ŷ������

Reviewed by:

Before anything else, it must be said that SAGA is the most beautiful and hideous, the most hopeful and fatalistic, the most graphic, and the most adorable thing I have ever read or seen.



It is ALL the things.

The very first page of the very first chapter sets the tone for the whole series (thus far):



You're slapped in the face with the wonder and the ICK of childbirth. Some of you might think the bodily fluids, the wordless, guttural shouts that accompany the pushing, and the million other aspects of child labor are part of the miracle, and you're allowed . . .

In an abstract way, I'm not sure I disagree. But from an impartial bystander perspective . . . all of that is the opposite side of the bringing-a-new-life-that-you-helped-create-into-the-world coin.

It's gross, man.

And if that's a juxtaposition you don't think you can appreciate, then I'm going to go ahead and say goodbye until next time. There is nothing for you here.



B/c that's what SAGA is: finding the beauty in the ugliness of life.



It's overcoming a lifetime of ingrained prejudice only to discover your victory was merely the first hurdle in the journey. It's growing apart b/c life is life, then coming back together in the face of shared tragedy.



It's the determination to remain bitter about past slights opening the door to a new path. It is pain and loss and healing and forgiveness, and it's continuing to put one foot in front of the other, b/c more than anything else, you have to keep moving.



It's life. With all the accompanying brilliance and horror, and it is masterfully done. I flew through all six collected volumes in an afternoon, and I seriously doubt I'll have the willpower to wait for the next collection before reading the individually released chapters.



That's a first in the graphic novel arena, by the way. But I see serial releases in my future, and I'm not even going to try to fight it.



Marko and Alana are two soldiers on opposite sides of a war, who, against all odds, fall in love.



SAGA is their story, and it's the story of the ripples their love makes in the pond of their universe. There were times I thought my heart would burst with happiness, and there were times that I felt physically ill.

Two sides. One coin.



Your turn. Highly recommended to mature adults.