What I Read Today: SAGA volume 1

So I just finished reading SAGA volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughn (writer) and Fiona Staples (artist). Fantastic piece of work. In a lot of ways it reminds me the television show Farscape. A lot happens in this collection, but the main story involves a husband, his wife and their newborn daughter. That might sound dull, but the parents are actually deserters from a war. She is from the largest planet in the galaxy which is at war with the inhabitants of it's own moon (where the father hails from). They're from two different species.

Did I mention this was a science-fiction story? With magic and ghosts and robots? No. Well, now you know.

This story isn't tied in to anything else going on in comic books right now. It has characters you've never met before. Some of them (all of them?) have secrets, some are dangerous but there isn't a predictable villain in the bunch. The "bad guys" are all great characters in their own right, most just trying to make a living. Some even have what might be considered a conscience. It's hard to describe them without giving away too much for those who haven't read it yet.

What really strikes me about this book though is the unpredictability. Add that to the great character work, the occasional humor, and the fact that the baby herself narrates the story and you've got a comic book that is surprising and fresh in a time when most comic books are trying "new spins on an old story".

So, yeah. If you like great stories of adventure, romance, action, mystery, diaper changing and breast feeding  all done in a science-fiction/fantasy setting then you really should be reading SAGA.

http://www.imagecomics.com/comics/5102/Saga-Vol-1-TP

Trade Paperbacking

More and more I've taken to reading/collecting trade paperbacks/hardcovers of comic books. Since I moved to Alberta I've gotten the following:

The Sandman vol. 7-9 (vol. 10 is on the way)
Batwoman vol.1 : Hydrology
Justice League Dark vol. 1: In the Dark
Chew vol. 2-5
Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four vol. 1-4
The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men vol. 1 : The God Particle
Firestorm: The Nuclear Man
Power Pack Classic volume 1
Saga volume 1
Batman Inc. vol. 1
Batman: The Black Mirror
Batman vol. 1: The Court of Owls
Wonder Woman: Odyssey (vol. 1-2)
Wonder Woman: The Twelve Labors
Justice League: Origin
Aquaman: Death of a Prince
Star Trek vol. 1-3

Normally I prefer reading comics in single issue form. Some of these I bought to help show support for books I like, others I bought because I wanted to try out the series. The problem now is that I'm running out of places to put them all. I'm sharing a room with someone else, living in an apartment with three other people and have very little private space of mine. I'll probably end up having to send most of these back to my mother to hold on to them for me.

Some people are addicted to cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, food, etc. I'm addicted to comic books. Always  have been. Probably always will be.