“Who Mom DID trust was anyone with at least one serious vice.
It’s the virtuous she told me to watch out for.”
Keep reading for a review of Saga #56.
I’m avoiding major spoilers in this review but I dance around the edges of several events, so if you want to avoid any and all revelations you should definitely read the issue first.
I think one of the biggest themes running through Saga (other than sexy good times) (or violence) (or sexy violence?) (I’ll stop now) is the idea of trust and truthfulness, and how if you can’t be honest with everybody else you should at least for crying out loud be honest with yourself.
The only character who never lies for any reason is the adult version of Hazel that’s doing the narrating, she always calls it like it is. Which makes for some pretty tense reading, because as a situation is unfolding she’ll tell you “this is clearly a very bad idea” but she won’t tell you why, so you get to read the next few pages going “ohhh crap how is this going to go wrong?”
And after 56 issues it still amazes me how quickly things can go so, so wrong.
Alana is probably the worst at trusting people when she shouldn’t, but not because she’s naive or ignorant. She’s just tired. She’d like to do things the right way, the legal and safe way. But let’s be honest, that’s never gotten her anywhere, so when someone dangles one more Get Rich Quick idea in front of her, she’ll take it, even though she’s got no reason to believe it’ll work this time. That little spark of hope in her hasn’t been stomped out. Yet.
But aside from trust, another running theme is the idea that most people are motivated by anger and hatred, even if it’s counter to their best interests. This war between the Wings and the Horns has destroyed entire solar systems at this point, but nobody can let it go, even if letting go would make things so much better for everybody. This issue alone we see two specific people who are on the verge of something great and/or profitable but a little bit of revenge is dangled in their faces and that’s all she wrote folks, that’s all you want? Got it. Violence and suffering it is.
(Sorry, seems like the state of THE WORLD is making me a little bitter. Let’s change the subject.)
The art this issue is gorgeous, because it always is. The inside of this new ship is endlessly fascinating, and I think I love the music room almost as much as Hazel does. The colors and design of the room is just ridiculously appealing, and the expressions on everyone’s faces this whole issue are fantastic, especially one specific person’s face in a moment of pure rage. Props to Fiona for getting that kind of visceral emotion across, and props to Brian for his eternal skill at making us hate someone so frigging fast. It was like a gut punch how much I hated this one character, I was caught completely off guard, and I loved it.
Obviously I can’t wait to see what happens next, especially since Hazel-the-narrator talks about how much fun she and her brother will end up having in this new situation they’ve found themselves in. Does everything turn out okay, or is Hazel good at enjoying moments of happiness even when they only last a few days (hours, minutes, seconds who knows?) Or is Hazel-of-the-future an unreliable narrator, and things are really as horrifically bad as I think they’re about to get?
