Cassie’s Image Comics Review: SAGA #4
Alana continues to attempt to get her family off the planet Cleave with the help of her new ghostly ally Izabelle, who does double duty as nurse to Marko and baby Hazel. The Will tries to detract from his assumed failure capturing said family on the planet Sextillion, where sexual pleasures await the damaged Freelancer. It’s another fun and exciting issue from writer Brian K. Vaughan’s character driven sci-fi series.
A helpful note, this issue is extremely NSFW. From the detailed sexual positions, drug use, nudity, and in one instance a giant dinosaur penis (yes, this is separate from plain old nudity) this is not something you want to be reading around your boss and/or co-workers. Unless they’re into that kind of thing.
In order to blow off a little steam, The Will goes to a pleasure planet appropriately named Sextillion. If you imagine it, you can mate with it on this planet, whether it be with people, animals, or some weird amalgamation of both. Due to this, the comic opens with the most horrifying image imaginable, one you will not be able to unsee. Trust me, it takes skull f—ing to a whole new level.
Meanwhile, Alana is still worried about her dying husband Marko. In the last issue, she tied her daughter to Izabel, a ghost of Cleave, in exchange for her help in saving her husband. Despite fear that he may die, Alana seems more concerned that Marko gave up a secret in his dying and feverish state. Specifically that he mentioned his bride, not named Alana but Gwendolyn. Take note boys, if you are in the throes of a fever and inadvertently give away secrets of a past love, you will be held responsible.
The theme running throughout the narrative is partnership. This is explored through The Will and his partner Lying Cat (AKA wannabe Bubastist) and the relationship between Marko and Alana. Both couples are at awkward points in their partnership, The Will and Lying Cat when Will chooses to stay on Sextillion and sends his friend to wait in long term parking (note: no bringing in your own animals to the sex planet) and Alana and Marko dealing with the question of who is Gwendolyn. A good bulk of the issue deals with the ramifications of this event.
What author Brian K. Vaughan does so well in this series is playing with our perceptions. Fiona Staples gives us depictions of these rough and tumble, oftentimes terrifying characters and then Vaughan turns our ideas of those characters on their heads. Staples will show the audience a ghost with intestines dripping out of the lower half of her body and Vaughan will show us she’s a fabulous (albeit sassy) babysitter. The same goes for the horrifying spider woman Freelancer The Stalk, who doesn’t look like she would be afraid of anything yet runs at the thought of the creatures living on Cleave. In this issue, we get to see how even monsters have hearts.
Story: Brian K. Vaughan
Art: Fiona Staples
Cover: Fiona Staples
32 Pages/FC
$2.99
On Sale June 20, 2012!
