Review: "Saga Vol 1"

Saga: Vol 1 by Brian K Vaughan
4 out of 5 stars

Brian K Vaughan is another one of my favorite graphic novelists. (After Terry Moore and Neil Gaiman, of course.) He has done 2 of my favorite series: Y: The Last Man and Runaways, so when my dad said I needed to read Saga, I agreed readily. He left one important point out though when telling me about it and I'm not going to be mean like him, so I'll tell you right now: Volume 1 ends on a cliffhanger and Volume 2 is not due out until July. He claims he didn't know before he read it...sure. ;) So that said, I would highly recommend this series, but you might want to wait until you can at least have 2 volumes to read.

Many reviewers call this "Romeo & Juliet meet Star Wars" and I'd have to agree with them. The beginning of the story is set up as two star-crossed lovers trying to be together for the sake of their unborn child, but then it's revealed that they are from different worlds. Literally. And those two worlds just happen to be at war with each other. And the two lovers? Soldiers for their individual homes. So yeah, it gets complicated real fast. Not to mention all the supernatural beings: the main male, Marko, has ram horns; the main female, Alana, fairy wings; there's a bounty hunter with a giant cat who can detect lies; dudes with TV's for heads (I'm not sure what their deal is yet); ghost kids; and lots more.

In case you can't tell from the cover, this is not a graphic novel for kids or young teens. The first page is Alana giving birth, graphically. It's got a lot of sex (a sex planet for example) and violence, so if that's going to offend you, I'd skip this one for sure. Besides that, this is a great story with lots of twists and turns. The artwork is really great, too detailed in some spots, but that can't really be considered a complaint, can it? I honestly can't wait for the next volume to come out. :)