Saga #1

First comic of the new week? Saga by writer extraordinaire, Brian K Vaughan. BKV has brought us acclaimed works such as Y: The Last Man and Runaways, as well as other, lesser known but still incredibly satisfying runs on comics such as Mystique and The Hood(and no, not the redesigned Bendis version, the good version.). Needless to say I am a huge fan, and am expecting great things from this series.

Saga #1:

Summary: This issue opens with star-crossed lovers Marko and Alana bringing their baby girl into the world... Now a few things before we go any further... The world the girl(Hazel) is being brought into? It's most definitely NOT our world. Here's the backstory... There's a planet called Landfall, with a single moon named Wreath. Wreath and Landfall had two completely different races, and as such, wound up going to war. However, both sides soon realized destroying the opposing heavenly body would also destroy their own world. So the two sides ended up carrying their war out on various planets all around the galaxy. That way they could still fight, but not endanger their homeworlds. It's a pretty novel idea. Landfall seems to be a more technological world led by robots(with fully functional genitalia...), while Wreath seems more magic based. Marko is from Wreath and quit the war since he was disgusted by the fighting. Alana is from Landfall and like Marko, had no interest in fighting. The two met while Marko was imprisoned by Landfall forces and, well, the rest should be obvious. Back to the story... While Marko and Alana are trying to figure out a name for their daughter, Landfall forces burst into the car garage they were hiding out in and demand Alana's surrender since she had abandoned her post(when she broke Marko out and got knocked up). Before Marko and Alana can figure anything out, Wreath forces teleport in, presumably intent on capturing or killing their own turncoat, Marko. The Landfall forces engage the Wreath forces and before you know it, both sides are dead, much to the surprise and relief of Marko and Alana. The two get a map from the owner of the garage(who sold them out) and head into the sewers in search of a forest that contained rocketships that could get them off the planet. Needless to say, Marko is dubious that such a place exists, while Alana doesn't see the harm in heading to Rocketship Forest just in case. Meanwhile, the king of the people of Landfall tasks his son with finding the two fugitives. Also, forces on Wreath hire freelancers to hunt down and kill Marko and Alana, while bringing Hazel back to them safely. After emerging from the sewers, Marko and Alana end up coming across a massive battlefield between the Wreath and Landfall forces. And while that's a bad thing, the map they had shows landmarks which leads them to believe that there may possibly BE a Rocketship Forest. This issue ends with Marko and Alana deciding to continue moving forward in search of a way off-world.

Thoughts: Well, after finishing this comic I can honestly say this is one of the few times I don't know what to give it as a score... You see, normally I'll finish a comic(or movie/video game/TV show) and a number will pop into my head... Yeah, I know how weird that is, but that's me. This time though, a number wasn't forthcoming. There was nothing wrong with this issue, and I can see A LOT of promise here. The thing is, since BKV is introducing not only new characters, but new races and planets, there were things here that didn't connect in the old gray matter. Normally when I don't fully understand what I'm reading, the score is in the 6 or lower range. But this comic was better than a 6 or lower... So you see my dilemma. I have no doubt that this series will become one of the books I look forward to in the months ahead, the potential is there, so I'm going to give this one a score based on that potential. As for the events/people/stuff in this comic? I like the idea, I like the characters and I like the premise. So yeah, this one could wind up being great, which was the reason I decided to give it a shot in the first place.

Score: 8 out of 10.

Personally I'd want to visit Murder Valley...