Review: "Saga: Vol 4"

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

Seriously, I say this every time but this series just keeps getting better and better! This review will have spoilers for vol 1-3, so if you haven't read those yet, go check out my review of 1 here! (and 2 and 3)

This volume picks up with the last...a year or so down the road. And of course, we don't get caught up with everything that's happened in those months, we just get thrown into the current story. Hazel is an adorable, bouncing toddler. Marko & Alana are hiding out on a new planet, where Marko is the stay-at-home dad and Alana is acting "incognito" on the open circuit (think super trashy tv that the audience can interact with). Prince Robot's son is born, but dad is still missing or dead. King Robot makes an appearance though and he is awesome. (That's all I'll say lol.) The authorities seem to have stopped looking for the outlaws...for now. Things seem to be finally looking up for the star-crossed lovers.

Until they're not. What do you expect? It wouldn't be an interesting story if everything was hunky dory all the time. There's a new political radical out there and he's determined to get some justice for the underdogs, no matter who he has to kill. (And he kills a LOT.) Alana & Marko's relationship is feeling the strain of living a double life and it isn't helped by Alana getting into party drugs at work. Marko's mother is doing well, remembering Mister Heist by reading his trashy novels. Speaking of Heist, one of his ex-wives makes an appearance in this volume and causes trouble, possibly accidentally?

It's kind of hard to discuss much more of this story without some kind of slight spoilers/surprises, so stop here of you haven't read it yet and want to be totally surprised. Did you stop? Okay, good. When Sophie & Lying Cat showed up suddenly about halfway thru the story, I was honestly shocked to see them. I had totally forgotten about my 2 favorite characters! Almost 8 yr old Sophie is adorable with her hipster cape and glasses. And LC (as Sophie calls her) ugh...I love her so much. And even Gwendolyn, their caretaker, is growing on me. Especially when you find out what she's up to. And who she's going to be working with in the future.

And let's end with my favorite page from this volume (there's always at least one that totally grabs me or in this case makes me actually laugh out loud).