, somewhere out there, and NOT like some comic book guy’s idea of what a real woman should be. I also love the idea that the romance novel Alana was reading when she first met Marko might be this revolutionary tract with the power to disrupt the universe. YEAH ROMANCE!
See, THIS is why I need to get another part time job. When I worked at the comic shop, I was always on top of stuff like this. I was the one pushing comics in people’s faces saying “READ THIS NOW!”. Now I’m so far behind the curve it’s pathetic. And just when I’d trimmed my reserve list…
Man, this is soooo tempting. I have a feeling both my daughter and myself would love it. I kinda want to get it in p|back *sigh* what to do…….
YES YES YES, for all the reasons everybody else has said.
I’ve been vaguely disappointed by so many of Vaughn’s books before—great premises, great settings, great characters, but there was always this undercurrent of bitterness and … I dunno, meanness, that sort of tainted the experience.
But in this one, that bitterness has been into pure burning righteous FURY at all the stupidity and stubborness and waste that gets in the way of decent people living decent lives (and, okay, really twisted people living their really twisted lives, but you end up rooting for them anyways) and it is perfectly balanced by the piercing tenderness and heartbreaking sweetness of Alana and Marko’s relationship (and not just theirs, but their assorted friends-and-relations and even some of their (maybe?) enemies)…
… oh, I’m burbling, but just read it, read it, READ IT.
I love absolutely everything about Saga and cannot wait for the next collection to be out! Still, I have trouble forgiving Vaughn for what he did to my favourite character towards the end of Y: The Last Man, a comic I liked, but didn’t adore. Hence it’s going to be even more heart-breaking to me if he screws up the ending of this series. I just love it so much. It’s by far my favourite comic book in years.
Everyone should read it! Unless they don’t like things that are good. Then they don’t have to. Because this is the best.
Chiming in a little late to thank you for this review. I have never read a graphic novel in my life, but after seeing your glowing recommendation I borrowed volumes 1 and 2 from the library. They were mind-blowingly good. I can’t get the images and dialogue out of my head. Thank you again for broadening the definition of romance on this site to include books like this. I’m hooked.