Saga #23 – Review

By: Brian K. Vaughan (story), Fiona Staples (art)

The Story: As always, children are the best guards against philandering.

The Review: Although the name of the creative game is to strive for the unexpected, Vaughan is one of the few writers who actually seems to do so regularly—which is why this last arc has been a bit of a puzzle. After firing a warning shot that this is the story of how Marko and Alana split up, Vaughan has proceeded on a very familiar trajectory of building up their mutual resentment and adding temptation in the form of Ginny. For once, it looked like Vaughan was going the predictable route.

But the point of Saga has always been about subverting its space opera background with the everyday anxieties and challenges of contemporary relationships, and the cheating partner definitely qualifies. [Spoiler alert!] So I don’t know what to make of this issue revealing Marko and Alana’s “split up” in its literal sense, with Marko left behind on Gardenia while his family is forced by Dengo to take off to parts unknown. Should we be giddy with relief that Vaughan defeated our expectations and our favorite couple still have a romantic future together, or should we suspect maybe he’s just pandering to popular demand and thus wimping out on an uncomfortable change?

Either way, Ginny ends up as one of the least dimensional characters on this series, existing as she does solely to lure Marko into something regrettable. Between admitting a habit of fooling around while her husband’s away and her pathetically obvious attempts to keep Marko by her side, she earns the epithet of slut, and offers nothing to redeem herself.

Compare her to Alana, a self-confessed mess and far more compelling bundle of contradictions and flaws. After she orders Marko off the place, she has a pretty hard time articulating why she’s the victim in their fight, her every justification shot down by an unimpressed Izabel: characterizing Marko’s response as an assault (“Come on, he threw some vegetables.”); declaring her intolerance for domestic violence (“Yeah, my parents had one of those policies when it came to drugs.”); complaining about the demands of her job (“Letting us take care of your kid while you eat craft services?”); even, in a moment of desperation, talking about her war trauma (“Are you seriously trying to educate me about the costs of war? You realize I’m fucking dead, correct?”).

Despite the chastisement, Alana still can’t stop herself from popping a broken capsule of Fadeaway before going back inside, which makes you wonder if her tearful breakdown later on represents her actual emotions or if it’s just the drugs sobbing. Anyway, in a vulnerable moment, she bursts out, “I miss my husband,” reaffirming their attachment just as he’s on his way to do the same, all of which is to twist the heart a little more at their involuntary parting.

While the arc itself doesn’t rise to the same emotional heights as previous ones, it does leave Saga in a position to finally put the Landfall-Wreath war in focus, which it hasn’t been for a long time. Dengo is determined to expose the truth to the galaxy, and now he has the secret of Hazel in tow. Meanwhile, Prince Robot has finally caught up with one of his original targets, representing the first encounter between major characters to date. Saga may be content with grounded, relatable conflicts, but it’s capable of so, so much more; it’s promising to see it finally starting to embrace that fact.

Staples’ art is never less than spectacular, although she’s burdened with a lot of talking heads this issue. Facial expressions are key in these cases, and Staples pulls them off fantastically, underlining Vaughan’s already expressive script. Izabel serves as our mirror during Alana’s rant, transitioning from coaxing to nonplussed to impatient to disdainful, cueing out emotional reactions to the scene even as we respond intellectually to her rhetorical deconstruction of Alana’s complaints. There’s that and then there’s Klara biting off Dengo’s finger. Who can say which represents the greater artistry, really?

Conclusion: An auspicious end to what’s been a somewhat formulaic storyline.

Grade: B+

– Minhquan Nguyen

Some Musings: – So it was Yuma who gave Marko his current hairdo. He’s right to have suspected her of being a druggie from that alone.