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Saga
Zhurrie
Posts: 617
This book needs and deserves its own thread. I just finished my second read of #2 and I think it managed to surpass #1! Damn brilliant! There was not a single thing I did not love about this issue. Literally nothing. This is the comic I have been wanting to read for a long time now, seriously perfect!
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I know people throw around OMFG a lot these days but this book deserves it. So many jaw dropping moments. So freaking creative. When I first saw the stalk I was thinking that I would still do her then she exposed her lower half and I was like hmmm. Where would it go in? The Asian train thing was neat. I love "The Will" he is definitely a Han solo type character. If I ever was going to cos play I would be him. Wow just wow!
It hits everything for me as I said though and the fact that it makes me pause or genuinely be surprised multiple times in a read, even a re-read, is something that just doesn't happen to me. Even little touches like The Stalk's hair in the cliche covering the breast pose, except a nipple peaking through, are the extras that cement it in my heart. Not for any perverse reason but because it dares to just go that bit more, and in a lot of places, *that* is noteworthy and is also why I can't look forward more to each new issue than anything in a long time.
This could always still go down hill, but right now they have me 100% and I'm able to just entirely let go and enjoy the ride. I couldn't be happier for Image, comics in general, and the team on this book, I only hope this really causes people to finally break out of their pre-defined boxes and really push the envelope too. If I had even three titles close to this caliber coming out, I would drop every other comic I read and support them to such a ridiculous degree it would be silly. McFarlane has now worked with Daarken for their recent videogame and these two together could definitely top even this if they were put on a project. Daarken is one of my favorite artists currently working and with even a slight connection to Image I hope for some news to break there. Whether or not that happens, Saga has seriously made me excited for comics again, truly excited not just the usual anticipation of a continued tale.
Awesome. I'm on board.
The sex and nudity seems sophomoric and unnecessary, beautifully-illustrated though it may be.
It definitely reminded me of the glory days of Heavy Metal, but I was an adolescent then, and any titillation was good titillation.
For me, all I got was a sense of 1970s European sci-fi comix, which I will admit was a nice change from the recent dominance of 1990s over-rendered splash pages full of ultraviolence.
But what might have been "edgy" in 1979, just seemed trite in 2012.
To me, the nudity in Watchmen, for instance, was an integral part of showing who the characters were. Dr. Manhattan's lack of modesty was a constant reminder of his having evolved beyond a normal human's mundane existence. The Stalk's bare breasts told me nothing about here character, other than to wonder why a spider would need mammaries.
I will admit that the robot humping scene did reveal that Prince Robot IV is suffering from some sort of post-traumatic dysfunction. It just didn't feel necessary to me.
In both cases, I found the "sexy" elements distracting, rather than engaging. They took me out of the story, rather than drawing me deeper.
Clearly our tastes differ.
I have very different sensibilities for sure and to use another movie analogy when I watch films by Larry Clark, Harmony Korine, etc. I tend to actually relate and I'm actually amazed when I see people slagging them for being over the top and unrealistic... I guess I just had a different life and experiences. A lot of times I find their films to be tamer than real life in many ways.
For me Saga fits like an old pair of jeans and I can't wait for more, and more adult/mature content when and where possible.
Again. Perhaps I'm just jaded. Been there, done that, have a whole closet full of t-shirts that no longer fit.
I just don't find myself captivated and drawn in by story and character the way I did when I read the first issues of books like Mage, Nexus, or the brilliantAmerican Flagg.
American Flagg in particular. Nearly 30 years after the fact, I still find it to have the best first issue I've ever read. There was an insane amount of world-building, half-a dozen memorable character introductions, action, humor, intriguing plot threads, beautiful art... oh yeah, and it was sexy as hell.
I see Saga as trying to work on all those levels. And for the most part it succeeds. But from the buzz, I was hoping to be as blown away as I was by American Flagg #1. And I wasn't. But I was 21 when American Flagg #1 came out. Now I'm 50. I can't be sure whether those 29 intervening years have changed me to the point I just can't be that blown away anymore, or whether American Flagg #1 was just that much better than Saga #1.
I do know that I still want to be blown away like I was by American Flagg #1, so I guess I'm not too jaded.