I've just binge read volumes 4 through 6 of Saga, and it just keeps getting better as the characters, universe and story grows and unfolds. Written masterfully by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated beautifully by Fiona Staples, it far exceeds most of it's contemporaries in consistency and quality, and really is a graphic masterpiece. The story continues to engage and moves at just the right pace, not rushing the story, nor not getting bogged down. If you don't know the story. It's a story as old as stories get, boy and girl from different warring sides meet, one has horns the other wings, they fall in love and everybody's pissed off about it. Vaughan tells it in such an original and imaginative way, and Staples illustrates it sumptuously, every page is a visual feast of line and colour. It never fails to surprise, and often shocks. The universe Vaughan and Staples have created is complexed and colourful, a universe engaged in an ages old war, every star system and race enlisted, a universe where technology and magic blend seamlessly. When our main protagonists fall in love and have a child (Hazel), the entrenched sides see the offspring of their union as an abomination rather than a blessing. I'm tickled that the afore mentioned main protagonists bonded and built a relationship, a
dream, over a pulp book by underrated writer Mister Heist; inspiration can come
from anywhere. The characters have depth and originality, you just accept them, no matter how weird or outlandish. You accept that Prince Robot IV is essentially a human with a tv screen head, there's a cat that knows if you're lying and a spectral half bodied girl Izabel is a member of the family; it's a wonderfully rich universe populated by endlessly weird characters. These 3 volumes continue telling the story through Hazel's narration, of her recollections and perspective. There's separation, reunion and loss, there's sadness and humour, good helpings of humour both in the writing and the illustrations. There's soap opera shenanigans, drugs, bounty hunters looking for revenge, revolutionaries, deception, loyalty, sacrifice and a quest for healing monster jizz. I can't go into any detail without giving spoilers. So, you're just going to have to read them yourself. And hey, you'd be mad not to, this is comics at their best.
