Leave it to writer Brian K. Vaughn to break my heart several issues ago, then pull out a comic like Saga #23 and TOTALLY REDEEM HIMSELF!

Saga #23

I knew to trust Vaughn with his story. I knew he wouldn’t lead us too far astray, that everything was being done for a reason. I held out hope that he was going somewhere important with all of this, and finally, in Saga #23, we start to see what he’s got planned. And, as expected, it’s completely unexpected.

That’s the great thing about Saga: I have no idea what’s going to happen next, and I love it!

Comic Rating: 8/10 – Very Good.

Mostly, I love it. I’m a sucker for always falling in love with characters and not wanting anything bad to happen to them, whereas Vaughn understands that bad things have to happen to characters; that’s what makes a story a story. It’s too his credit that he’s created such an amazing cast. I’ve just got to suck it up and keep trusting him to write one hell of an adventure. But man, some of the events of this issue are probably going to be heart-breaking all over again.

After several issues of scenery building, setting up the Circuit, Marko’s flirtations, and The Crazy Janitor, Saga #23 starts crashing all of them together in the usual glorious ways. Vaughn plays with our expectations in a way that proves he knew exactly what he was doing, and the ending hits us simultaneously with joy and fear. With an extra dash of excitement and mystery, of course.

It’s no Saga #19, but wait until you see how Vaughn twists our assumptions about that issue as well. This volume has been a bit low key in the grand scheme of things, but Vaughn is no less a master of his craft.

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

The issue opens the only way it could.

Hubba Hubba

Well, that’s not true. There were probably a lot of ways to open this issue. But that bat-lady is hot! Fiona Staples could have a future drawing sexy furry women. There’s definitely an industry for that on the Internet.

After his fight with Alana last issue, Marko has retreated to the only other person he knows, and she’s more than happy to invite him in to talk about it. Troubles with the wife, you say? My, my, let’s get you a drink. Did you notice I’m only wearing a T-shirt?

But we can’t dwell on those two, because there’s still a Crazy Janitor on the loose! And that traitor, Yuma, has told him all about Hazel.

Traitorous plant…lady…thing

Dengo the Crazy Janitor doesn’t believe her, but Yuma is pretty good about stalling for time, trying to tell him anything to keep her alive. She volunteers to help him spread his message because she knows how to woo an audience. Dengo thinks his political creed will wake up the masses, that they will rally to his cause, but Yuma points out that people are idiots and will only change the channel. She has ideas, if only he’d spare her – nope, Dengo shoots her!

And he decides he might as well check out this baby rumor, while he’s there.

Back at the spaceship tree, Alana is still angry after arguing with Marko. Izabel flies out to try and calm her down, but Alana isn’t having it. Her dad used to beat up her mom, so she has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to domestic violence, and that includes having vegetables thrown at her. Alana grouses about all the crap she’s dealt with, how she still has nightmares from the war.

But Izabel kind of has her beat.

I hadn’t noticed…

Izabel tells Alana that when she dreams, she dreams about her ex-girlfriend. It was a cute little relationship, but Izabel called it off for silly reasons. And two days later she stepped on a mine and died, her last thoughts of her lost love.

Alana tries to insist that this thing with Marko is a bit more complicated, but Izabel retorts that life may be complicated, but it’s also really damn short.

Meanwhile, Marko and his bat-lady friend are about to do it.

She’s got a thing for mummies

But at the last second, Marko notices that his daughter’s stuffed animal, Ponk Konk, is on the woman’s coffee table. Hazel left it behind last time they had a dance class, and she was holding onto it. Marko immediately goes into panicked father mode, because Hazel can’t sleep without her Ponk Konk!

We’ve all been there

The bat-lady tries to convince Marko to stay, but he’s had enough of the lying. He tells her that his name isn’t really ‘Barr’, and he’s sorry for getting her mixed up in all this craziness. Marko rushes out the door.

Hooray fidelity!

Back at the spaceship tree, Alana has her own freakout. She’s not really mad at Marko, she’s mad at this whole situation! She hates her job, she misses her family; she wishes life was back to the way it used to be. It’s a very personal breakthrough. But then the ship’s intruder alarm goes off!

Kill him, Hazel!

The shit hits the fan pretty quickly. Izabel morphs into a giant monster to scare Dengo, but he knows she’s a specter and doesn’t fall for it. Alana grabs Hazel and tells the spaceship tree to take off. Clara rushes at Dengo, biting off a finger, but Dengo grabs her and puts a gun to her head. He tells them that they’re going to fly to his chosen coordinates or they all die.

Which is about when Marko arrives home, just in time to watch the ship disappear into the stratosphere.

And this is where Vaughn hits us with his big surprise.

He’s a master of word-fu

‘Split up’! Duh! Why didn’t we see it before?

Remember that heart-breaking scene at the end of Saga #19, where Hazel told us that “This is the story of how my parents split up”. We all though that meant they were breaking up, which would have been absolutely gut-wrenching. And Vaughn has spent the past few issues showing us how that might happy – drugs/affair -but check out this twist!

He didn’t mean ‘break-up’, he meant literally ‘split up’. Alana is blasting off into space and Marko is stuck planet side.

That’s a pretty clever twist – but it still means Marko and Alana are going to be split up for who knows how long! I don’t want that to happen! I want them to be a loving, happy family! Curse you, Brian K. Vaughn! Those crazy kids are in love!

But the issue isn’t done yet. Turns out Yuma survived, and she’s managed to make it all the way here to try and warn Marko about what happened. Marko is pissed at her, accusing her of giving Alana the drugs and breaking up his family.

But he doesn’t have time to be angry, because someone more important has found him!

The notch has been kicked

That escalated quickly!

Marko vs. Prince Robot! The hero and the villain, face-to-face for what apparently isn’t the first time! See that mugshot? The Prince apparently knows Marko quite well. But how? Why? That’s something we’ve never heard of before, but it absolutely makes sense for this series! I bet we’re going to get some exciting backstory soon!

That’s the great thing about Saga, we’re always going to get something exciting. Everything I think I know what’s going to happen, Vaughn reveals that he has this story planned out so far in advance, in ways that will twist my brain into a pretzel. Marko and Alana split up across the galaxy? Marko facing down Prince Robot while Alana and crew take on Dengo the Crazy Janitor? I don’t think we needed to take so many issues getting to this point, but once Vaughn and Staples start ramping up the action, Saga becomes a whole ‘nother beast and lives up to its name.

This issue was all about misdirection, about toying with our assumptions and expectations. I thought for sure that Marko would give in to the sexy bat-lady, and Vaughn knew I would think that. But Marko’s love for his family wins out; he just can’t do anything about it yet. As far as he knows, he and Alana are still fighting. That’s the sort of drama that drives any good series. Likewise, how do Alana and the crew get away from Dengo the Crazy Janitor? I knew something was going to snap eventually in Saga, but I never expected this. Vaughn and Staples masterfully build the tension throughout the issue, then hit us with one twist after another. It’s exactly how any good comic book should be.