Fanboys Anonymous

While it’s easy to spitball nominations for what make Brian KVaughan and Fiona Staples’ Saga so great, issues fifteen and sixteen really highlight the one I think should take the cake, pacing. The narrative has been fast paced from the get go and made the most of the real estate. Just looking at the story that’s unfolded after only sixteen issues proves the point. To reenforce this, the story recently descended into a flash backwards to the voyage of the first family to their favorite author's house. While a long interlude in any other story may have lost attention, this one found a way to further both a bubbling B story as well as our fondness for the characters.


In an effort to make the synopsis of the issues more palatable, I've divided the three small stories that are weaved together in the issues.

Tabloid journalists Upsher and Doff continue their investigation into the romance between Alana and Marko. First, in issue fifteen, the two interview a Robot Countess under whom Alana served inside of a tank. The Countess tells the two, after killing a dragon with a sword made from her very arm, that Alana once fired upon civilian and soldier alike under her orders. The real high light, however, is when Upsher is hit by an enemy sniper, prompting the countess to call down artillery fire from a satellite above. The godlike assault says more about the villain than the script ever could. Next, the news duo tries Special Agent Gale, a fellow soldier of Landfall. The story does a nice job of highlighting just what the romance could implicate and Gale throws a great curve ball at the two reporters, trying to convince them Alana is a spy. Ultimately, their search continues, though only inches at a time.


Back inside D Oswald Heist's light house home, he, Marko, Alana, and Klara engage in a "Nun Tuj Nun", an intergalactic board game. Following the conclusion of the game, Klara insists that Marko and Alana begin making plans to find employment so that their child may have a semblance of normal life outside of their tree space ship. An outraged Alana storms out. Marko follows her to the shore and works through her feelings of inadequacy.

Once back inside, the family enjoys story time together, which prompts Heist to give a fine speech about the breaking of rules leading to adventures. It is this that leads Alana and Marko to watch "The Circuit" a traveling melodramatic stage show, which takes a nice stab at the superhero genre. The actors appear to be costumed heroes who are always masked, making the job a real plausibility for the wanted couple. During the screening, Klara reveals she is, in fact interested in Heist who also has affections for her.

Elswhere, on the oasis like planet, The Will's spaceship insurance company finally arrives and fixes his ship, clearing him for take off, and prompting The Will to reveal his plans to go after Marko. Deep in the woods, Sophie meets her mother while, The Will returns to his ship, searching for the little girl.

He receives a call from the insurance company saying their workers are having fierce hallucinations from the good on the planet. Just as the will puts the pieces together, he's stabbed in the neck by a confused Sophie, whose hallucinations are revealed to be the same as the ones The Will has been having of The Stalk. Gwendolyn arrives in time to tie up Sophie and plot a course for Marko, the only person close enough to heal the injured The Will.

Sixteen wraps up with Prince Robot IV arriving to the lighthouse with Gwendolyn just behind and the narration ominously stating "after that, things get action packed"which brings the interlude to a close. Over all, the two issues were fun, though not as action packed as earlier parts of the run. Still, Vaughan's world building only gets better as the series grows and the suspension of action allowed for him to really have some fun. Ultimately, the break made for a nice character arc that set the stage for a good dose of action to follow.