And Then I Read: SAGA VOLUME 1

Image © Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples.

I’m way behind the curve on this fine book, which won lots of awards last year, I believe. It’s a sort of Romeo and Juliet story, if the two star-crossed lovers had gone on the lam together and were being hunted down by hired assassins. The setting is a science-fictional war between two groups, though each group has some fantasy elements to it, witness the ram’s horns of the guy, Marko, and the vestigial bat wings of the woman, Alana, and there are similar fantasy elements throughout. About an even amount of SF and Fantasy, really. But that’s all set-dressing, what this book is really about is two people in a world of trouble, trying to survive with their newborn daughter, who is somehow narrating the story. There’s action aplenty, adventure in dangerous places, characters who help, and some who hinder the trio, and intrigue in the background involving those paid assassins, two of them, who are both on the case, and have bad blood between them.

This is not Shakespeare, but it’s great comics. The art by Fiona Staples is masterful, the writing by Brian K. Vaughan is superb, and the book is terrific. I have Volume 2 and will be reading it soon. Highly recommended!