Thursday, June 4, 2015

Book Review: Saga Vol. 4 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

Saga Volume 4 written by Brian K. Vaughan and art by Fiona Staples


The story of on-the-run family Marko, Alana, and their daughter Hazel continues. They are lying low on a planet where most jobs are in the Saga universe's the equivalent of the cable television industry. Alana has taken a job on a superhero show while Marko stays home with the kid. He takes Hazel out to the park but disguises himself with some bandages on his face. He meets a mom who is a kids' dance instructor and he signs Hazel up for lessons. Alana is mad about this because they are supposed to keep a low profile (she keeps her profile low by constantly wearing her costume on set, though the mask hardly hides her face as much as his bandages do). Marko wants to give Hazel a normal childhood, or as normal as they can get while on the run from their respective planets. Their troubles provide the main drama of the story.

Other parts of the story continue as well--Prince Robot IV finally comes out of amnesia in time to chase after the kidnapped son he doesn't even know was born (it was a long amnesia). The bounty hunters continue not really searching for Marko and Alana since they have their own personal dramas.

The overall story is still a bit too much like a soap opera for my taste. The bigger issues are generally ignored for the sake of small domestic problems that are not as compelling. The world building is still interesting. The violence, language, and sex content is extreme, which I don't enjoy and isn't really necessary to the story. The art does look good, even if the content is questionable.

Another disappointing volume in the series.


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