Saga is an exciting, touching, and constantly amusing breath of fresh air that starts with a scatological birth scene and proceeds to expand exponentially from there, out into space and beyond, with a wink and a nod. Alana and Marko are two (literally) star-crossed lovers from rival warring races who have, against the odds, managed to fall in love and conceive a child. Now on the run from both governments and an array of talented and hostile bounty hunters, they must survive long enough to keep the family together in a world where magic requires the telling of secrets and disembowelled ghosts make great babysitters.
It’s surprisingly thoughtful and emotive for a comic that features such surreal visions as baby seals in overalls, huge Cyclops with horrifically distended testicles, a television-headed royal family and a spaceship grown from a plant. The main cast of characters are beautifully written, complete with hopes and flaws, disgruntled family members and secrets of their own. The antagonists are not cardboard cut-out villains, but characters you can empathise with; from the lovelorn and orphan-adopting bounty hunter The Will to father-to-be Prince Robot IV, who suffers from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder that causes his aforementioned facial screen to display pornography. They all have their own reasons for pursuing the couple, and you can understand their motivations, and even root for them to survive the things Vaughan puts them through.
The artwork is uniformly glorious. Some of the things Vaughan writes in his scripts would make most artists scratch their heads, but Staples not only realises them, but manages to make them work and ground them in some form of reality. The linework is superb, and there is a real texture and shape to her backgrounds. The facial expressions in particular need pointing out – from subtle twitches to raging shouting matches, Staples brings them to life.
I’d recommend this anyone who wants to read something fresh, inventive and thoughtful. It’s filled with humorous touches and manages to be both an epic sci-fi story and a heartfelt story about family struggles and love. It’s hard to sum up what makes it such a worthwhile comic without spoiling some of its impact. Just read the damn thing already. Lying Cat would not object.
That’s a really excellent summary of the series.