After a grueling hiatus, Brian K Vaughan’s hit series, Saga is back in full swing in all its space action, lying cat glory. Now that new readers have had time to join the monthly book following the release of the first two volumes, it’s time to get the band back together and take this show on the road. Issue thirteen splits the narrative into three parts, following the first family’s mission to find the author of the novel that brought Marko and Alana together, The Will’s struggle with the loss of The Stalk, and an entirely new plot that, in two pages, plants what is sure to be a major story arc to come.
The latter follows two space reporters who have gotten wind of Alana and Marko’s seemingly impossible romance and are looking to publicize the story. Although it is left at this, it’s evident that these guys will soon become familiar faces. Back on the tree ship, although its clear that some time has passed, the story doesn’t skip a beat of emotion. Marko is still visibly shaken by the sudden death of father. The fun of an Image book like this is that you get both a real dose of emotion and the chance to appreciate and enjoy the shock to the status quo. Books from the “Big Two” would have a funeral scene and possibly a spin off “everyone’s sad” issue before they get back to business. The grieving and change lets us really feel the humanity of the characters, even though they’re aliens. Man is that quality writing. The entourage eventually makes it to the author’s planet, but disembarks their ship over a field of animated skeletons. Just as a skeleton head sinks it’s teeth into Marko’s mom, a laser blast destroys it. The family turns to reveal a drunken Cyclops, who we know to be the author from issue twelve, doing his best Walter White impression.
The Will’s story is less action packed than usual, but manages to be entertaining without violence. He remains crashed on a luxurious oasis of a planet along with the imaginatively named Slave Girl and Gwendolyn, ex fiancé of Marko. In true Charles Dickens fashion, a ghost of The Stalk appears before The Will to try and coerce him into retirement. The issue doesn't reveal how she comes before him, or if he's just losing his mind, but does use her appearance to escalate the romantic tension between The Will and Gwendolyn. Following the brush with his dearly departed, The Will decides to take care of Slave Girl and renames her Sophie.A long wait means high expectations. Fortunately, Saga 13 manages to hit the ground running and keeps this moving while simultaneously preparing larger events down the road. There's still one issue left to cover before Saga 15 is released so be sure to check back for coverage of Saga 14 to stay up to date with Image Comics' smash hit, hyperbolic praise clad space romp, Saga.
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