Saga, Vol.12

 
YES, it's that semi-annual time when Image Comics gather together the past years worth of issues and compile them into the next collected volume, this time for Volume Twelve of the long-running Brian K Vaughn/Fiona Staples epic SAGA!

As you might remember, I gave up on the monthly issue-by-issue format of reading the series with issue #56 and have been only reading them through the collected books, starting with Volume 10...so it's quite a long wait in between!

Saga, Vol.11

 Watching the HBO series GAME of THRONES, it seemed to me that they kept systematically killing off every cool character until by the end only second tier characters like Sam Tarley were running the show!( Small wonder I slowly but surely lost interest in the show as a whole!)

Sadly, it appears (at least to me) that they're doing the SAME thing with SAGA, using deaths to fuel shock and emotion t the end of each big story arc, but leaving us with weaker characters to follow in its wake.... VERY disappointed with how this volume ended.

Saga, Vol.10

 After the deaths of so many key characters in the last story arc, the new chapter was off to a rough start, and after two issues and losing interest fast, I really lost my fascination with this strip and no longer felt it was worth it to trudge into the comic shop each month to pick up each issue. So from that point on, i would begin only collecting the trades, and this is the first of them, collecting issues 55-60.

Archie

As a huge, huge fan of artist Fiona Staples, i knew I had to get this one, but I'm REALLY not a fan of these new Archie reboots, as you may recall in my entry on "Afterlife With Archie"...Somehow in these new versions,  they forget how all the characters were basically good and likeable people. Veronica and Reggie are always portrayed in these new ones as 100% bad and Mr. Lodge as a cranky old tyrant, even Jughead, the most laid-back and mellow dude ever, is portrayed as more of a condescending and arrogant guy. And sadly, this new series is just like the others: despite its' awesome art, these reboots, though probably great for the kids of today, just don't do it for me.

Saga #25

Whoooohooo, ring the alarms, SAGA is back from hiatus at last (having to wait the three-four months between arcs is soooo hard as this series rocks so much) and it's as damn freaking GREAT as ever!!!!
Mmmm, think I'm gonna re-read the entire series from issue #1 all over again!

Saga #1-5

My friend Gerg who keeps abreast of all the newer comics and graphic novels out there came to town for a visit, and after shooting the breeze over lunch, we made our way to check out our old haunts, including a couple of comic stores that still were around back when he lived here.
 So we’re in there and he begins pulling the latest issue of a comic called SAGA, which was at the time on issue 4. I ask him about it, and he says it’s a comic that he’s really getting into lately, and thinks even my overly-discriminating eye would like it. I laugh and tell him I’ll think about it, but then I see him mosey over to the clerk and ask her if she has the first three back-issues available. She concurs, and directs him to the shelf where issues 1, 2, and 3 are hidden behind some older releases. I eye the stack in his hand suspiciously, saying, “Hey, if you already have these issues, why are you buying them again? He doesn’t answer, but then OF COURSE, once we get back to my house, he hands them to me!!!
 I’m like, “DUDE! You don’t have to BUY me these- I told you that if I wanted to read ‘em, I’d get ‘em myself!”  “Yeah,” he replied, “But If I waited for YOU to buy these, the series might end before you felt like it!” “Besides”, he waved off my exasperation, “this series is written by Brian K. Vaughan, and I KNOW you like his writing.” I stopped for a minute. “Oh, wait, really? The guy who wrote Y THE LAST MAN??? Ummmm…Then…..OKAY, I’ll check it out, LOL!”
By the time I actually got around to reading it, Gerg had already flown back to LA, but read it I did, and I was floored at how good it was! Like Y The Last Man, the stories were just FULL of these intriguing characters, and before you knew it, I was totally immersed in this story (and equally blown-away by Fiona Staples' amazing artwork!!)...The tale begins with the star-crossed relationship between a guy and girl from opposite sides of a war (two alien  races, one horned and one winged), who are trying to escape with their newly-born child while bounty hunters and government agents alike follow in hot pursuit! As the story progresses and you get to know all of them, hero and villain alike, you get the feeling you are getting prepped for a tale of immense proportions!!!!
I became an immediate fan and jsut this week, I ran down to my lcola comic store to l=pick up the latest issue which jsut came out (issue #5) and am sure i'm going to continue collecting it for good!!!