Saga
2014
- science fiction comic books, strips
- comics & graphic novels, science fiction
- nyt:paperback-graphic-books=2014-04-13
The story
"New parents Marko and Alana travel to an alien world to visit their hero, while the family's pursuers finally close in on their targets" --
What it’s like
Lush, painterly panels in saturated color: dusk-violet skies over tangled alien jungles, sunset oranges on a moon full of tree-houses, and sleek retro-future tech with glowing screens and clunky, lovingly drawn robots. Fiona Staples's art has soft edges and expressive faces, so the page feels warm even when the scene turns grim. The captions are wry and confiding, a first-person voice that drops jokes beside scenes of tenderness and dread. Pacing comes in punchy issue-length bursts that end on hooks, with quiet domestic pauses between chases. Its emotional register swings between tender and absurd: a young couple in a strange new life, a family hunted across the galaxy, and the messy ordinary business of parenting in wartime. The violence is frequent and sometimes graphic, with bloody battles, dismemberment and gore played for shock. Sexual content is explicit and adult, and the language is coarse. Not gentle. It suits readers who want a sprawling, funny, emotionally open space opera with a big heart and a hard edge, read in long late-night sittings.
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