November 24, 2013

On Brian Vaughn's "Saga", so far

A couple of weeks ago, I heard that Neil Gaiman had a new Sandman book out.  I don't fancy myself a comic fan, but I have read a lot of comics for someone that doesn't claim to be a comic fan.

Basically, I'm telling you this because I didn't go into the store with the intention of buying this book.  The Gaiman book was sold out, and I left my first visit to a comic store in maybe ever empty-handed.  I was walking away, trying to think if there was a place to buy the newest Harvard Business Review and lamenting that the local chain book shop closed two years ago.  Needing something to read while I ate lunch, I went back to the shop.

Talking to the comic book guy, I asked him for a recommendation of a book to read, specifying that I wasn't into superheroes.  There was a display up front, where some issues were being sold for a dollar. The first issue of this Saga was what he grabbed, telling me that this is a book enjoyed even by people who don't read comics.

I saw the name Brian Vaughn on the cover and I asked the guy what else he had done.  I knew the name from somewhere.  It turned out that he was the guy behind Y: The Last Man.  Because even though I don't read comics, I had read the whole run of that particular series.

So I bought that issue.  Then I got the collected volume one and two from my library, and read through them.

I like the series so far.  It is star-crossed lovers, in space with magic.  The problem is that I don't really know where it's going.  The main characters are objectors who come from races that have been at war a long time, and it is narrated by their daughter who is born in the first issue.  It is a nice set-up, but there is so much that can go wrong that I am wary of too soon proclaiming this genius.  I'll hedge, and say it is pretty good, so far.

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