Saga Volume Seven by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Saga Volume Seven written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples is the seventh volume in the ongoing comic series. As with the previous volumes, it tells the next chapter in the story, collecting issues #37–42.

From the worldwide bestselling team of FIONA STAPLES and BRIAN K. VAUGHAN, “The War for Phang” is an epic, self-contained SAGA event! Finally reunited with her ever-expanding family, Hazel travels to a war-torn comet that Wreath and Landfall have been battling over for ages. New friendships are forged and others are lost forever in this action-packed volume about families, combat, and the refugee experience.

I didn't actually read the blurb above before reading this volume, and, having read it, would not have called it an "event" in the traditional comic book sense. Marvel events completely disrupt series, which was not at all the case here. "The War for Phang" was more just a more coherent story arc in a series that often has a few different threads on the go at once. So if you have comic events, best to just not think of this book as an event book.

It is nice, actually, to have a more contained story arc in Saga. There was less trying to remember what those side characters had been doing (though still a bit of that) and more coherent narration by future Hazel across the whole volume. Of course it dealt with a lot of the same issues that earlier parts of the Saga narrative have delved into: racism/interracial relations, war, death. Tying it all together with most of the story set on Phang increased the impact of some of the emotional points. Speaking of emotional points, the ending was also powerful (no spoilers).

I definitely recommend this volume to anyone who has enjoyed the previous volumes of Saga. It's not an especially good place to pick up the story since it really is a long ongoing saga. I'm looking forward to reading the next volume, which will hopefully be soon since it's already out and in my possession.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2017, Image Comics
Series: Saga ongoing series Volume 7 of at least 9
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: Some local comic book shop

Saga Vol 6 by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Saga Vol 6 written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated Fiona Staples is the sixth volume in the ongoing space opera comic book series, Saga. I have reviewed all of the previous volumes: Volume One, Volume Two, Volume Three, Volume Four and Volume Five. The story picks up more or less where the previous volume left off, with a bit of a jump forward in time (I think of a few years, but I'm not entirely sure).

After a dramatic time jump, the three-time Eisner Award winner for Best Continuing Series continues to evolve, as Hazel begins the most exciting adventure of her life: kindergarten. Meanwhile, her starcrossed family learns hard lessons of their own.

To be honest, after waiting more than a year and a half since reading Vol 5, my recollection of where the plot was up to was vague at best. And yet, I found it really easy to get back into the story. I was only slightly confused about some of the details, and that was more with regards to the secondary storylines.

Overall, I quite enjoyed reading this volume. However, since it's volume six in an ongoing series, I am again lost for what to say about it. It's not a self-contained story; it's a continuation of what's come before. Obviously, this isn't going to work very well as a standalone (I don't like it's odds for the Hugo for that reason). But if you've been reading and enjoying Saga, then definitely continue reading with this volume. If you haven't read any Saga before and the idea of a cross-species war-time love story space opera appeals to you, then go start with volume one and catch up to six (or seven, which is also out). Highly recommended.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: 2016, Image Comics
Series: Saga, volume 6 out of 7 so far in the ongoing series, containing issues #31–36
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: A shop. I bought it last year and I don't remember in which country.

Saga Volume Five by Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Saga Volume Five written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples is the fifth volume of collected comics in the ongoing Hugo Award-winning series. If you haven't been keeping up with the series, this is not the point to jump in at. I strongly recommend starting with the first trade collection.

Multiple storylines collide in this cosmos-spanning new volume. While Gwendolyn and Lying Cat risk everything to find a cure for The Will, Marko makes an uneasy alliance with Prince Robot IV to find their missing children, who are trapped on a strange world with terrifying new enemies.

Unsurprisingly, Volume Five picks up and continues the story from where we left off in Volume Four. The story continues incrementally, as it has been, with some progress from all the main character groups. I thought it was tied together particularly nicely by the main character's narration.

I'm honestly not sure what else to say that I haven't said in earlier. I love Ghüs and Lying Cat and the central stories are all a bit tragic. And there's the obligatory horrifying giant genitalia. Basically, if you've been enjoying Saga thus far, there's no reason not to pick up this next volume.

I'm looking forward to rereading the entire series when it's complete (whenever that is) and being able to post a meatier review. As it stands, I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

4 / 5 stars

First published: September 2015, Image Comics
Series: Volume 5 collecting issues #25–30 of the ongoing series
Format read: Paper! Trade paper! Back!
Source: A random comic book store while travelling

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

Saga Volume Three by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples

Saga Volume Three, written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples, is (obviously) the third volume of collected comic issues, comprising of issues 13 to 18.

Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the universe. Searching for their literary hero, new parents Marko and Alana travel to a cosmic lighthouse on the planet Quietus, while the couple's multiple pursuers finally close in on their targets.

When I read the first two volumes (my reviews of Volume One and Volume Two), I was a little weary of the number of female characters. But as the story has progressed, it seems to have accreted more of them, which I appreciated. The cover art of this volume is a good example; neither of those two characters were proper characters when the story started.

Gwendolyn, the woman on the cover, while not wearing what I would call sensible clothes (but they could be worse), proves herself to be an interesting character. We first learn of her only through Marko, who was engaged to her before he went to war. She initially sounds relatively insignificant but when she shows up in person, we find out that, just as Marko changed when he went to war, so to did Gwendolyn when she stayed back.

