The eleventh chapter of Saga, the smash hit sci-fi getaway from Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples, and Image Comics, starts out with a flashback sex scene between series leads Alana and Marko, followed by a crudely funny, yet weirdly touching, exchange. The issue ends with a heartbreaking death of a supporting cast member, followed by another, considerably more tender, flashback. There are a lot of reasons why Saga is such a huge hit–the strange mixture of science fiction and fantasy, the Romeo and Juliet romance between members of warring alien races, the effortlessly witty writing, the beautifully rendered artwork–but I suspect that the R-rated opening and the emotionally charged closing that provide bookends for this issue are the real reason behind the book’s blockbuster success. Saga is a comic that makes you snicker before it punches out your guts.
The previous issue of Saga saw Alana, Marko, and their extended family fleeing from bounty hunter The Will, who has now entered into a tenuous partnership with Marko’s ex, the sorceress Gwendolyn. The cliffhanger ending of Chapter Ten saw both parties’ ships breached, with virtually the entire comic’s cast in mortal peril. Between the flashbacks that bookend Chapter Eleven’s story, there is a daring rescue in the vacuum of space, a desperate attempt to keep our heroes’ rocket ship from flying apart, a last-minute escape, and a tense exchange between the members of the pursuing party. Not bad for only $2.99.
Brian K. Vaughan’s return to comics after a stint in television and movies (a stint he’s not done with yet–he’s the showrunner on CBS’ upcoming series adapting Stephen King’s Under The Dome) has been nothing short of a revelation. The co-creator of Runaways, Ex Machina, and Y: The Last Man has shown with Saga, and with this week’s surprise launch of the digital-only series The Private Eye (with artist Marcos Martin), that he hasn’t been saving all his best ideas for the more well-trod platforms of TV and film. He’s found a perfect partner for Saga in Fiona Staples, a supremely gifted artist who knocks out issue after issue of exciting and emotionally engaging visuals, filled with wonderfully oddball designs for the series’ many aliens, worlds, spacecraft, and TV-headed robots. In just under a year of publication, Saga‘s creators have crafted a universe that they will hopefully continue to explore for many, many years to come (and many more gut-punches, surely).
