REVIEW: Saga, #20

[CBR News]

As Alana and Marko settle into a domestic if tense life, the Robot Kingdom's royal family undergoes a dramatic shift in Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples' "Saga" #20.


Full review here.

[El Sombrero]

I am happy to say that I liked this issue more than #19, the first issue of the new arc. I remember a similar feeling where the first issue of arc 3 was a little underwhelming to me, but I got really into things as the arc went on. BKV tends to slow things down a bit when he starts a new arc and you need a little time to reset.

I'm still kind of bored with Alana's acting job. I think those scenes have been by far the weak points of #19 and #20, they're not bad but they kind of just feel like filler that's not really going anywhere. So I hope BKV either does something there to make that aspect of her life more interesting, or moves away from that plotline.

I really like Marko's budding relationship with the dancing instructor. She is cute and affairs are always exciting to read about. It seems a little too obvious that she will be responsible for Marko's future breakup with Alana, so I wonder if this is all a red herring and nothing "cheating level" will happen here. Hazel is adorable and I really liked how Marko handled the awkwardness of his baby calling another person ugly, and that transitioning into some soft flirting. BKV is so good with emotional and awkward scenes and handles the dialogue and human aspects of everything so well.

The finale scene was very tense and adds some much needed drama to the Robot Kingdom. Prince Robot IV has been sort of overlooked and forgotten about and has dark horse potential as a breakout character for the series, so I am looking forward to seeing things develop there. With him visiting Sextillion it looks like they will break him down before they build him back up. I re-read #19 before #20 and there was some really nice foreshadowing where BKV referred to the class struggles in the robot kingdom with the working class versus the royalty.

Where is the Will? Is he still recovering from his injury I guess? I also miss Gwendolyn and Sophie and hope we will check in with them sooner rather than later. I will probably need to do a massive re-read of all the Saga issues so far, as my memory is a little hazy of the third arc (I've re-read the first two arcs in trade multiple times, but not yet the third).

Nothing new to say about Staples art anymore other than that she continues to establish herself as the class of the industry. Everything looks sensational and she makes every new character introduced immediately memorable and fantastic.

[TotalSnorefest]

It seems a little too obvious that she will be responsible for Marko's future breakup with Alana, so I wonder if this is all a red herring and nothing "cheating level" will happen here.
[...]
Where is the Will? Is he still recovering from his injury I guess? I also miss Gwendolyn and Sophie and hope we will check in with them sooner rather than later. I will probably need to do a massive re-read of all the Saga issues so far, as my memory is a little hazy of the third arc (I've re-read the first two arcs in trade multiple times, but not yet the third).

Yeah agreed on both parts, got a feeling it miiiiight turn into a misunderstanding between Alana and Marko and the resulting argument will bring up the real reasons why spoilers:

the relationship seems headed for demise

end of spoilers

The Will's fate in particular feels almost like they're purposefully not revealing anything to us. Maybe when read in bulk it'll feel less that way, since there isn't also the big break in between... But he's been stranded and isolated since like January?!

But yeah, another good issue, Saga just keeps solidly hitting 4 star ratings and higher, in my book. It speaks volumes when an issue like this one is described as being low-key and mostly set-up, when it features spoilers:

the murder of a pretty important character!

end of spoilers At some point we're going to run out of way to praise it haha.