By [ad_1]
Saga is returning to comic shops in January 2022, and it has an incredible reputation to uphold.
Saga, one of the most critically-acclaimed comics of the last decade, is finally returning to comic shops. On hold since July of 2018, the story left its readers on a cliffhanger, and the hiatus marked the exact midpoint of the series. Now that it’s returning, many readers who were not grabbing issues since its debut in 2012 might be wondering what all the hype is about.
Written by Bryan K. Vaughan and illustrated entirely by Fiona Staples, Saga defies most genre conventions, but it’s best described as a fantasy story with science-fiction elements. Unlike Game of Thrones or Star Wars, it doesn’t portray a ‘realistic’ fantasy world, it rather crafts its locations and characters using a surrealist lens. Sharks swim in the sky, trees travel through space as rocket ships, and ‘robots’ are fully organic humanoids with TV-sets for heads.
Despite the unbelievability of its setting, it still obeys a strange sort of logic. The magic, while not grounded per se, follows its own laws, using the readers’ understanding of its mechanics to heighten suspense. Spells are common, but not omnipotent. Even magic needs fuel in Saga, and while a lot is accomplished with mystical artifacts, for spoken incantations, that fuel is secrets. Without a secret, there’s no spell, so magical moments often elevate suspense between characters while also furthering the plot.
Speaking of characters and suspense, Saga’s strongest suit is its cast. Leading characters of the story aren’t the most ‘special’ or ‘important,’ but they hold the spotlight for their emotional significance. Centering around a forbidden marriage between Alana and Marko, members of two races that have been at war for generations, the comic explores their relationships with their family and friends as they seek refuge from interplanetary governments. Their daughter Hazel is born in the very first scene, and she narrates the story from an indeterminate point in the future.
But to shake up the storytelling even further, it also follows The Will, a bounty hunter of sorts, who’s been hired to track down the couple and erase any evidence of their child. This might make him the antagonist of a typical story, but he takes the job in order to save a young girl from a lifetime of sex-slavery, making him a sympathetic protagonist instead. Even though his contractors, the government of Wreath (Marko’s home planet) are clearly despicable, it’s hard for readers to actively root against the closest thing Saga has to a villain, giving the story more nuance and complexity than typical superhero comics.
That’s not to say it avoids the superhero genre, it actually satirizes the nature of superhero stories as a whole. One of the major arcs in the series’ fourth volume features Alana working as an actress for the Open Circuit, which is essentially a superhero-themed stage play where viewers fill the seats via virtual reality headsets. Audiences love the daily melodrama, and the masks and capes are fabulous, but the Open Circuit’s superpowered escapism serves only to distract the populous from the horrors of the war between Wreath and Landfall that’s ravaging the galaxy.
The war between Wreath and Landfall colors all aspects of Saga’s universe, and it questions what it means to raise a child in a world devastated by conflict. Saga is a story all about family, but it’s by no means family-friendly. It’s gory, it’s vulgar and it’s… honestly, really depressing. Characters the readers love will die, but they’ll also love the characters who murder them. And even in the bleakness of war and death, it still keeps a sense of hope and levity that make all the hardships worth it.
There’s also a lot of sex in Saga. Like… a lot… but it’s managed to keep itself free from the trappings of male-gazey heteronormativity that’s plagued comic nudity for decades. Queer and diverse representation have kept the story fresh while not disregarding the reality of sexual oppression, even in this fantastical reality. Gay sex, sex with trans characters and even freaky sex between humans and spider-aliens are all recurring elements of the series, but it’s not for pure eroticism. Sex is a core element of Saga’s compassionate thesis statement: “The opposite of war… is fucking.”
For anyone interested that has not read it already, Saga #1 is available to read for free on Image’s website. Physical issues of #1 are selling for as much as $200 these days. Upcoming entries could potentially reach similar prices in the future, especially now that the international paper shortage keeps Image comics from printing any second editions. This newfound scarcity makes monthly comics more of an investment than ever before, so if the premise is not enough to hook someone on this Eisner Award-winning series, perhaps its financial potential will. But even if its books never sold for a dime in a million years, it would still be worth every cent, because almost nothing on the market has the raw depth of soul that Saga has excelled at for years.
[ad_2]
