Saga #1

Random comic from the backlog,. Turned out to be pretty good.

Title: Saga
Issue: 1
Date: March, 2012
Publisher: Image Comics
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Letterer: Fonografiks, Steven Finch
Cover: Fiona Staples
Editor: Eric Stephenson

Two star-crossed lovers, quite literally since they are on opposite sides in an ongoing interplanetary war, have a child together, and are now on the run from the forces of both sides.

This is definitely R-rated material, just to be clear. That being said, the opening scene was absolutely awesome, capturing the wonder of the birth of the baby without leaving out any of the mess and sprinkling in some spot-on humor.

The story gets the main characters on the run, establishes the background, and gives some insight into the villains from two different factions that will be pursuing them.

Both lead characters are flawed, possibly broken, but both come across as powerful personalities in their own ways. The baby get a bit of caption narration that adds flavor and serves to fill in a few details here and there. The world mixes gritty space opera with fairy-tale and mythological imagery. The two warring races could be described as traditional demons (one with wings, the other with horns, and their baby with both), but the culture they are part of is original and interesting.

The story and images go for shock value in a few places, which is usually a turn-off for me, but I was hooked into the story from the opening page, and I found myself enjoying it all the way through.

Rating: 8.5/10