Saga by Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples

I had to stop buying comic books regularly a couple of years back for various reasons so for birthdays and Christmas it is always nice to get something new. I added these randomly to my Amazon wishlist and my girlfriend picked them up for me. I'd not heard of them before, I'd not even really read a review of them. I recognised the writer name from somewhere and the art looked cool enough. To be honest I thought it was by the same guy who did Fables and that with what looked like an angel and a demon it would be similar to those books which I own quite a few of and enjoyed a lot. It turned out that my silly brain was wrong anyway, Fables is by Bill Willingham, this is Brian K. Vaughan but it's not a problem as he did the Y: The Last Man books that I own the set of and they are cool as heck so it's all good.

As I said with 1st appearances I was expecting a story of an angel and a demon on the run from hell & heaven, something similar to an old Hellblazer run of comics and I'm pretty sure that angel/demon love story on the run is almost a bit of a trope by now. It turned out I was wrong anyway it's not a supernatural tale at all, although it does have magic in it, these are aliens. The winged woman is Alana from Landfall and Marko the horned fellow is from Landfall's moon Wreath. The two races have been at war for an unspecified but extremely long time. The races hatred has spread across the solar system with their war being  outsourced to encompass many worlds whilst the original protagonists planets have returned to relative peace.

Our story starts on the planet Cleave with the birth of the narrator who is Alana & Marko's daughter. We hear everything from her point of view as though she is reminiscing sometime in the future. It's quite an unusual move and implies that whatever happens she survives but I can't help wondering if there is going to be some almighty twist in there somewhere somehow. Since having my mind blown over the narrator of an old book called Enigma I don't take anything for granted anymore when it comes to these cunning comic book writers. Within minutes of her birth agents from both their planets turn up to apprehend them only to kill each other's forces whilst our new parents and child escape. She's deserted from her planet's army and freed him, a prisoner who she was supposed to be guarding and both of their people's want them eliminated and their child captured. Wreath hire freelancers The Will and The Stalk to track them down and Landfall send Prince Robot IV. Things escalate, new allies and enemies are made and people from their past are introduced and the story of how they met, fell in love and then went on the run is soon revealed in flashbacks. There is a lot more history to come in future books I am sure as we learn more about these characters. It's not just the main protagonists with a story, most of the supporting cast have well realised motivation and history as well, making for a cast of characters that are engaging and interesting and make you invest emotionally in them. There is a character that speaks just one word, not much to get you to be interested in them you'd think but you'd be wrong, when they get into some serious peril I was thinking, "Oh no!! Don't kill them!! Not.......(no spoilers here)"

The exciting thing too for me is that this is a new world created for this story, it doesn't exist in an already extant comic book universe so we don't know what it's rules are yet. There is magic we've seen that and learnt a couple of it's rules in this world. We know there's all kinds of aliens beings and strange creatures and ghosts, the universe is a BIG place and they are abroad in it pursued by two groups both intent on their capture and/or deaths. Surviving won't be easy especially as Marko is a conscientious objector who has vowed to never use violence again. Nobody is safe, any character could potentially die, you can't take anything for granted in this book.

The book is aimed for an older audience, with nudity, mature themes, sex and some gore too. There is a giant that pops up at one time and it's quite a sight!! Let's just say that if he was from a Grimm's fairy tale his catchphrase would be Fee Fie Scro-tum and I'll let you imagine the rest.

I see there are about 8 books of this on sale already and I am going to be adding them to my future wants list for sure. This is the kind of book you end up recommending to friends, family and fellow geeks. I will be lending these to my big brother for sure. 

Saga, it may share it's name with a holiday company that caters for older folk but this is no sedate trip to Majorca, this is a thrill ride across the galaxy and I can't wait to see what scrapes they get into along the way.