Saga

Saga is a tale of star-crossed lovers. Literally star crossed. They’re on the opposite sides of a galactic war between two species. Marko has horns like a ram and spell-casting ability. Alana comes from a more technologically advanced race with vestigial wings. Guided by royal figures who have video monitors for heads (which makes them seem to be a third species), her faction appears to have the upper hand.

Magic versus technology isn’t the most original premise, but the quality of the writing does set this apart. The characters are contemporary, flawed, and insecure. Even the royal TV-head who is pursuing the couple is shown sitting on the toilet. Vaughan’s writing is humanizing and quite refreshing. The most endearing aspect of the story is the modern-day banter between the smart-mouthed, tough female and her big-hearted but somewhat naïve husband. I would describe it as Whedon-esque. If Saga wasn’t a sci-fi story, Alana would be a punk rock guitarist and Marko would be a street art muralist. Vaughan is best known for his series Y: The Last Man, which I loved but this, so far, has a much wider scope. I hear he also wrote for Lost, which makes me love him just a little bit more.

I love the emotional expressiveness to the art - there's sharper angles and vibrant colours, especially in the panels where Staples obviously threw in her love and went for it. So the book clips along at a nice pace and that's very much due to her, and so long as you don't linger over the filler panels then you'll probably find this is top-notch comics. I'm actually a big fan of the more feminine styles from creators like Staples - her character designs are pretty amazing, and the fluid quality of the backdrops is a nice change from the punch-to-the-head stark designs of many books. Vaughan's secret talent in writing this book is having these fantastic creatures and weird characters just talk like normal people.

Some great world-building gone into this work. Vaughan and Staples have created a universe with species upon species of different people and things that make my eyes go wide every time I meet one. Winged humanoids, horned humanoids - they're just the start. The robots-with-TVs-for-heads are sinister and human; the war beasts and forest creatures are wild. The politics of this galaxy are at the same time simple (hatred, fear and greed) and deliciously real (propaganda, jealousy, magic).