Saga Vol.1 (2012) by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples

Author: Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples
Title: Saga
Series: Saga
Format: Kindle Edition
Length: 160 pages
Rating: ★★★★☆

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Publisher’s Synopsis

When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe.

From bestselling writer Brian K. Vaughan, Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the worlds. Fantasy and science fiction are wed like never before in this sexy, subversive drama for adults.

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My Thoughts

Well, it’s only taken me 8 years to finally get around to reading Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples’ highly-rated comic book series Saga. For some reason, it never appealed to me before. But thankfully, I recently read Re-enchantment of the World’s excellent post on Saga and decided to try the first volume. (Thanks to Ola and Piotrek for the push.) Saga Volume 1 collects the first six issues of the series.

The story begins with a birth. Husband and wife Marko and Alana are on the run. They are trying to escape a galactic war between their two races. With impeccable timing, their baby daughter Hazel arrives in the middle of their flight and the story continues from there.

Brian K. Vaughan has spoken about his ideas for the series, which he says was partly influenced by Star Wars and Flash Gordon. He changed the focus of the story to two “ordinary” people who just want to escape the war and live their lives together bringing up their newborn daughter:

“I didn’t want to tell a Star Wars adventure with these noble heroes fighting an empire. These are people on the outskirts of the story who want out of this never-ending galactic war.”

-BRIAN K. VAUGHAN

This is one of the things I liked about Saga. The main characters are not your typical heroes. Instead, they are people who need to act heroically to survive. The fact that they have just become parents adds significantly to the story, as it increases the level of peril the reader feels. How will they escape the oncoming danger now they have the addition of newborn baby Hazel?

In recommending this book, I must also mention the beautiful art by Fiona Staples. She draws with a strong line that is not too detailed. Her character’s facial expressions are varied and expressive. She doesn’t get lost in backgrounds and her colouring is excellent. Yes, she colours her own art and it adds real depth to the pages. I’m excited to see how her art develops over the coming issues as I still have a lot to read.

I enjoyed this first volume of Saga because it was an exciting story with compelling characters that drew me into the narrative. It’s also smart, imaginative and funny. It has been labelled as space opera and fantasy, so if you have an interest in those genres I recommend this book. I’ve already bought the next volume and am looking forward to reading it soon.

Thanks for reading!

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