Page 45 Review by Stephen
"These are innocent people displaced by an evil war. They're us.
"You really want to turn them away in front of our daughter?"
They're also two-foot-tall, anthropomorphic meerkats whose eyes glisten like chocolate buttons dipped in even more liquid chocolate. One of their youngsters, Kurti, finds a photon rifle in the grass while gathering berries and brandishes it like a toy.
"Reach for the sky...
"Or I'm gonna war-crime you in the face!"
Unfortunately, it's not a toy. It's very real and they finally find its trigger by mistake.
In many other hands the scene would be far more catastrophic po-faced, but Vaughan's already made his point about war zones and live ammunition left where children play, and he and Staples milk the subsequent comedy for all its worth.
"HEY! What the fuck is wrong with you kids?!" shouts a heavily pregnant Alana, narrowly missed.
Kurti, tiny paws clasped to his mouth in horror, whispers in equally tiny letters: "Missus Alana said a cuss."
As well as love, family, childhood and parenthood, SAGA's always been about war, but here it comes right to the fore as Alana, Marko and their daughter Hazel find themselves trapped on a violently contested asteroid - for months while their depleted ship refuels from its subterranean resources - along with their resident, supercilious enemy Prince Robot (a walking, talking, bipedal television set) the fractious ex-soldier Petrichor and Hazel's self-appointed nanny, Izabel.
Izabel, you may recall, was one of the few remaining members of the indigenous species found on the war-torn planet where Alana first gave birth and, like all remaining members of that indigenous species, she is quite, quite dead, floating around as an intangible pink ghost, severed at the waist and dripping entrails exactly as she did when she took her last breath.
She bonded with Hazel, allowing Izabel to travel alongside, but Hazel's growing up and beginning to wield the magical abilities inherited from her father in the same way some kids wield a magnifying glass over ants.
"Eksplodis!"
"Whoa! That fat one blew up real good!" shrieks a delighted Kurti.
"Young lady! What in the world are you doing?"
"Don't use your angry voice. It doesn't scare me."
"I'm not angry, I'm disappointed. You're hurting innocent creatures? For laughs?"
"They're just bugs."
They're just bugs. The things we learn during war.
And then Hazel says something she will profoundly regret.
Right, so, hello! I always recommend that those who've yet to savour the wicked delights of SAGA read my review of SAGA VOL 1 H/C even if you end up buying the softcovers, largely because I made a hash of the first softcover review which bears no resemblance to how I now sell the series on our shop floor. I also recommend you remember that there will be at least One Moment per book when you will be horrified that you leant a copy to your grandmother or began reading it on public transport. Here it slaps you in the face then pokes you in the eye as early as page four.
SAGA is one of the most all-inclusive comics around, Vaughan and Staples taking full advantage of its space-setting to wring as much diversity as possible from its limitless possibilities. Let's not forget that Alana and Marko are from two separate species - not just races - so Hazel is a major miracle. Just when you think they must have mined the last vein, they come up with something wholly unexpected and fresh. They will never fail to surprise, but that comes with great risk when it comes to your heart because remember (again) war has come to the fore and warmongers do terrible things from many miles away.
