ENTROPIC WORLDS

Saga #8

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan

Artist: Fiona Staples

Image Comics

Saga… now on the second issue of its second story arc and getting better each month! I have to confess that this series from Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples has become far and away my favorite ongoing book; upon reaching the last panel each month, I immediately start to pine for the next issue! So, this means that if you were looking for an objective critical review of this issue you won’t find it here. In lieu of that, you can accept this entry in Entropic Worlds either as an argument for why you should go out and buy every issue of Saga at your earliest possible convenience, or, if you’re already a devotee of the series, as a space to indulge in some shared praise for this epic-in-progress.

In past posts about Saga I have applauded the way that Vaughan celebrates the contradictions that make the improbable characters and their improbable situations unique and inspiring. Issue #8 picks this theme back up and begins the process of reconciling these contradictions, but never quite in the way we anticipate. The issue opens with a flashback to the moment when the star-crossed protagonists, Alana and Marko, first met. It’s hardly love at first sight, a fact that Vaughan and Staples make abundantly clear with a crushing splash page that scoffs at the romantic sentimentality that unwitting readers may have expected. Hazel, the couple’s newborn and the book’s occasional narrator, even derisively mocks the conventions of romantic comedy from her privileged vantage point in the future. The real treat of this flashback sequence isn’t the first encounter between the two lovers, but is actually the glimpse we get of a pre-marital Alana. She is brash, militant, and independent, as we’ve come to expect, but we also see that she is introspective, thoughtful, and as such, a bit irritating to her fellow soldiers. As she tries desperately to convince her colleague to read the Oswald D. Heist novel that she just finished, we begin to realize that beneath her plucky shell she is a lonely daydreamer who is struggling to form human connections. It’s such a surprise, but it makes perfect sense at the same time. This sequence gives us a sense of what Alana takes from her unlikely relationship with Marko by showing us what she was missing before. By waiting this late into the series to reveal this aspect of Alana’s life, Vaughan forces readers to reflect on the relationship as its been depicted throughout the series and redefine what we had previously thought to be the status-quo, adding layers of complexity and emotional significance in the process.

As the narrative returns to the present day we find Alana and Marko separated along with Marko’s father and mother respectively. Alana and her father-in-law are aboard the living ship the pair has commandeered, while her husband and his mother are on a nearby planet confronted by a grotesque triclops who has interrupted their search for their disembodied babysitter, Izabel. Vaughan uses this opportunity to explore Marko’s rocky relationship with his parents. Once again, he subverts our expectations about family, generation gaps, and gender roles in a way that humanizes Marko’s warrior lineage. In issue #7 Marko’s father revealed to Alana that he was dying, a secret that he hasn’t even shared with his family. Knowing that his days are numbered, he has made it his mission to do what he can to help protect his new family. In the process he surprises us with some competent, if old-fashioned, parenting skills and also crafts some fashionable and practical new duds for Alana. In a cute moment Alana exclaims, “There is no way that I’m this lucky. My father-in-law is a seamstress?” He quickly and curtly rebuts her, asserting that he is an armorer instead. Nonetheless, it subtly suggests that beneath his harsh warrior exterior there is a domestic impulse, thereby warmly affirming that the beauty of child-rearing has not been lost amidst the intergalactic war that dominates our characters’ world.

It’s Marko’s mother who turns out to be the cold-blooded one in the family. She has no mercy for the behemoth that confronts them and needs to be convinced by Marko to take a less violent course of action. The absurdly horrific circumstances they face contrasts sharply with the domestic environment on the ship; yet Marko’s sensitivity, calm, and passionate loyalty to his friend Izabel unifies the idea of compassion in the face of horror throughout the present day narrative.

The thing that makes this book stand out heads above the competition is the way that it always connects on a powerful emotional level. There are moments in every issue, including this one, when I have to force my tear ducts to behave. Considering that I am a 28 year old man, and about a third of this issue features a naked monster with three eyes and an inflamed, pus filled scrotum, this is no small feat. It’s not even necessarily those big moments (deaths, births, betrayals, etc.) that achieve this; rather, it’s usually the small heartfelt pieces of dialog that ring true. Vaughan’s storytelling deserves a lot of credit, no question, but Fiona Staples’s carefully rendered figures are really the secret. In contrast to the deeply detailed fine lines that can be found in many of the more “operatic” mainstream comics, Staples uses sharp, sparse lines and flat colors and instead relies on her impeccable knack for facial expressions and body language to convey the feelings and emotional nuances of her figures.

Speaking of Staples’s art, the back of this issue features a beautiful process breakdown, narrated by Fiona herself. It’s easily as good, or better, than any of the similar features I’ve found in so-called deluxe edition collected volumes, and we get this one, in addition to 22 pages of story, for only $2.99. Actually, this art feature is instead of the normal letters section which is usually terrific as well, and nearly as entertaining as the comic itself. Vaughan prints an eclectic and funny assortment of letters that indicates the thoughtful and diverse following that Saga has already accumulated, while his own playful and self-deprecating responses make for a delightful read. As far as I know, these sections are for the eyes of the single-issue readership only, one more reason to find the issues before you no longer can.