By Amanda
Warning: This review contains spoilers. While those spoilers in and of themselves won’t technically ruin anything because this is toward the start of another plot line, and these events are building up toward a supernova—if you like to read the comic first, do so. Saga is my favorite comic out there right now, so if you aren’t reading it, go buy Volumes 1-3 and educate yourself.
Chapter 20 of Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples continues as Alana, Marko, and the gang hide out and regroup. After the grown-up Hazel dropped a bomb in her last line of Chapter 19, I have been looking everywhere in this chapter for signs of the growing gulf between Marko and Alana. Primarily, their time in the issue is spent apart as we see them struggling to pay the bills and maintain a low profile from the various factions that want to see them dead. The other half of the issue is spent in the Robot Kingdom in the midst of the disappearance of Prince IV.
The relationship between Alana and Marko drives this series. A lot of the appeal of Saga is that these martial struggles, the love and the loneliness, could happen to anyone anywhere. Like all great sci-fi/fantasy series, the alien elements juxtapose the realism so that the serious issues are balanced by the make believe. Vaughan employed foreshadowing in the last issue that makes me root even more for Alana and Marko to make it. On the other hand, I’m unsure that I’ll care about Hazel in the same way—sooner or later, Vaughan is going to have to give us a better emotional attachment to Hazel, since she is the narrator after all. We’ll see what happens, if Marko and Alana’s relationship is even the point of the series, but all the same, I’m hooked on this story harder than Alana on Fadeaway.
Another thing that I love about Saga is the apparent synergy between Vaughan and Staples. Often the most important or poignant moments in the issue are quiet ones. Vaughan steps back, writes little to no dialogue, and lets Staples work her artistic magic. Panels such as the final one of Marko dancing with Hazel’s teacher, Ginny, and when the Princess of the Robot Kingdom is stabbed in the face are quiet and impactful visually. Other times, such as when Alana and Yuma are talking at work, the green colors all blend together and allow the conversation and ideas about war and drugs to step forward.
As in every issue, Staples paints a full-colored universe of bright colors populated by unique characters. She does not make a lot of use of splash pages or bleed, but you can feel the emotion on the pages when she does. The two pages of Alana tripping, for example are beautifully done, using panel borders creatively to describe Alana’s frame of mind slipping from the orderly into her interior world.
Basically everything you need to know is that Chapter 20 is rich—rich in detail, rich in emotion, rich in plot points that will be very important to the overall series. It isn’t too late to jump into the story if you haven’t been following along yet. And if you have, can we start a support group?
Get the latest copy of Saga at https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/saga-20 or at your local comic book store.
Chapter 20 of Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples continues as Alana, Marko, and the gang hide out and regroup. After the grown-up Hazel dropped a bomb in her last line of Chapter 19, I have been looking everywhere in this chapter for signs of the growing gulf between Marko and Alana. Primarily, their time in the issue is spent apart as we see them struggling to pay the bills and maintain a low profile from the various factions that want to see them dead. The other half of the issue is spent in the Robot Kingdom in the midst of the disappearance of Prince IV.
The relationship between Alana and Marko drives this series. A lot of the appeal of Saga is that these martial struggles, the love and the loneliness, could happen to anyone anywhere. Like all great sci-fi/fantasy series, the alien elements juxtapose the realism so that the serious issues are balanced by the make believe. Vaughan employed foreshadowing in the last issue that makes me root even more for Alana and Marko to make it. On the other hand, I’m unsure that I’ll care about Hazel in the same way—sooner or later, Vaughan is going to have to give us a better emotional attachment to Hazel, since she is the narrator after all. We’ll see what happens, if Marko and Alana’s relationship is even the point of the series, but all the same, I’m hooked on this story harder than Alana on Fadeaway.
Another thing that I love about Saga is the apparent synergy between Vaughan and Staples. Often the most important or poignant moments in the issue are quiet ones. Vaughan steps back, writes little to no dialogue, and lets Staples work her artistic magic. Panels such as the final one of Marko dancing with Hazel’s teacher, Ginny, and when the Princess of the Robot Kingdom is stabbed in the face are quiet and impactful visually. Other times, such as when Alana and Yuma are talking at work, the green colors all blend together and allow the conversation and ideas about war and drugs to step forward.
As in every issue, Staples paints a full-colored universe of bright colors populated by unique characters. She does not make a lot of use of splash pages or bleed, but you can feel the emotion on the pages when she does. The two pages of Alana tripping, for example are beautifully done, using panel borders creatively to describe Alana’s frame of mind slipping from the orderly into her interior world.
Basically everything you need to know is that Chapter 20 is rich—rich in detail, rich in emotion, rich in plot points that will be very important to the overall series. It isn’t too late to jump into the story if you haven’t been following along yet. And if you have, can we start a support group?
Get the latest copy of Saga at https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/saga-20 or at your local comic book store.