Review: SAGA #25

Saga25_CoverSAGA #25
Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Fiona Staples
Published by Image Comics
Release Date: February 4, 2015

Saga is back, guys. Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples, clever dealers as they are, always give us three months to work ourselves into a frenzy before delivering a new installment but the wait is finally over. And, as expected, it was worth it.

There were a few things that struck me in this issue and the first is the commentary on the nature of war, especially as it’s thought of in the Western World. This is hardly new territory either within Saga itself or even Vaughan’s repertoire as a whole, but I still find it thought-provoking nonetheless. We open with Hazel’s brief overview of how the people of Landfall used to think of war versus how it’s thought of in the present. It’s a pretty transparent comparison to the United States that I think will carry on thematically throughout the rest of the arc.

This is what interests me most. While this issue is very much set up for the events to come, I’m still engaged because we’re continuing to delve into territory that I find fascinating—namely, the consequences of exporting wars to foreign soil and getting involved in wars that aren’t your own. Within this allegory that Brian K. Vaughan has set up, we’re exploring how individuals are being affected by this top-down decisions—and what might happen when they say that enough is enough.

Still, aside from the political themes, there is a lot of emotional content here. If Saga was strictly a war allegory, I think it would be much less successful or interesting than it actually is. Vaughan has created real people with real hurts. This was all too obvious in the last arc and this new one is no different. What I find most effective about his writing style, though, is that the most devastating lines are frequently very simple sentences, calm statements of fact. There’s one line in particular, with this issue, that had my heart crying out “No!” because of how much I want happiness for—come to think of it, really every character in the series, would-be villain or no.

And actually, this brings up another great thing about Saga in general—everyone has a point. No one is completely right or completely wrong. Everything is circumstantial. It shows us that the big bads, very often, are not necessarily individuals, but instead larger problems that force us to do things we might not do otherwise. The Landfall-Wreath war has pushed people into extraordinary circumstances that make it incredibly hard to truly condemn or praise their actions. That kind of ambiguity is directly reflective of the tragedy of war and maybe even life itself.

I think my main criticism of this month’s installment is that there’s minimal plot progression, so a reader who was looking for a lot of forward movement might be disappointed. In a way, it’s kind of inevitable that we didn’t get an enormous amount of plot, since time had to be taken to show readers the aftermath of the last issue, as well as what direction each of our characters was headed. Additionally, I think that you earn these kinds of issues once you’ve given the reader time with the characters and the story. While a little more plot probably would have pushed this from a good issue to a great one, I don’t think the lack of action or movement detracted from the thematic content—especially after a three-month hiatus. A more diligent reviewer than I probably would have gone back to read their volume 4 trade, but I found it pretty easy to keep up with what was going on precisely because of the way the issue was written. It’s a solid foundation for the action to come.

Meanwhile, Fiona Staples remains a gift to this industry. The wild worlds of Saga would be nothing without her input and creative genius. I have to admit, while the thematic elements of the story were great and I’m into this latest direction of Saga, my favorite thing about this issue were the dragons. I think what I like about them is not just how different they are from any depiction of dragons I’ve ever seen, but also how obvious it is that a dragon could look like that—it’s just that no one ever really thought to do it that way. It’s the same thing with the depiction of a new world, Demimonde, whose appearance you can probably guess due to the name, but won’t actually believe until you see it on the page. And this is really the story of Fiona Staples, everyone. She will do what no one ever thought to do despite how obviously brilliant it is.

I’m still obsessed with the depiction of the Robot race. My guess is that this was as much Vaughan’s brainchild as it was Staples’, but either way, twenty-five issues later and it is still amazing. For me, it still partially channels the robot character from the six-episode OVA FLCL, but the most fantastic bit is how effectively the images on the robots’ screens—faces?—contribute to the storytelling. We’re only given one of those images this time around, but it still very much emphasizes and deepens the meaning of the dialogue. Because the robots lack facial expression, instead we’re given something else to indicate their feelings and it’s such a clever concept. In 2015 when half of us only communicate in gifs and images, it’s amazing to see characters do something pretty similar.

Also, I just love how colorful Saga is. Because Fiona is, in fact, an artistic goddess, she does her own colors and I am never ever disappointed. One of the best things about the book is knowing that you’re going to open it up and find something to wrap yourself in, something that’s bright and exciting and exactly the kind of thing the material needs to bring it to life. So many space epics are depicted with gloom and doom and darkness, but Saga is space opera for the modern age. Staples never shies away from color and this book is 100% better for it. In this issue in particular, my favorite coloring aspect actually has to do with, once again, dragons—though probably not what you have in mind. For fear of spoilers, all I can say is that it’s not just the kind of thing you have to see to believe, but also the exact sort of scene that reminds you that this creative team is hilarious and that they’re likely having just as much as we are with this amazing book.

We are in good hands with Vaughan and Staples. I can only imagine how quickly these next five issues will go and I’m looking forward to what is next. Saga #25 is, as ever, like the return of that cool best friend of yours who went off to see the world for three months. You can’t wait to see her and she’s got so many stories to tell—but it’s also like she never left.

The Verdict: 8.0/10

Authors

Related posts

Top