When all is said and done, and we’re looking back at Saga in the big picture, this volume is going to be seen as one of transition. People in the future who read Saga in one sitting are going to breeze through this chapter to get to the really good stuff. And that makes this volume – and this issue in particular – kind of an odd duckling. Better literary critics than I will probably be able to explain it better, but for me, this was all just a nice visit with some good friends.

Saga #24

Saga #24 ends the current volume by looking ahead to the future, underlining this whole volume as a tiny bit unnecessary.

Comic Rating: 7/10 – Good.

Not that I would ever consider a single issue of Saga ‘unnecessary’ – unless, of course, it got really bad somehow. But after reading this issue, and it’s wild departure from every other issue in this volume, I find myself slightly confused by the whole experience. Writer Brian K. Vaughn shocked us at the end of issue #18 with a jump forward in time, giving us Hazel as a toddler and her family changed. That could have been the start of a great new status quo, and for a little while, it was. But with this issue, everything has changed once again.

Vaughn spent the majority of this volume establishing that new status quo only to rip us away from it at the end. This volume didn’t really take us from Point A to Point B because, like I said, Vaughn pretty much created Point A out of thin air.

But I suppose there’s no real reason to complain. We got some good drama, we met some new characters, and toddler Hazel was something spectacular. Maybe I’m just looking at this from the wrong perspective. Alana and her family are obviously the stars of the book, but the plot in this volume was all about the Robot Kingdom. A lot happened on that front. So it’s possible I don’t have any idea what I’m talking about.

I think Saga really should be read all at once, whenever it’s completed, even if it would mean waiting years.

At least Vaughn brought back Lying Cat in this issue, and effortlessly reminded us why she is Saga‘s breakout character. There is some great Lying Cat in Saga #24!

Speaking of Lying Cat, Saga #24 is all about the other characters in this comic. The last issue gave us a few insane cliffhangers, putting Marko, Alana and their family in some real dire situations. But this issue doesn’t pick up on any of them. In fact, Saga #24 kind of takes another jump forward in time, albeit a shorter one. The story of the Crazy Janitor is going to have to wait, because we need to check in on Gwen, Sophie, Lying Cat and The Brand.

Oh, and The Stalk, too, in another one of Saga‘s now legendary insane/gross scenes.

If you were ever curious how The Will and The Stalk have sex, then this is the issue you’ve been waiting for!

We open on the planet Quietus, and we check in with that adorable little seal guy. I love that guy. He’s being questioned by The Brand, who is trying to find out what happened to her brother, The Will, who remains convalesced in a hospital bed.

I want me a chopper!

Seal Guy explains that Klara traded him her ax for one of his big pack animals, which explains how the family came to adopt Hazel’s pet, Friendo.  The Brand is quick to catch on about Alana and her fugitive family, and grills Seal Guy for the whereabouts of The Will’s ship, which he explains was taken by Gwen and company.

Gwen and company are on a new, strange planet trying to steal some secret files. It’s the planet of patents, and it’s guarded by a bunch of gross rat men.

They also kind of look like Nazis

The rats catch Gwen and Sophie and a fight breaks out. Fiona Staples remains an amazing artist, and she makes the fight both exciting and kind of icky, because these rat guys are just the worst. It helps that they are the worst. They’re gross in every conceivable way.

Especially when one of them gets the drop on Gwen and knocks her out, then threatens to rape both her and Sophie!

I think I’ll post the entire sequence just so you can enjoy it as much as I did.

Oh Lying Cat, I think we’ve all missed you!

Outside, The Brand arrives and finds their ship, and is still around when Gwen, Sophie and Lying Cat come out. The two teams face off, with Sweet Boy (The Brand’s dog) immediately tranquilizing Lying Cat. But calmer heads prevail and everybody catches everybody else up to what’s going on. The Brand finds out that The Will named Sophie after her, which is kind of touching. And Gwen explains that they broke into the planet of the patents to steal the formula to a super powerful healing potion, which she claims will even be able to heal The Will.

If that is indeed the case, The Brand agrees to join them on their quest!

Sophie is my kind of space hero!

In order to make the potion, they need to travel to the planet Demimonde, which The Brand recognizes as the home planet of The Stalk.

Remember her? The Will’s hot spider girlfriend? If you don’t, Saga immediately cuts to a picture of The Will and The Stalk having sex.

I considered posting the picture, but I try to keep things PG-13 around here, so I’ll skip it. Suffice to say, it answers everything…or nothing. I don’t know what you were expecting, but it’s all here. Unfortunately, in the middle of the love-making, The Stalk screams out that she wants to have The Will’s babies! That kind of stops the sex cold, since what man wants to hear that in the throes of passion? But at least it’s a nice look into the sex life of The Will and The Stalk.

I might have a little crush on The Stalk

We eventually cut back to Seal Guy on Quietus, who this time is approached by Yuma, who has apparently made a full recovery. She wants to know if it’s true that the seal people still have a telepathic bond with their pack animals, and if Seal Guy can use that guy to track Friendo.

Why does she want to know?

Prepare for badassery.

Manly men!

Another great cliffhanger from the world of Saga!

First off, before I forget, does anybody else notice that Marko’s sword and shield are bat-themed? Kind of like that sexy bat lady he almost had an affair with? That’s kind of an interesting tidbit. Perhaps her husband comes home and somehow willingly gives Marko some weapons?

So what does this cliffhanger say about Saga going forward? Obviously we’ll need to find out how Marko and Prince Robot IV changed from the end of Saga #23 to this cliffhanger. It looked like they were going to be enemies last time we saw them, but enough time has passed to not only change that, but for Marko to grow a beard. So I imagine a fair bit of the next volume is going to explain how this all came to be, and I’m fine with that. I bet it’s going to be a fun story.

This issue was very good, in the typical Saga style. Gwen, Sophie and Lying Cat were a real treat, especially Sophie and Lying Cat. It’s great to see that little girl grown and becoming her own space hero. But we haven’t seen this group for close to a year now, and The Brand is still a brand new character, so this little segue into the other half of Saga isn’t as powerful as it could have been. It’s great that these characters are still around and still having adventures, but there’s little emotional weight behind what they’re doing now.

Still, like I said, it’s nonetheless entertaining.

As for the volume as a whole, I’m still conflicted. I’ve enjoyed it plenty, but like I said, this was all kind of transitional. We won’t know if it actually matters to the bigger picture for years to come. Was Vaughn just spinning his wheels, having a little fun at our expense by trying to convince us that Marko and Alana were going to break up? Obviously the ending to this issue proves that Marko is as committed to his wife and his family as ever, so why the ‘splitting up’ ruse? Why the countless scenes of Marko flirting with that cute bat lady? Why so many scenes of Alana on drugs with the Open Circuit?

But asking ‘what does all of this mean’ isn’t going to get me anywhere. I get the feeling that we have barely scratched the surface of Saga, my friends. There’s a lot more comic to come, and it still feels like Vaughn knows exactly what he’s doing, that every little thing is connected in ways that we can’t yet perceive.

Honestly, I just think I’m reading Saga wrong.

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