Saga, Volume Two

written by Brian K. Vaughan
art by Fiona Staples

There's nothing like unbridled patriotism, racial prejudice, and old-fashioned in-law distrust to spoil a family reunion.  Marko's parents, convinced of his continued captivity and alerted by his destruction of an heirloom sword, arrive unexpectedly in the flying-tree spacecraft obtained by the fugitives on Cleave.  Strike 1:  Without even reasonably assessing the situation Klara banishes Izabel to the nearest planetoid.  Strike 2:  Both her in-laws, but mostly Klara again, consistently insult Alana, despite Marko introducing her as his wife.  Strike 3:  Both Klara and Barr share reservations about Hazel, going to far as to (almost) call her a mistake.

Barr, however, perhaps because of his milder nature or perhaps because of his impending death, more quickly comes around.  He may charm Alana with a sleeping spell, but he absolutely loves their child, and he soon comes to acknowledge Alana's own love for Marko as something legitimate and profound.

For the first time, we also get glimpses into the swift, reckless (but nevertheless right) courtship of Marko and Alana.  The exact circumstances that led Alana and Marko to be on guard duty and in a POW prison respectively remain clouded, though the way others talk about it, they made poor soldiers, even if Marko is quite an outstanding warrior.  Their "meet-cute" isn't exactly cute, but it's a moment of uncertainty between two enemy combatants.  The heat doesn't begin to turn up until the beginning of "Secret Book Club," which just happens to correspond to the time when Alana gets to watch a shirtless and finely chiseled Marko assemble railroad tracks with a sledgehammer.

Still reeling from the death of his former lover The Stalk, fantasizing about her return and the rescue of the young slave girl on Sextillion, The Will gets an unexpected visit from an unhappy customer:  Gwendolyn, formerly Marko's fiancée and now member of Wreath High Command.  Despite her almost monomaniacal obsession with getting revenge on Marko for abandoning her for a Landfallian, Gwendolyn and The Will spark.  And although, according to her, Gwendolyn had never killed anyone until she took out one of the slave girl's guards, she takes to it with ease and not a little glee.  She and The Will don't always get along, but they're cut from the same cloth, and with the actual rescue of the young girl from the comet Phang, they kind of have a kid.

 

Then, there's Mr. D. Oswald Heist, author of romance novel/war allegory A Night Time Smoke, whose intentionally boring prose with minimal plot brings Saga's two protagonists together, two pawns in an unceasing conflict with no basis and no personal enmity forging a love affair and an ordinary life in a world which so stubbornly resists allowing it.  That most of Chapter 12 is a critical analysis of his book carried out between Heist himself and Prince Robot IV is a testament to the ingenuity of Vaughan's storytelling and, of course, the dramatic potential of critical analysis itself.  As Heist feigns (honestly) to his guest, "Well, you know what they say, the reader is the final collaborator" (Saga, Volume 2: 134 [12: 14]).

Collects Saga #7-12

ISBN: 978-1607066927