Saga Vol. 8 (2018)

Saga Vol. 8 Review

Saga is an epic space opera fantasy comic book series written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples. The eighth volume covering issues 43 to 48 was published in 2018.

After the traumatic events of the War for Phang, Hazel, her parents, and their surviving companions embark on a life-changing adventure at the westernmost edge of the universe. This volume is one of my favorite in the series. It is just as strong as the previous one, but it is vastly different in tone. Whereas the seventh volume ended on such a grim, horrifying note, this one ended in such a heartwarming, uplifting manner, which was a breath of fresh air for this inherently dark series. Just like life itself, our heroes experience pain and happiness in equal measure throughout.

The main storyline concerns Alana’s miscarriage. The Old West-inspired planet that they go to is quite cool and visually dazzling albeit nowhere near as well explored as I would have liked. That wolf doctor who does abortions was memorably creepy, but eventually she did not turn out to be a villain. This part of the story also centers heavily on Hazel and her experiences seeing her dead brother, which was quite moving to witness. We also have Petrichor dealing with some bandits while starting a relationship with Prince Robot IV. Their romance made sense and I am all here for it.

There are also two subplots in this volume that deal with Ghus and The Will. What happened to The Will was quite brutal and the darkest moments in this otherwise light volume are those that star him. Ghus also had some wonderful moments with the young robot. I really enjoyed their dynamic and I continue to find Ghus a ray of sunshine in this cruel world. Upsher and Doff finally return here, but their roles are quite small. The eventual reunion between all of the characters was such a joyous occasion. This volume is messy as it tries to deal with three distinctly different storylines with their own sets of characters, but for the most part the pacing and structure were solid enough.

The eighth volume of Saga continues a strong streak of quality volumes for this series. This one is more uplifting and optimistic, which was a nice change in pace. It is heavy on plot and number of characters included, but most of them got their proper due as the series continues to be gorgeously illustrated and so well written.

My Rating – 4.5