One of my favourite characters, who's been around since Volume One but who I haven't mentioned, is Izabel. She's the ghost of a teenage girl who died stepping on a landmine. More accurately, the ghost of half a teenage girl. She's pretty great and not the kind of character I would have expected to see. (Even if we can see her intestines.) Also, she provides a counterpoint to everyone being wrapped up in the war. Although her parents were freedom fighters and despite the way she died, she's not invested at all.

We also get to know two new characters with their own story line: two reporters who have caught the trail of the story of Alana, Marko and their child. They run around trying to chase down leads and, in the process, we learn about their home world. Really, I think it's fair to say that the more we learn about each character, the more interesting they become.

I've been enjoying Saga and I'm sad that I now have to wait for an indeterminate time for the next volume. I also recommend starting from the start if this is the first review that you're reading.

4 / 5 stars

First published: March 2014, Image Comics
Series: Saga, Volume 3 of ongoing
Format read: Paper! Glossiness!
Source: Purchased from the Science Fiction Bookshop

Saga Volume Two by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples

Saga Volume Two, written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples is the second volume of collected comic issues. It contains issues 7 to 12. It continues the story right where Volume One left off, telling us more about the background and history of Mako, the narrator's father.

SAGA is sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the universe. Thanks to her star-crossed parents Marko and Alana, newborn baby Hazel has already survived lethal assassins, rampaging armies, and horrific monsters, but in the cold vastness of outer space, the little girl encounters her strangest adventure yet... grandparents.

I didn't think about it that much when I was reading Volume One, but I quite like the style of the narration in Saga. The way it's included puts me in mind of voice overs in movies which take place over action-y scenes and that was exactly how I pictured it. It also means that, despite the narrator still being a baby in the comic (not much time has passed since it started), we can start to get to know her as an adult.

Volume Two introduces a few new characters — one in particular that I wasn't expecting to see so soon — and progresses the plot incrementally. That is one of the frustrating things about reviewing comic books; the nature of the medium makes them very brief and difficult to go into much depth over. (I say this before having listened to the Galactic Suburbia Spoileriffic episode; I'm sure they found plenty to talk about for almost two hours.) So I present a few random thoughts.

I was amused that the language written in blue letters is called Blue. I also checked what it was with Google Translate. I had suspected it was Esperanto, and turns out it is. It was an interesting choice to have a couple of pages of dialogue written entirely in Blue. That was the point at which I decided to check what the language was, but I ended up not translating all of it because it wasn't mysterious from the context (and also because lazy). Still, it was an interesting contrast to other scenes where only one person is speaking in Blue and the other doesn't necessarily understand them.

I was also really taken by the style of the historical vision art. (I would call it a flashback but it flashed to before the character's lifetime.) The way it sort of blurred was really cool. It was only used in one bit, but it was memorable.

Saga Volume Two is a recommended read for people who have read and enjoyed Volume One. I don't recommend starting at Volume Two because of plot continuity. I am definitely going to read the third volume.

4 / 5 stars

First published: 2013, Image Comics
Series: Saga, Volume Two of ongoing (? Three so far)
Format read: Paper!
Source: Purchased from the Science Fiction Bookshop

Saga Volume One by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples

Saga Volume One, written by Brian K Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples, is the first volume in a science fantasy/space opera comic book series. First volume in the sense that it's the first trade collection of the first six individual issues. I picked it up because I've been hearing some good things about it (and some less good things that still made me curious) and because Volume 2, which I shall get to shortly, is on this year's Hugo shortlist for Best Graphic Story. Also Volume 1 won the same Hugo last year.

When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe.

From New York Times bestselling writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina) and critically acclaimed artist Fiona Staples (Mystery Society, North 40), Saga is the sweeping tale of one young family fighting to find their place in the worlds. Fantasy and science fiction are wed like never before in this sexy, subversive drama for adults.

The story opens with the baby on the cover being born and is lightly narrated by her future self. This opening volume sets up several story lines: there's the parents trying to keep their baby safe and not get themselves killed in the middle of a warzone, and there are two unrelated character groups trying to track them down and kill them (and capture the baby).

The story deals with forbidden love — the parents come from different races (who, obviously can interbreed) — particularly in the reactions of other characters when they are confronted with the couple. It's also pretty gritty, in that there's a lot of violence and hardly anyone is a nice person (although possibly not as literally bloody as grimdark fantasy, but I'm not so sure). Also there are a lot of boobs, some of them needless. Like the spider lady bounty hunter really didn't need to be topless (and as a bounty hunter, I have to wonder why it seemed like a good idea). By contrast, the only penises that appear are in the background on a (weird) prostitute planet, which still contains more boobs. If you didn't pick it up from the last few sentences, this is not really a PG read; it's definitely intended for adults.

So far, I'm enjoying the story, which is just as well because I already have volumes two and three ready to go. It's definitely aimed at SFF readers and I wouldn't call it anything other than science fantasy, genre-wise. (OK, I lied, I might also call it space opera, but I remain faintly confused about what space opera actually is.) There are some interesting species represented, like the robots that book completely human (to the point of reproducing the same way) except for having screens for faces. By contrast, the welcoming committee on the prostitute planet was a bit weird and alarming.

Saga seems not to be for the faint of heart, but it's not as dark as quite a lot of fantasy books I've read.

4 / 5 stars

First published: 2012, Image Comics
Series: Saga, Volume 1 of (ongoing?)
Format read: Paper! Gasp!
Source: Purchased from Bokus.com (Swedish retailer)