Comic Review : Saga 15
In the prologue to Saga 15, the journalists Upsher and Doff, on the trail of Marko and Alana, interview Countess Robot X. This appointment brings them in range of dragons, bullets, and bombs, but the Countess arranges their exit from the scene. In the A arc, our heroes, Marko, Alana, Hazel, Izabel, and Klara, stay at Dr. Heist’s, where they play a lot of board games and otherwise express their particular family dynamic. In the B Arc, The Will’s spaceship gets fixed, and The Will mulls over whether or not he should complete his contract to kill Marko and Alana. This leads to the final scene, in which we learn why The Will can see The Stalk, and discover that Sophie has been guided by her own inner voices to bring about an ending.
Many will read this as a chapter in which little or nothing happened, and while we might weigh in that fiction about nothing has a high value, it is more to the point to say that this is the most important issue of Saga thus far. On the surface, it appears to be only a “day in the life” story, but the undercurrent foreshadows a coming to an end of the first part of Saga by allowing the characters’ idealism and acts of rebellion to dissolve into the comical anticlimax that is the family dynamic. Yes, our heroes discuss getting jobs and blending in, and this discussion is not as adventurous as their romantic union and escape, but following through on this idea to settle down, raise their child, and mark the passing of time will allow this child (who is of course the narrator, the central voice of the story) to finally make an appearance as an adult. Many may be disappointed when Saga’s narrative focus shifts to the next generation, but the story has made no illusion of who the ultimate POV character will be, and about when the bulk of the story will take place, as its narrator is only an infant in this chapter, and just as most of her life is in the future logically most of the story will transpire there as well.
It is also an important issue thematically, as it makes the story’s current theme much less subtle and brings it nearer to a close. In what will become known as Saga Part One, Brian K. Vaughan has parodied the romance genre by having as his premise Alana and Marko’s forbidden love, a forbidden love inspired by the work of a romance novelist. The cover to issue fifteen has made the parody more overt, as Fiona Staples has crafted a homage to cheesecake romance novel covers. But the romance is over. When Alana quips that “I thought the entire point of your book was that we were supposed to spend our lives…hanging out and stuff,” Heist’s rejoinder is “that’s what you got out of my 435-page novel? The one I spent three years writing? That I want people to do nothing?” Youth wants love to remain young love, but the truth is that love, as it matures, becomes work.
Perhaps you haven’t yet visited the world of Saga and are wondering if you should drop in.
Saga is a semi-monthly escape from the modern, demythologized, world to a “Hard R” rated Narnia. Like the classics of fantasy literature, as you read it you are wining and dining on a buffet of the mythological bestiary, and like RPGs, it is unafraid of genre mash-ups, as a few of its entrees are off of the science fiction menu, like interplanetary travel and robots. And while Saga is a fusion of high fantasy and space opera, the characters remain down to Earth in a Xanthian way. So if you respond to the classic formula of relatable characters mixed with epic fantasy, Saga is for you.
Saga 15 can be purchased at your local comic shop if you are very, very lucky, but it is most likely to be sold out by now. You can find a digital edition on the Image Comics and comiXology websites and apps.