Wednesday, January 23, 2013

[BOOK REVIEW] Saga Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan




Title:  Saga Volume 1

Author:  Brian K. Vaughan

Artist:  Fiona Staples


Genre: Sci -Fi Fantasy

Year Published: 2012

Year Read: 2013

Series: Saga #1

Publisher: Image Comics

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Nudity, Strong Language and Gory Violence)




Introduction:

After reading so many of Brian K. Vaughan’s works, with “Y: The Last Man” and his “Runaways” series being among the works I had read, I have been enjoying everything that Brian K. Vaughan has done over the years!  But, imagine my surprise when I discovered that Brian K. Vaughan had recently created a new comic book series called “Saga!”  After hearing so many good things about this comic, I just had to pick this up for myself and see what was so good about this comic and man, was I blown away by the whole concept of this story!

What is this story about?

Alana, a young woman who has fairy wings and is from the planet Landfall, and her husband, Marko, a young man who has goat horns and is from a moon planet called Wreath, were both soldiers that served in the army.  However, when Alana and Marko ended up falling in love with each other despite the fact that their planets are at war with each other, they ended up having a baby together and they tried to escape from the war in order to raise their newborn baby.  However, the two lovers will soon discover that they are being hunted because they abandoned their stations and they must reach a planet where they could live in peace before it is too late!

What I loved about this story:

Brian K. Vaughan’s writing: I am always amazed at how Brian K. Vaughan writes the stories in his comics as the characters are always well-developed and the stories are always creative to read through.  Well, Brian K. Vaughan has definitely done a brilliant job in this story as the characters are interesting and the story is extremely inventive!  I loved the way that Brian K. Vaughan made the story extremely creative by setting the story in a different dimension where aliens rule the planets and futuristic technology runs society.  This story also reminds me strongly of Joss Whedon’s popular TV series, “Firefly” as both stories involves characters living in a futuristic world and I really enjoyed seeing the strange characters that pop up in this comic, especially the images of Alana having green fairy wings and Marko having large goat horns in his head.  I also loved the way that Brian K. Vaughan developed the characters as Alana is shown to be a strong heroine who is willing to do everything to protect her child and Marko is shown to be a caring and strong-willed hero who also tries to protect his family from any harm that comes across them.  That kind of character development made these characters likable and relatable to me because I always felt for them whenever they are trying to escape a war so that they could raise their baby together in peace.  I also loved the futuristic setting of this story as it made the story truly amazing to read through and I enjoyed seeing how the characters deal with war in a futuristic setting.

Fiona Staples’ artwork:  Fiona Staples’ artwork is a bit scratchy, but it is extremely beautiful to look at as the characters look realistic and I loved the way that Fiona Staples paints the fire and explosion scenes as the fire lighting glows on each page, giving the artwork a dramatic feel.  I also loved the appearances of the aliens that inhabit this world, especially the image of Prince Robot IV who has a human body with a television set for a head (kind of reminds me of the robot character in “Fooly Cooly” who also has a human body with a television set for a head)!

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

Since this story deals with war, there are many violent scenes shown throughout this story.  Some of the most violent scenes in this comic had characters getting their heads cut off and their stomachs cut open and that might be too graphic for readers who are not used to gory violence.  Also, this comic has strong language that includes using the “f” word and the “s” word, so if you are uncomfortable with such language, then it might be best to skim over these words.  This comic surprisingly has strong nudity and it might be best to skim over these scenes if they are uncomfortable to read through.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Saga” is seriously one of the best recent comics I had read for the past few years since “American Vampire” and I only have a few things to say about this series: GIVE ME MORE, GIVE ME MORE, GIVE ME MORE!



REASON FOR BEING BANNED: For having "anti-family" themes, nudity and sexually explicit scenes.

 

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