Saga, volumes 1-4

I have conflicting feelings on Saga. I was immediately drawn to its beautiful art and I quickly came to love the characters. But other parts turn me off.

In far off universe, there are two warring civiliazations, one a winged race living on a planet, and the other a horned race living on the moon. Alana, of the winged people of Landfall, and Marko, of the horned people of Wreath, have against all odds fallen in love and had a daughter together. The existence of such a child is seen as a threat to both the leaders of Landfall and Wreath, and they both send assassins to take out the family.

Saga follows the adventures of Alana, Marko, their daughter, and the lives of the other people touched by them.

The story is engaging and interesting, the characters compelling, and the art is gorgeous.  So what’s the problem?  I recall reading the author commenting on how he wanted to make this comic too mature to be able to be turned into a tv series, and if true, it comes across in how disconnected the sex and gore feels to the rest of the story.  The sex in the series feels gratuitous to me.  It doesn’t feel needed for the story but only there to make the comic “edgy”.  Add in one of the characters using drugs and I start feeling majorly turned off.

And so I can’t entirely recommend this series. There are interesting characters, a neatly developed world, a compelling storyline, but here and there are parts that leave me cold.