Ronin Reads – Saga (Volumes 1-3)
Author: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Type: Comic Book
Genre: Space opera, Fantasy, Romance
Summary: They say love is a battlefield, but in this case, the battlefield was Cupid. In the midst of an everlasting war between the winged people of Landfall and the horned folk of Wreath, two warriors from opposing sides, Alana and Marko, fall in love, run away together, and conceive a child named Hazel. And neither side is happy about this. On top of both of them being deserters, their union and offspring are considered sacrilegious by the warring people and they worry that spread of this news could damage moral of the troops. To deal with this problem, each side hires an assassin to take them out. Landfall hires Prince Robot IV, a member of mechanical aristocracy whose wife is with child herself, while Wreath contacts The Will, a stoic assassin who travels with a lie-detecting cat. The couple is always on the run, dealing with assassins, in-laws, undead nannies, and even ex-lovers to find a place where their love can be safe.
Coming from the mind that gave us Y: The Last Man and Marvel’s Runaways, Saga is a stroke of pure brilliance. The concept is fairly fresh, the dialogue is natural and snappy, and the creature and character designs are so bizarre and outlandish that they’ll never leave your head. For crying out loud, the royal family of Robot has TVs for heads. That is so surreal, it just has to be memorable. The characters are also a nice bag of complexities, each having their own baggage that makes them very distinctive. My personal favorite is Izabel, a teenage ghost with half of her body missing who becomes Hazel’s babysitter. Her design is great and there’s an irreverence about her that I just find really endearing.
While the idea of star-crossed lovers from two feuding houses isn’t exactly a new story, the science fiction and fantasy elements make it feel very new. Some spaceships happen to be living trees, which I don’t think I’ve often seen juxtaposed against laser and hard chrome. Granted, the exact limits of the magic aren’t fully explained, but I get the feeling that a clearer picture will be drawn as the series continues. The universe itself just feels so alive and diverse. It’s not just the two warring factions, there are tons of interesting aliens with their own unique cultures. Even small touches like the type of entertainment that exists in the universe acts like that subtle spice that turns good food into a culinary masterpiece.
At the end of the day, what we have is a unique epic from a man who has come out with stellar work in the past. Time will tell if this ever surpasses the quality of Y: The Last Man, which I previously thought impossible, but now I’m not so sure. Until then, all we know is that Brian K. Vaughan’s transcendent writing and Fiona Staples’ beautiful artwork have come together to form a great child of their own.
Posted under Ronin Reads