Saga #8

Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Fiona Staples

It's becoming kind of routine to sing the praises of Saga, the brilliantly readable science fiction family drama epic by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, but let's face it, books this good are anything but routine.

In this issue, Alana finds herself alone on the family's spaceship tree with Marko's father, and they begin to bond with one another, despite all the tension in the family caused by Marko's marrying one of the enemy.  We get a lot of insight into Alana's character in this issue, which starts with a flashback to when her and Marko first met, and the influence the romance novel she was reading had on her.  We also get a good idea of how unique she was among her people.Meanwhile, Marko and his mother are searching for Izabel, their ghostly babysitter, on the planet where Marko's parents sent her.  This involves a fight with a rather nasty-looking ogre, and further arguing between Marko and his mom.

All of these characters are written so strongly that they are very believable, despite their wings or horns.  Character work is what makes Saga so wonderful, both Vaughan's as a writer, and Staples's as an artist.  I'm sure some would argue that the plot of this book is slowing down, as the focus becomes ever tighter on the family, but I appreciate the way in which the characters' bonds are being shown, especially as I'm sure that the relatively peaceful moments in this book won't last much longer.  This continues to be one of the best series on the stands.