Image Comics
Brian K. Vaughan, writer
Fiona Staples, artist
The advance artwork for this series caught my eye; the description of what the series would be and Vaughan's name made me decide to give it a try. Both of those facts are somewhat off for different reasons.
I know Vaughan to be a popular writer and I have purchased a few books by him, but haven't actually read many of them yet. I bought and read the first trade collection for Y: The Last Man and liked it enough to want to buy the subsequent trades, but since the story was designed to have a definite end, I opted to wait to read any more until I had them all, and since just haven't made the time yet. I also bought Pride of Baghdad based on Vaughan's reputation and advance solicitation material, but have yet to read the graphic novel. So, I'm really just hoping I'll agree with other folks that he is a good writer.
As for the eye-catching art that first drew my attention, now that I've seen the first few installments of the monthly title, my reaction to the art is uneven. I very much like Staples' depictions of the main characters, Alana, Marko and Hazel. The other recurring characters we've seen so far are also drawn well and consistent, their features not fluctuating from panel to panel making them less than recognizable at times. Even the backgrounds and landscape panels are beautifully rendered. It's more some of the creatures and fantastical elements in Saga which can sometimes seem a tad uneven. Relative sizes fluctuate a bit or a gigantic creature just really doesn't look quite plausible, in some way. It's hard to describe, really. I don't hate the art at all, but sometimes it seems just a bit "off."
The plot so far hinges on a war between two species that has spread out across the known galaxy. Alana was a soldier on one side and Marko a soldier on the other. The two met when Marko was captured and Alana was assigned to be his jailer. Apparently, they fell in love and ran away from the fighting, or tried to. Despite being on the run, the pair has obviously gotten married somewhere along the way, and both factions in the war are trying to recapture the couple for treason. That's the back story.
The series opens with the introduction of Hazel, the child of Alana and Marko, who is born on the first few pages of the story. Moments after Hazel's birth, the new family is surrounded by some of Alana's former comrades. Obviously, they manage to escape or this would have been a very short-lived series, but before Alana, Marko and Hazel can obtain a ship and leave the planet they are on, they find themselves in the middle of the shifting front lines of battle and pursued by bounty hunters hired by Marko's people.
I immediately liked this couple and their newborn, and I'm curious where their story will take them. Maybe that's because my wife and I had our own first child just about a year ago. Whatever the reason, I'm definitely going to stick around for a while to see where Vaughan and Staples take things.
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