One of Saga’s hallmarks is how well it can juggle grief, loss, romance, and violence in a realistic and meaningful way. In the latest story arc, with its newest chapter in Saga #62, the idea of fixing grief by bringing back the dead opens the issue. It’s an idea that hasn’t popped into readers’ minds since Marko died, yet lives in a galaxy where magic can do incredible things. Saga #62 aims to answer that question and possibly set one of its characters on a tragic path to take someone up on the offer of bringing back the dead.
Saga #62 opens with Marko’s headless corpse lying in the dirt. We open on Petrichor and Alana, looking down at him and pondering what to do next. Alana considers something to bring him back, while Petrichor only wants revenge. In four pages, Brian K. Vaughan makes it very clear where Alana’s head was when she realized her husband was gone forever, and it was to protect her kids. It helps solidify her point of view in the now as she is told there is magic to bring him back.
One can imagine Hazel eavesdropping on bringing back her dad as frustrating and unfair. Every kid has heard their parent make a choice they disagreed with and couldn’t even fathom, yet they make that choice for reasons unclear. It’s smart to create tension between them and allow readers to relate to both sides.
The book opens making it quite clear where Alana stands in revenge over her dead husband.
Credit: Image
The rest of the comic focuses on three short scenes. One involves Alana reading one of her romance novels to Hazel and Brobot, another involves The Will revealing his true feelings for Gwendolyn, and the third continues the dastardly acts of a soldier seeking to kill Hazel and her family. All told, each tale has decent plot progression while harnessing the complexity of the characters in question. Heck, even the murderous soldier shows he’s not an unfeeling pure evil antagonist!
The story involving The Will and Gwendolyn continues to connect to Marko. He permeates the series even after being gone for quite some time, making readers wonder if he might return at some point. This issue does make it fairly clear whatever magic they could bring him back is probably bologna. That said, The Will has lived a violent life that deserves some punishment, and yet we hope for him to find what he’s after and settle down. Given the love Gwendolyn had for Marko, as seen in the last issue’s flashback, however, he’s likely doomed.
If you’re looking for shock value or big twists, you might be disappointed with this issue. It’s more of a bridge issue for all the plots involved. There is violence in the end, but it doesn’t feel all that big in the grand scheme of things.
Saga #62 is a good table-setting issue while delving into character in a complex way you don’t see in comics these days. It lacks the shock value of some of its best issues, but makes up for it with touching moments.
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