Saga #56
As Alana and the family get acquainted with some pirates, the Robot royals plan revenge in Saga #56 by writer Brian K. Vaughan, artist Fiona Staples, and letterer Fantagraphix. This issue does some solid building for the remainder of this arc.
After a tense standoff with the pirates, Alana, Bombazine, Hazel, and Squire make friends and enter their ship, as they are all smugglers. On the Robot homeworld, King Robot laments the death of Prince Robot IV, demanding the head of whoever killed him. He is talked out of it by one of his generals before his footman comes in and tells him someone has shown up who knows who did it. Back on the pirate ship, as Alana and the captain begin their negotiation, Hazel learns that the crew are also musicians and asks about what a guitar is. The pirate captain has a job for Alana but wants to make sure she’s not from Landfall, which leads to some problems.
The last issue acquainted readers with the new status quo of the book, and this one is where Vaughan starts to do some plot building for the upcoming story. At this point, the whole thing is rather simple- readers meet the pirate crew, get to see the Robot Kingdom, and it all ends with some foreshadowing and drama. One of the glories of Saga is how Vaughan can seemingly say so little with each chapter and yet still say so much, something this issue uses to its advantage.
For example, the interlude in the Robot Kingdom lets readers know that everything is not good for the Robots. The war has been going badly for them, the commoners are in an uproar, and the King is angry about his dead son. Vaughan lays this out with a few pieces of dialogue, but it tells readers as much as a full issue would in the hands of another writer. As usual, he uses Hazel’s narration to do some foreshadowing of what’s to come, both hooking readers into wanting to know what happens next as well as giving them a sense of foreboding.
Fiona Staples is one of the best visual storytellers out there, and this issue is yet another example of why. She squeezes emotion out of each character at every possible step, selling everything that Vaughan puts into the script. The fact that she’s constantly getting better is part of what makes reading Saga so great; every time a reader opens up an issue, they know it’s going to look phenomenal. On top of that, Fantagraphix’s lettering helps invest the scene between King Robot and his general with emotion using the way they letter each thought bubble. There’s the usual bombast of the King, with the lettering giving it the exact right tone of sadness, and the general feels condescending to the King. The lettering does wonders for this scene.
Saga #56 is a great work. Each creative team member gives their all, and it works very well. This is a building chapter, but it’s wonderfully done as usual.
