Saga #8 – Review

By: Brian K. Vaughan (story), Fiona Staples (art)

The Story: Alana’s streak of good fortune continues with the greatest father-in-law ever.

The Review: In fourth grade, I fell in love with a little book that no one has ever heard of, much less doted upon: Mary Rodgers’ A Billion for Boris.  You can Wiki the plot, but it was really Rodgers’ style that impressed me: the fantastic premise anchored in an otherwise realistic setting, the stream-of-consciousness narrative, the quirky characters, the way the action was broken up across specific days.  It was truly the first of the foremost influences on my literary appreciation.

So do I believe that a seemingly innocuous romance novel could affect Alana such that, as she tells her comrade McHenry, “[M]y entire outlook on existence has just been permanently altered”?  Absolutely.  It’s about time that we got a deeper glimpse into what exactly it is about D. Oswald Heist’s A Night Time Smoke that seems to have gotten everyone in a tizzy.  From the looks of it, there doesn’t seem anything extraordinary about the book; in fact, as a younger Alana describes it, it goes out of its way to be as decidedly ordinary as possible.

WCBR’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best of the past week: The Walking Dead #105 – Imagine an issue of TWD where (almost) none of the regular characters show up and virtually every page revealed something new about a segment of this world that has so much to show us even after 100+ issues.  This issue made me realize that even though I deeply enjoy the “what happens to Rick next?” feeling that TWD gives, I really wouldn’t mind a change of setting or characters.  Do we think that Kirkman might have been experimenting with this issue a little bit?  He clearly could have included a page or two showing life back in Arlington, but he chose not to.  It was a very fresh and different feeling for TWD and I hope it continues.

Most anticipated this week: Whoa–suddenly we have a really heavy week.  I’ll just warn you, no Big 2 comics are even sniffing the Top 5 this week and some very deserving independent comics are being left out.

1). Saga #8 – This is probably the best series being currently published, or at least the best young series.  Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples are functioning on such a high level that it almost seems unfair to compare Saga to other comics.  Even with other good comics, if you read them after Saga you notice all kinds of clumsy turns of phrase or awkward panel transitions.  Plus, I really enjoy the story in Saga.  Like all the best sci-fi, they’re taking everyday events – namely the awkwardness of young adulthood – and projecting it into a galactic setting.

2). Witch Doctor: Malpractice #2 – The only problem with Witch Doctor is that it doesn’t come out very often, but that’s probably because the art by Lukas Ketner is beyond incredible.  If you’ve ever wondered what it would have been like to read Creepy Magazine back in the early-60’s when guys like Bernie Wrightson, Joe Orlando, Al Williamson, etc. were young, that’s kinda how I feel seeing Ketner’s work.  He’s really impressive and if you Google him, he looks like he’s in his 20s.  It’s sickening to be so talented as such a young age, but that’s how the good ones are.  But, the art isn’t the only attraction.  The story and characters are also really snappy.  If you like the paranormal, you’ll love this.

3). Rachel Rising #13 – This story is rolling into it’s middle act as we kinda know all the players and the rough scope of characters and the plot.  I’m enjoying this story of the reincarnated spirits of murdered witches coming back in the modern day, but the art is the selling point for me.  Terry Moore knows so much about human facial expression that we could all become better real-life communicators by examining his work.  He nails all the visual shorthands for surprise, anger, urgency, etc.  I wonder, does he spend a lot of time making faces at himself in a mirror, or does he have it all memorized?

4). The Unwritten #44 – I’m sure folks heard that sad news that Karen Berger is leaving Vertigo and that makes me wonder if The Unwritten and American Vampire are the last two great Vertigo series we’ll ever see.  Nobody has announced anything about The Unwritten ending, so let’s hope it has another ~20 issues to go and we can enjoy it for another few years.

5). Happy #3 – See, I told you this was a heavy week.  A Grant Morrison/Darick Robertson comic almost misses the Top 5!  Even though I haven’t loved the first two issues, with talent like those two creators possess, it’s almost certain that this issue will be good.

– Dean Stell