I know, I know, I’m late to this review party. Well it’s only partially my fault, I could go all Behind The Music, but that doesn’t really serve the purpose of the review. As usual Saga took a break before preparing its next story arc and because of that some time has passed. Our family is on a new planet hiding out and so the issue is basically spent establishing the new status quo of the series. Here’s the thing, this issue is by the numbers for Saga. That doesn’t make it bad since a “by the numbers” Saga issue is better than the vast majority of comics out there. It’s good, it’s really fucking good and in typical Vaughan fashion he has Hazel break our heart at the very end.
Fuck you Vaughan.
Seriously how dare you build us up for eighteen issues and then set up a domino and knock it over without us knowing the repercussions. Without saying what happens, I will say it’s a gamble. It could backfire or Vaughan could have something else up his sleeve. And when I say “fuck you” I really mean that I hate you for making me feel.
I will say that the formula of this series is painfully obvious. It still works because let’s face it Vaughan knows what he’s doing in the story department. He is the most effective writer at ending an issue on a cliffhanger and not having the readers become burnt out on it. If it was anyone else you’d be like “ugh, another cliffhanger?” But with him he surprises you.
Staples art is of course fucking magical. She continues to grow and grow on this series making it an absolute treat. She will absolutely be known for this series for the rest of her career which isn’t a bad thing.
For all the praise that this series gets it really does earn it, but I just don’t know if I have anything left in the tank to say about it. It’s wonderful and at this point it’s finding non-comic readers to buy it and that’s great because the normal comic readers have already decided one way or another about it.
Score: 5/5
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan Artist: Fiona Staples Publisher: Image Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 5/21/14 Format: Ongoing, Print/Digital