Oh man, I am so glad Saga #17 isn’t the last issue before the next multi-month break. The big confrontation between the good guys and the bad guys has arrived, but Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples cut it off with another tense cliffhanger. This issue is the opening salvo of the next big climactic encounter, and it’s pretty devastating in and of itself. But the juiciest stuff is probably being saved for next issue. I can live with that…barely.

Saga #17

Saga #17 sets everything up for a big, exciting battle to come, but it is not without its own charms and horrors.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

Prince Robot is at the door! He has tracked Marko and Alana to Heist’s lighthouse on Quietus, and Vaughn is ready to have some wicked fun with everything he has set up so far. I have no doubt in my mind that he has the entirety of Saga planned out in advance, he simply must. So the events of this issue, I know, are part of a larger, better, bigger story, and that makes them even more exciting. Saga isn’t just Vaughn making it up as he goes along. Saga is Vaughn at the top of his storytelling game.

Taken alone, there isn’t much to this issue. It’s a solid chapter, with some truly exciting moments, but it’s all mostly set up for next issue. Saga #17 is Vaughn and Staples getting the ball rolling, and I’m going to guess next issue is when the ball smashes through the wall and brings the whole darn lighthouse down! Possibly literally!

Join me after the jump for a full synopsis and more review!

As has been routine for this volume, we open with journalists Upsher and Doff. This time, they’re in bed together, confirming that they’re a couple, as well as partners. Upsher tells Doff that he believes Marko and Alana have gone to visit the author. He begins to explain his epiphany, but Doff hears something and no longer thinks they’re alone in the bedroom.

They’re not.

Maybe he’s stuffed…

The spooky dog fires two darts from his nose, hitting the two reporters. But they’re not poisoned. Elsewhere in the room, mysterious new freelancer The Brand turns on a light and reveals that the ‘poison’ is so fancy that it will only kick in if they ever tell anyone about the Marko/Alana story. They can keep on living their lives, but can never report this story. Doff asks what the big deal is about this story, since both of them have done tons of pieces that paint both sides in an unfavorable light.

The Brand tells them that’s exactly the point.

Intriguing!

Spooky! One issue left, I wonder how the Upsher and Doff story is going to end. I hope they don’t die. They’re fun supporting characters.

On Quietus, Prince Robot IV has been interrogating Heist, while our favorite family is hiding in the attic. Klara wants to rush down there and kill that damned robot, but Marko and Alana tell her that protecting Hazel should be their top priority. Isabel floats up to them to provide some intel, and says her ghostly illusions won’t work on the robot. That just frustrates Klara even more.

Downstairs, Prince Robot has shot Heist in the knee, but he’s not ready to just kill the author. Instead, Robot taunts him and finds the notes on his next novel: ‘The Opposite of War’. Heist is his usual snarky self, and he engages Prince Robot, telling him that the ‘opposite of war’ is definitely not peace. Peace is just a lull until the next war. Intrigued, Prince Robot demands to know more…

But first, we check in with Gwendolyn, who’s still watching from the ridge with binoculars. And The Will is still dying, though he’s alive enough to talk to Sophie a little bit. He doesn’t look good.

Not even the least bit fly for a white guy

Upstairs, Marko tells his wife that they need to be prepared to ‘take care’ of Hazel if it comes to that. Alana tells him ‘hello no’, but Marko explains that her people are not very kind of children with horns. Alana won’t even hear suggestions that they kill Hazel. Oh, and Klara is gone…

At gunpoint, Prince Robot asks Heist for the secret message of his new book. Heist asks if Prince Robot has ever been about to die on the battlefield, and what the last thing was that went through his mind. Prince Robot thinks back and agrees that it wasn’t some ‘life flashing before your eyes’ BS. Instead, he saw himself having lovely, wonderful sex with his entire platoon, even the men.

Because…

Interesting. Is it possible that’s the entire theme of Saga itself? I definitely have to agree that Heist has a point. But what does it mean? Could it be that Hazel and the ‘fucking’ it took to produce her is the opposite of the war between Reach and Landfall?

Sometimes I wish I’d majored in literature in college…

All big themes are interrupted by action, though, when Klara reveals herself and tells Prince Robot to step back. She calls him a ‘drone’ and he shoots her. Heist shoots him.

Guns don’t kill people, robots and cyclopses kill people

Prince Robot is down, his TV face blank. Heist rushes to Klara’s side and finds her mostly unhurt. Her staff absorbed most of his blast. Heist is relieved, but at that moment, Gwendolyn kicks in the front door.

Hazel starts narrating about how authors are often told to ‘kill your darlings’. Heist has never agreed with that sentiment.

Klara blasts Gwen with her staff, but The Will’s cloak protects her.

Lying Cat goes after Klara.

And Gwen is fucked.

I just said that!

Poor Heist. We didn’t get to spend nearly enough time with him. What is it with Vaughn killing father figures?

Anyway, as you can see, the issue cuts out right before the real action starts. Heist is dead, Klara is battling Lying Cat, Gwen has no idea what’s going on and Prince Robot is minutes away from reactivating. Marko and Alana haven’t even gotten into the fight yet. So much could still happen in the next issue…and I have no idea what any of it could be! Anybody could die. Anybody could switch sides. Anybody could do pretty much anything! And it’s great!

But what does any of this mean? The opposite of war is fucking? I can see how Heist thinks that, but does Vaughn think it? Is that the entire point of Saga? Is that the definitive message? I’d buy it. It would definitely be an interesting take on the adult nature of this comic.

But I have a feeling that there’s more to Saga than the glorification of the sex scene. At least…I’m pretty sure…