saga, volumes 1 & 2

saga, volume 1
saga, volume 2
brian k. vaughn & fiona staples
graphics/fantasy
image comics
published 2012

When two soldiers from opposite sides of a never-ending galactic war fall in love, they risk everything to bring a fragile new life into a dangerous old universe.

This is one of those books that I've seen a million times, heard about a million times, read about a million times, but never really felt like picking it up.  Maybe it's because it's written by Brian K. Vaughn and while I did enjoy Y: The Last Man, I didn't completely fall in love with it.  Plus, this sort of fantasy stuff isn't usually my go to.

But I started going through lists geek girls were writing about graphics you just have to read and across the board Saga is one of them.  I happened to be at the library (shocker, I know) one day and they had these two volumes sitting there so I figured, why the hell not?

And I'm so glad I did.  I enjoyed Saga much more than I ever expected.  There's strangely everything in this book.  Love, war, aliens, monsters, robots, villains, heroes, anti-heroes, betrayal, revenge.....you name it, it's in here.

Alana and Marko just want to find a peaceful way out of a war to raise a child that shouldn't exist.  The warring factions send out assassins to kill them because they represent a unity that the rulers just can't let people know is possible.  It's hard not to fall completely in love with Alana and Marko so it seems odd that I found myself sympathetic to almost every character introduced.  Everyone is just trying to make it through this war and amidst all the fighting what seems to be the unifying theme is family.  However you want to define that.

The dialogue is witty and sharp and the characters are vastly different across the board.  The art is flawless and moments jump out and either delight or disgust you.  Either way it's brilliant.