The Saga Continues...

Image Comics strikes again as Brian K. Vaughan returns from his ‘Lost’ adventures to bring fantasy, mystery and comedy to his latest masterpiece (and yes I mean masterpiece).

Only 7 issue in, and ‘Saga’ is a VERY clever take on forbidden love, parenthood, and the trials of adversity/discrimination in a sci-fi setting.
This story is told in the form of a space opera of long warring extra-terrestrial races with their very own Romeo and Juliet – Alana and Marko (both former warriors themselves), as they flee the authorities (because of their ‘forbidden’ love - obviously) and take to the galaxy in search of a safe haven for themselves and their newborn Hazel.
Along for the ride so far are spider-shaped bounty hunters, TV-headed humanoid royalty and a babysitting teenage torso. Confused? Read it and it’ll all fall into place.

I absolutely love Saga. It’s the best thing I've read in a long time, and Vaughan’s partner in crime Fiona Staples is also a very big draw to the story.

Pretty much like everything else I read, I wasn't familiar with Staples’ work, and my first glimpse was at last year’s LSCC before the release of #1. Since then cover art pretty much plagued me until I gave up and bought it.

Staples is able to capture the ideas, tensions and situations of the story perfectly, whilst remaining cool and chillaxed. The pages are swimming with colour and I just love the little hints of detail that really make the characters stand out – like the green streak in Alana’s hair, and those damn Lana Del Ray lips on The Stalk. Speaking of women, the ladies of Saga are great, and Staples’ style empowers them with a sassy “pfft”, “who fucking cares” attitude that seems to be lost on many of the female protagonists I've seen recently.

Vaughan and Staples are the ultimate dream team. It’s one of the only things I’m reading at the moment where there is the element of surprise at every corner. Just when you think they won’t kill that character, or show those genitals, bam, there it is. And at times it’s grim, very grim. There are some uncomfortable scenes, but only because it’s the last thing you expected.

Saga is a bubbling cesspool (dramatic much) of creativity, visual stimulation and spacey-wacey stuff that doesn't disappoint. It stands out effortlessly against its competition…but obviously you won’t know that until you read it (hint).

So what would doom do? Buy it. Simple, yet effective.