Target: Brian K. Vaughan’s Saga. Art by Fiona Staples. Collecting issues 7-18
Profile: Comics, Science Fiction, Space Opera
It’s been too long, but I’m finally getting around to reviewingSaga Volume 2 and, as a limited time bonus offer, you get Volume 3 thrown in for free. Back when I first picked up this epic comic series, I noted that the one flaw holding it back was the lack of focus and development. To quote myself, “While many of the details needed for true long-term success are still missing, Saga tantalizes with an incredible spread of fantastic ideas and well-drawn characters.” Vaughan has done a lot to build a cohesive story from the flighty bits of Volume 1. The pacing and, more importantly, unfocused nature of the comic are still getting in the way of strong narrative flow, but Saga somehow transcends these limitations and is building a beautifully cohesive world out of the narrative equivalent of confetti.
After the cliffhanger ending of Chapter 6, Volume 2 disjoints briefly from the narrative of Marko and Alana to take time for some flashbacks. We look at Marko’s youth, Alana’s time as a solider and their joint experiences as prisoner and guard that preceded the events of Volume 1. We also meet a whole gaggle of characters from Marko’s past and pick up some of the threads from The Will’s side story.
I’m not a comic book reader but picked these up based on strong reviews from other Cannonballers (ie Malin) so I don’t have the experience to compare it to other comic books. The medium is so unfamiliar to me I may not be noticing the “narrative confetti” (great phrase BTW) because I’m so caught up in the artwork or unexpected darts of the story. And speaking of artwork, there isn’t a frame in any of these books I wouldn’t happily hang on our walls. Really stunning stuff.
All of your thoughtful points are entirely valid and I can’t disagree with anything you said. Yet oddly none of them impact my enjoyment of these marvelous books!
Thank you. I’m glad my nonsensical critiques didn’t rub you the wrong way. I try to balance my fanboying with legitimate criticism, but it’s hard to do when the book is as good as Saga. I really felt like I was grasping at straws on this particular review, so its nice to see it affirmed by another reader.