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Brian K. Vaughan: Saga (Volume I)
Sep. 6th, 2013 04:24 pmA mighty battle came to its temporary conclusion, and Darth Real Life finally announced a retreat. Of course, like all good supervillains, he will be back, but I do have a few days of a break. This I celebrated by reading the first volume of Saga by Brian K. Vaughan. Which is nominally sci fi as it takes place on various planets (and moons), but so far feels more like fantasy to me. I don't mean this critically, just that this is the vibe I get.
What it is about: so far, a couple (she's a winged woman, he's a faun) who were soldiers from two people at war with each other who fell in love, procreated and spend the first volume trying to escape folk from both people who want to kill them for the fraternization, which is pretty much everyone. (Seriously. The only one who gives them a break and actively helps is a teenage (female) ghost, and she needs a ride off this planet.) This happens with Vaughan's great mixture of cursing (the first page strikes me as a homage to the famous opening of Alias, and Alana, our heroine, has more than a few traits in common with Jessica Jones anyway), banter and good use of a large ensemble, because in addition to our heroes, you get several other characters introduced and their storylines started, like the leader of one of the planets (formed lke an old fashioned robot, with the head like a tv screen and the rest of the body standard human; he's introduced having sex with his wife, similarly shaped) or the inevitable tough bounty hunter with a hidden streak of decency (and an interesting love life with an eight legged spider fellow bounty hunter). So far, so good, fast paced, quickfire dialogue and the use of familiar tropes in a ever so slightly twisted way (our narrator is the baby who assures us that she's not going to grow up into anyone special, or the Chosen One, this is her parents' story she's telling) is very enjoyable. I also appreciate that our hero decided to be a pacifist well before he ever met Alana (it's hinted that there's backstory trauma of the "I was a killing machine" type, but he also came to the conclusion that war is stupid in general) and she's the one doing most of the fighting instead of being his sweet angel of peace or anything like that. I'm looking forward to read more.
What it is about: so far, a couple (she's a winged woman, he's a faun) who were soldiers from two people at war with each other who fell in love, procreated and spend the first volume trying to escape folk from both people who want to kill them for the fraternization, which is pretty much everyone. (Seriously. The only one who gives them a break and actively helps is a teenage (female) ghost, and she needs a ride off this planet.) This happens with Vaughan's great mixture of cursing (the first page strikes me as a homage to the famous opening of Alias, and Alana, our heroine, has more than a few traits in common with Jessica Jones anyway), banter and good use of a large ensemble, because in addition to our heroes, you get several other characters introduced and their storylines started, like the leader of one of the planets (formed lke an old fashioned robot, with the head like a tv screen and the rest of the body standard human; he's introduced having sex with his wife, similarly shaped) or the inevitable tough bounty hunter with a hidden streak of decency (and an interesting love life with an eight legged spider fellow bounty hunter). So far, so good, fast paced, quickfire dialogue and the use of familiar tropes in a ever so slightly twisted way (our narrator is the baby who assures us that she's not going to grow up into anyone special, or the Chosen One, this is her parents' story she's telling) is very enjoyable. I also appreciate that our hero decided to be a pacifist well before he ever met Alana (it's hinted that there's backstory trauma of the "I was a killing machine" type, but he also came to the conclusion that war is stupid in general) and she's the one doing most of the fighting instead of being his sweet angel of peace or anything like that. I'm looking forward to read more.
