★★★★☆ Confusing and violent

Saga, Volume 5

Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples (Illustrator)

This was the first installment of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples' Saga that I considered rating less than four stars, although I finally decided not to. (Vaughan and Staples are wiping sweat off their brows and heaving big sighs of relief at that near-miss.) This is the first volume of Saga after Marko and Alana split up. They split up at the end of Volume 4 not because of marital disharmony, but because Alana blasted off to take Hazel away from danger -- at least, that was the intention. Marko is left with Prince Robot IV, who is pursuing them. And the story of Gwen, The Brand, and former slave girl Sophie continues. We swap back and forth among them frequently, and Marko spends much of the story experiencing flashbacks under the influence of fadeaway. Marko, as was previously established, is a kind of super-warrior when he can be convinced to fight, but he abhors doing so.

So, yeah, there was a lot of violence, and I confess that I did not always understand WTH was going on.

I think I have a new favorite character, though: Sophie, who wears half-moon spectacles as a sign of how smart she is.

Amazon review

Goodreads review

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