SAGA - BKV is back!

[G:The Last Man]

THIS has me excited about reading comics again!  Who's in?  They had me at Brian K. Vaughan....

Saga #1

Story by: Brian K. Vaughn
Art By: Fiona Staples
Price:$2.99
Diamond ID:JAN120485
On Sale:March 14, 2012

Y: THE LAST MAN writer BRIAN K. VAUGHAN returns to comics with red-hot artist FIONA STAPLES for an all-new ONGOING SERIES!  Star Wars-style action collides with Game of Thrones-esque drama in this original sci-fi/fantasy epic for mature readers, as new parents Marko and Alana risk everything to raise their child amidst a never-ending galactic war. The adventure begins in a spectacular DOUBLE-SIZED FIRST ISSUE, with forty-four pages of story with no ads for the regular price of just $2.99!

[Perry]

Yeah man.
First thing I looked for when making my preorder. 

[Jeff]

Shocked no one has said anything about issue 1 yet.

I just finished reading it.  I liked it - not what I was expecting from Vaughn but has the potential to be one of his best.

[Perry]

Still in my pile.
Have only had a chance to read about 4 comics in three weeks. Hoping to knock them all out this week as I have no more doctors and their evil probes to visit. 

[Jeff]

We're up to issue 4 and no comments.  Doesn't bode well for the title.

I myself can't decide if I want to keep it in the pull list.  It's almost a little too weird.

[Perry]

Wow, over two years since I last posted in this thread. The last time I did, I was lamenting on the fact that the damn doctors and their vile medicine was keeping me away from my stack of comics. Pushing me further and further down the road of late reading.

At the time, two years ago, I had still yet to read Saga. It was still in its infancy and I was so far behind on all my comics I wasn't too worried about rushing to read this title. Even knowing who was attached to the darn thing. Eventually I got the chance to dive into the first couple of issues of this ... as Jeff once put it "... too weird" comic and I was immediately blown the hell away. This comic (or the first two issues that I had), though yes, very damn weird, was utterly fantastic. A true once in a life time book that was sure to make a few heads turn. I knew immediately that this book had to be on my shelf. I had to own this book. So I did what I had to do, I stopped buying it.

I wanted the joy of reading this, or at least a good majority of this, all in one sitting. No reading and then waiting another month just to read the next chapter. No. I wanted to read a huge chunk of this title then wait another year to read another chunk.
 

I just finished the first 18 issues of this ... this amazing gem. This treasure to the comic medium. This artistic bible (no offense meant for my hyperbole  ) and I have a new favorite comic series.

BKV had stated he wanted to make this book HIS Star Wars. Guys, I love me some Star Wars. This is right up there with Star Wars. Yep, BKV was successful. This has the best combination of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Action and Drama that Star Wars ever had, with a good dose of sexual references and happenings and a huge touch of "Holy crap, that is so damn odd it's crazy cool" thrown in. Think of Star Wars, the original Willy Wonka, Pulp Fiction and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, ramp up the prodigious factor by ten and you have this book. It is just so excellent (sorry, Bill. Ted.) in its humanity (it is very, VERY touching) and in its oddness (it is so truly weird).

Weird settings, weird situations and damn weird characters. But weird in that cool way. Sure, everyone by now knows of "Lying Cat". A cat that says nothing, until you happen to tell a lie while near this feline and then it will merely say "Lying". A very resourceful tool for a certain bounty-hunter, yes? But Lying Cat is the tip of the iceberg. Man, I can tell you so many wonderful characters that are trapped with-in these pages, but they are better left discovered by reading the book. Your eyes need to be filled with the same fascination as mine.

I mentioned in another thread how Image books or creator owned books in general tend to leave me thinking about them more than the big two. Well this book, if I never read another page I will be thinking about this book for a great many years. It is that impactful and if you are not reading this, religiously (no apologies this time  ) then you are doing yourself a disfavor. Buy this book, read this book. But you have to start at issue #1. You must start at the beginning.

BKV wanted this to be his Star Wars. I say he succeeded. May the Force be with him!!

[Jeff]

Ironically - I have the first 3 trade's on my bookshelf after a drunken evening on Instock Trades where I spent $128 for no reason.  Despite my comments from 2012, I'm actually looking forward to reading them at some point.  They clearly looked good enough for me buy the trades.  

[Perry]

Seriously buddy, while there may be things that ... hit you in an uncomfortable way, maybe, and there are oddities a plenty, once you get to issue 12 you will be dying to read the rest in one sitting. I mean, once you hit issue 4 or 5 you will really start to get the idea that BKV is going for here, but the flow and the emotion really start to hit you around issue 12. I know that seems like forever, but trust me, those 12 issues go fast as hell.

And there really is some good emotion stuff here mixed in all the weird and crazy stuff. I started to care for one character and I have no idea how it happened. Ha, I was really down on ... this character and well suddenly, I am all into ... this character.

Plus those damn parts where BKV would throw a last page shocker out and I couldn't turn the page fast enough to find out what happened... Oh he uses that last page so well. It is perfect for monthly readers to have to sit there and wait for a month to see what happened, but I am so glad I didn't have to.
 

It is really, really good.

You can go from disgust to being all cuddly at the turn of a page. For example and not a huge spoiler as you only see it in one scene, one panel, but this book has a walrus with a saddle and a baby seal as a rider. I mean COME ON that's cute!!!
 

