Saga Volume Four by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Saga Volume Four by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples is the fourth volume of collected comic issues of the ongoing series Saga. It includes issues 19 to 24 inclusive. If you haven't already, you can read my reviews of Volumes One, Two and Three. This review is definitely going to contain some spoilers for the earlier volumes. Blurb from the back of my (paperback) edition, not Goodreads:

Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the universe. As they visit a strange new world and encounter even more adversaries, baby Hazel finally becomes a toddler, while her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana struggle to stay on their feet.

I always find it hard to review these, because how much is there to say about such a short snippet of story. I can't imagine choosing to read them issue-by-issue. So this review will be brief.

The main new thing this volume brings — thrusts upon us with the opening page — is a baby born to the robot prince couple. What happens to the baby is a significant storyline that is followed throughout the volume. (Side note, if baby robots poop, how do they eat with screens for faces? Inquiring minds need to know.) Related to that, we also learn more about the Robot Kingdom and it's hierarchy. The Prince and Princess have sort of shiny fancy screen faces, as we've already seen, but peasants and other lower classes have crappier TV screens, like with knobs and/or in black and white. And we finally meet the Robot King, but I won't spoil his appearance. Suffice to say lol.

The story of the main family — Hazel, Marko and Alana, and co — jumps forward to Hazel's toddlerhood and the family eking out a relatively stable existence (for the time skipped, anyway). The cover art features Alana bringing home the bacon by acting in entertainment on "the Circuit". It may the source of some tensions. Other characters from earlier in the story also make brief appearances throughout the volume.

I think I enjoyed Volume Four more than some of the earlier ones (although they have blurred together a bit). Mainly, I suspect, because there's less squick factor. Or at least less of my personal squick factor, though I suspect others will beg to differ. Anyway, if you've been enjoying Saga thus far, why wouldn't you pick up the next volume? If you haven't read the series, I strongly suggest starting with Volume One, since the story is highly dependent on continuity.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: January 2015, Image
Series: Saga Volume 4 of ongoing series (containing issues 19 to 24 inclusive)
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: Purchased from a real life bookshop's online preorder page ;-p