Posted in: Comics | Tagged: 4, brian k vaughan, Comics, fiona staples, image, Review, saga

Saga #4 – Everything You Wanted To Know About Sextillion But Were Too Afraid To Ask

Published Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:00:34 -0500

Eliot Cole reads comics for Bleeding Cool;

Saga #4 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Brian K Vaughan's knack for providing emotional resonance (something I like in good comics) from beings other than human was most famously displayed in Pride Of Baghdad. Everything that we get from the *complete* aliens on display in Saga are pitched just as perfectly.

Let's cut straight to the third page in full:
Obviously this is a good display of the humour that Mr. Vaughan has injected into the book. Which perhaps comes from his understandings of how people interact and also just good comedic timing. We saw a lot of that with a 'sidekick' in Y, and Staples' Lying Cat's face is brilliant here. I also really love the background movement, and (being a big perv) I like the sexual innuendo, too. I have a strange feeling that there won't ever be a return to Sextillion, so savour this!

A slight interjection based off of that, actually: The naming of Sextillion could suggest that there will be a lot of jokes at the expense of science fiction in this series. I'm thinking it's wise for sci-fi geeks to be the kind with senses of humour if that is the case.

Saga has a great handling of the two and fro of a modern relationship, bringing our royal partnership to areas that we can hopefullly relate to on some level. They have the same insecurities and foibles that any relationship would display, but they're having in a space forest with half of a ghost child.

Which could bring us to the perennial science fiction question: Why not just set it on Earth with contemporary themes?
Well, because then we don't get girls with legs that go all the way to their heads, centi-girl sex workers and naked male pyramids. Oh, and Lying Cat!

Staples facial handling is fantastic really at hammering home every emotional beat. This aided her excellent colour work, showing not just character emotions but the feel of the scene, too.

If you weren't already aware, Saga is moving fast to set itself up for the long haul (or at least it seems that way).The use and handling of adult scenes is dealt with easily by your creators, and you feel fully enveloped in their world when you're reading it. This is an accomplishment by book four. I'm predicting that Saga will bury itself in to your life, with this issue being a four star installment of that dig.

A shorter review, sure, so I'll give a shorter conclusion: Buy, buy, buy.

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