[Jimmy T]

Perry, you'll find my story to be a sad one.

I tried out the Image Firsts issue of #1 of Saga, then started picking up the series at issue...3 or 4, got 6,7,8 ....and then it happened to be at the time of my life where I simply said to myself, "Cut back, quit buying just to buy stuff, find your "6 issues you couldn't go without" and make cuts.

I cut Saga. It seemed really interesting.....but I cut a lot of comics then.

However, I may as well just buy them HCs for this series too.

[Perry]

Okay, Let me start over. I have to start over. I know that seems like an odd way to 'start' a post, but I have to do just that. See, originally, about 3 minutes ago, I wrote this -

Man, I don't know, Jiimy. If you got all the way to issue #8 and you were not in love, I don't think you ever will be.

Yes, I didn't even change my misspelling of your name, I just left it the way I had wrote it. I honestly felt that way. I mean you got 8 issues in and it didn't make it to your top 6? That sir is bullshit. Well, that is what my originally post/intent was, but when I wrote that sentence and opening, I stopped, went to my shelf and opened my HC to issues 7 and 8 and scanned them to refresh my memory.

Yep, I can see this title not being in your top 6 if you only got that far. I can honestly get it. It would still land in mine, but probably just barely, so I certainly understand it not making yours.

However, I quickly scanned back through issue 9 and 10 and 11 and suddenly my love for this title just blossomed all over again. Remembering how strong this book became during these issues. How much impact it had once issue 12 rolled around. I hate to say you just barely missed the turning point, but I honestly feel that you did. Not your mistake, obviously, as like I said if I had stopped about the same time you did I would have come close to dropping it myself. But Jimmy, I will not put forth a challenge, as there may be a chance this title will just never hit for you and that's cool, but if I can just convince you to somehow re-read those first 8 issues and then ... somehow ... read the next 3 or 4, I honestly believe you will be shocked at the change you feel.

I knew at issue #2 I wanted to have this on my book shelf for the pure sci-fi/fantasy aspect alone. After I had it in my hands I knew by issue 4 that this damn title is weird as shit. Plain and simple. I believed by issue 6 or so that it was maybe a little too ... off the norm ... for me. And then, by issue 9 something happened. It wasn't the sea-horse agent that the bounty hunters union used, it wasn't more events that I can't name, but something happened where this book hit me like a ton of bricks. THUD. Holy hell this is a great title.

You start to get really close to the characters, yes, strange and perhaps bad that it takes this long, but you do. And not just the 'main' characters, but all of them. Lying Cat? Went from "ha, that's cool" to me caring about the damn thing and I hate cats.  The ghost? Love her!!! The parents ... fantastic!!

Anyway, while at first I didn't understand your reasoning for stopping at issue 8, I do now remember and understand. I just really do wish there was a way for you to get issues 9-11 or 12, re-read the entire 12 and see what you think after that.

I do not however want you spending any money on those other issues because if you did and you still didn't like it, I would feel really bad.
 
"I told you I didn't like it, Perry. Damn you!!"
 

(And please know that I understand you never said you didn't like it, but that is just didn't make your cut down list. I am just thinking it probably would have if you just had to cut down a month or two later than you did  )

[Jimmy T]

Love the passion guys; love the passion!

I have loved just about everything BkV has done. (well, Ex Machina ending was wonky, but what a great path!) I still remember shedding tears at the end of 'Pride of Bahgdad', so I believed I would love the title. Mind you, you can see my reading was disjointed.

However...there may have been this wedding thing of mine coming up, and I put alot of things down. I even stopped Action comics for a time!!

I have no doubt that the ..um..saga of 'Saga' has unfurled to wonderful new vistas.

Even in those issues, I remember having some kind of bomb dropped by Lying Cat that was great. The act of fighting against everything for love of child. That goofy tv prince thing.

At least it is built up far enough that I can get me some trades for it, too.

But now; challenge accepted! Gotta find those issues and give them a reread. I promise I won't like it just to please others. But I have been very curious about getting back to it for a very, long time.

[Perry]

Say-Weet, and I of course hope you like it, but we all know how things go. Sometimes a great read is just not great to some and a bad read is wonderful to others. Damn varying tastes!
 


 

[Jimmy T]

So, I got the Deluxe hardcover. That's the first...18 issues I believe. I won't lie, it was easier getting into it (since alot of the early stuff was a reread), but I still think it took me longer to fully get into it...but by the end, I'm hooked.

Hooked on the total story (so much better read collected than individually). I have no problems with the art, as she can really nail the emotions and the power of moment. But, it's very bare bones at times that I don't find the visual magnitude that I want from comics.

I think more than anything, it's Hazel adult voice speaking over the stories that really bring this in for me. I peeked at the next trade that occurs after my HC was finished, and by the end of the first issue of that trade, I was heartbroken all over again.

Can't wait to have read this title for 3-5 years at some point.

[Jimmy T]

So, I spoil myself waiting for the Deluxe hardcovers. Just got the second one, first issue is 'chapter' 19, and the ending of

this is the story of how my parents split up

just broke my heart. 

[Jimmy T]

By issue 35,

I cried when Marko got Hazel back.

I'm not sure a 20 something will love this story as much as a parent could. I'll make that sweeping remark. Being a new parent, there is so much here that BKV just hits me and makes me hurt as I read.