Saga #62
As the family deals with their own problems, the Will gets a surprise, and Agent Gale visits an old friend of Marko’s in Saga #62, by writer Brian K. Vaughan, artist Fiona Staples, and letterer Fonografiks. This issue takes the revelations of the last issue and recontextualizes them while building the plot.
The issue starts with a flashback, as Petrichor and Alana find Marko’s body. Petrichor tells Alana that she knows where the person who killed Marko and Sir Robot is, and they should go after him, but Alana tells her that she has a family and can’t go on a quest for revenge. Back in the present day, Alana turns down the offer to resurrect Marko as Hazel and Squire eavesdrop. The family has a conversation after they leave, and Alana defuses the situation. Meanwhile, the Will and Sophie discuss his plans for marrying Gwen when she tells him to take Lying Cat and leave while Sophie helps her set up. Back with the family, Alana reads them Heist and uses the r-slur, which causes Squire to run off, with Vitch on his screen. Finally, Gale visits Ginny to find the reporter Upsher. She attacks him instead of helping him, which causes her death and her family’s.
If there’s anything wrong with reading Saga issue to issue, it’s the way that Vaughan builds plots. A lot of Image’s success is in the trade market. Story arcs are written to be collected. That’s a fine thing for readers who trade, but it can make reading monthly a little disappointing. Every issue is a bite-size chapter, and every reader basically knows that the only time anything interesting is going to happen is in the beginning, the middle, and the end. That’s not to say the book isn’t enjoyable and well done, but this chapter is an example of why this type of writing can be disappointing.
This is just an issue of build-up. Everything from the first issue is put on pause here to build the plot for later. Can Vitch resurrect anyone? Readers are told she can’t, and that’s that. Everyone knows someone is going to try later, but Vaughan has to defuse the situation and throw in some more build-up to get there. That’s not to say nothing cool happens, but it’s all just build-up. It’s all going to pay things off at the end of the story, with a twist or big moment in the middle. There’s a Saga formula, and it works because Vaughan and Staples have hooked us.
Staples’s art is great, but that’s to be expected. There are a few places where her figure work isn’t as detailed as it has been, which seems out of character for her as an artist. Other than that, everything is perfectly fine. Nothing really jumps out as amazing, but nothing is bad either.
Saga #62 is exactly what readers would expect from the second issue of a Saga story arc. Vaughan and Staples build the story expertly. It’s all to be expected, and it’s another entertaining chapter.
