Saga #17 – Review

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

The Story: No better time for a literary discussion than during a hostage situation.

The Review: Ever since #12, when Vaughan revealed that Marko, Alana, and Co. had arrived at Heist’s lighthouse a week before Prince Robot, we’ve been eagerly waiting for the story to catch up to the highly tense confrontation between the soldier and the writer.  With nearly all of Saga’s forces converging on the same place at once, you know that no matter which way the encounter turns, everything will change when it’s over.

And so it goes.  Spoiler alert—the death of Heist, all things considering, was probably to be expected.  Surprising as it is to see his romance with Klara nipped just before it had a chance to bloom, Heist was the only truly expendable character at the lighthouse.  Not that Vaughan is the type of writer who’d be squeamish about killing off a principal character relatively early on in the series (Barr did die within several issues of being introduced), but the time just isn’t right for anyone else to die yet—not until their story arc reaches some resolution, at least.

Saga #14 – Review

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

The Story: Hazel gets an unconventional, but literally cleansing, baptism.

The Review: To the owners and operators of Comics Unlimited—much as I revere and adore your store and happy as I am to funnel my increasingly scanty funds into your business, this ridiculous business with slipping Saga in into plastic sleeves with a mature content warning sticker has got to stop.  At least, read through an issue to make sure there’s some actual explicit content in there before wrapping it up.  It’s just environmentally the smart thing to do.

This issue could easily have gone on the shelves without the extra non-biodegradable packaging without raising too many eyebrows.  Aside from the Stalk’s nips and a rather jaw-dropping panel of author Heist puking out his guts (from emotion!) onto Hazel, this is probably the least offensive issue of Saga yet, both visually and textually.  Even if you find something graphically objectionable to it, the issue more than redeems itself with moments of pure, if bruised, heart.

A lot of it, as with the best works of fiction, is in the little things: Klara’s growing rapport with the family’s ghostly nanny (“Ready your side of the ether, Izabel.  At this rate, we’ll be ghosts by dawn…”) or the faith Alana’s stepmom still has in her despite their estrangement (“Our girl may have her problems, but Alana isn’t a turncoat.  She was…she is a good person.”).

Cable #5 – Review

By Duane Swierczynski (Writer) and Ariel Olivetti (Artist)

Last month I gave this series some credit for finally feeling as though things were moving forward (after months of going absolutely nowhere). Issue #4 was a much needed step in the right direction and, as a result, I found myself actually looking forward to the conclusion of the “War Baby” arc. Unfortunately, Cable squanders any good will it had built up last month with a far too hasty conclusion that suffers from poor storytelling and inconsistent, confusing art direction.

Basically, Cable #5 is all about the inevitable showdown between Bishop and Cable for the fate of the “Messiah” child. But first, the two mutants must prepare, so the first half of the book deals with that. Bishop takes over a unit of the Turnpike Authority in order to have some backup for the big fight, while Cable heads to Cannonball’s lab to stock up on weaponry, destroy Cerebra so he can’t be tracked, build some baby armor, and arm the waitress Sophie so that she can protect herself should she get involved. To be honest, while reading the entire first half of the book, I couldn’t help but feel I should have some sort of montage worthy music playing in the background. It definitely has that vibe going for it.

The second half of this issue is the fight itself and boy, does it feel  disjointed. Simply put, the action never gets its rhythm going. There are a few cool moments spattered about, but as a whole, the action is nothing special and it is actually hindered more by an abrupt, hilariously stupid ending. Also, on a personal note, I have to mention that I really hate it when the seemingly innocent bystander turns out to be well trained in weaponry… it’s a cliché and tired formula.

The writing here is kept at a minimum, but it works as long as there isn’t any actual storytelling involved. Allow me to explain what I mean. The dialogue/narration is fairly amusing from time to time; Cable and Sophie make a pretty decent character pair, but this story has no depth whatsoever. Every beat that is meant to move the story forward is usually just a one or two line explanation about why something is or must be done. Bishop is on the warpath in order to kill a baby and instead of exploring the complexity of that particular situation, he just keeps saying he has to stop his future from occurring. Another example is how the conclusion of this issue is a “oops, I forgot” moment that just sort of happens without any previous explanation about how Cable’s time mechanism works.

This whole arc has felt less like a story and more like a series of events held together by the fact that Bishop is hunting Cable. Sure the dialogue is fairly interesting, but it’s as though Duane Swierczynski forgot that he had to tell a story as well. Maybe the start of a new arc will lead to some actual story development, but, at this point, I can’t possibly get my hopes high. The way this issue concludes leads me to think the next arc will just be more of the same.

As for the artwork, things look decent enough during slower moments as Arial Olivetti has clearly improved his character work, but the direction in this issue is just sloppy. It feels as though there are gaps in continuity during the entire action sequence and it ultimately destroys any flow the scenes may have. Also, there are a few inconsistencies, the most glaring of which involves a guy getting shot in the head. It shows the bullet go through his head and then one panel later his head is completely gone, as though it had exploded or something. It is always good to see something improve with each new issue, but, in my opinion, this series would be better off with a new artist or art team.

Cable #5 is just a huge disappointment all around. The storytelling is incredibly weak, the art direction is a mess, and the conclusion just left me shaking my head at how ridiculous it was. I thought things would be looking up after a decent showing last month, but, as it turns out, I was wrong. (Grade: D)

-Kyle Posluszny