GRAPHIC NOVEL REVIEW: SAGA 1-6
6:29 PM
Original title: Saga
Author: Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Year of Publication: 2012
Number of pages: 30 per comic.
Available in: English, Spanish
I read it in: Spanish
"What kind of assholes bring a kid into worlds like these?"
Alana and Marko are two warriors of enemy species
that fled from the war and their planets in hopes of raising her newly born,
Hazel, who is chased for being hybrid by different enemy lines. Everyone in
this universe is risking their life every day between politics, war and bounty
hunter, to protect those who they cherish the most... or to follow millenary
traditions.
This story is frequently described as a mixture of Star Wars, Game of
Thrones, Romeo and Juliette and The Lord of the Rings, and it's not hard to see
why: two star-crossed lovers of different teams are the main characters of an
epic fantasy and science fiction story that takes place in the whole wide
universe. Apart from that, it deals with 'subversive' topics like politics,
religion and sex, something that is present throughout the comic book and that
has made the story object of various critics and even getting a ban from
Comixology, an online digital comic platform.
In general, there's a pattern I see in a lot of
comic books I've read and that I don't quite like: the story is more developed
by the visuals than by the dialogues, which are often simplistic and unrealistic.
Saga doesn't disappoint in the visuals field, which I will talk about soon, but
a little (very little) in the written one. The story is of epic proportions, it
has plenty characters, and it's obvious that they can't stop to give each
character the chance to talk all they want, but if Hazel wasn't narrating the
story (at least these first six chapters), the story would be a bit lacking of
soul.
Regarding the visual aspect: Fiona Staples doesn't
disappoint. What stood out the most for me the first time was the cover of
chapter one that depicts Alana breast-feeding Hazel with Marko next to her,
both of them holding weapons. After the first chapter and all through the
sixth, which correspond to volume one, each cover was better, being my favorite
the one from chapter four, that shows The Will, the bounty hunter, next to his
Lying Cat. Fiona designed each of the characters that appear in the story, so
we have her to thank for people with televisions as heads, human-sized monkeys,
heads with legs and winged men, amongst many more. Her drawing style is unique
and striking, her worlds bizarre and impossible, and her choice of colors for
each character combines with their ambience, what gives more depth to the
story.
As for the characters, Brian K. Vaughan shows us a
great variety of them, being Marko and Alana the principal ones, who are
debating between raising their daughter and fighting those who threaten them,
hoping to leave the life they've always lived behind. We also have the bounty
hunters, my favorite ones, that are depicted as psycho out-laws, capable of
killing whoever they need for money, although in one of the chapters we take a
deeper look to the morality of The Will who keeps being described as a monster,
but as Hazel says, some monsters are worse than others. We also have prince
Robot IV, who is not particularly likable, but I hope his character develops
more throughout the story.
The comics are sold monthly by chapters, in groups
of six, and as of now number 25 has been published in the States, being sold also
as a graphic novel divided in volumes that include six chapters each. It's
worth remembering that it's a comic book series for adults, as it contains
sexual material and explicit language. It also has violence, but given the kind
of videogames that are being sold to 11 year-olds, I hardly think that would be
a problem.
In general, I think that Saga has a lot of potential and that it will definitely be of the likes of those who enjoy science fiction and fantasy, and I recommend it greatly. As for me, I'm excited and waiting chapter seven to be sold in my country.
- Where to buy? The Book Depository, Amazon, Barnes and Noble or your local comic book shop!
- An interview with the authors
- Awards Saga has won
- Soon! --> Photos of each of the covers in the Tumblr of the blog!
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