Alana, Hazel and the gang meet a crew of friendly pirates, but things aren’t what they seem. Plus, we get an inside look at another of the universe’s factions in Saga #56, drawn by Fiona Staples, written by Brian K. Vaughan and lettered/designed by Fonografiks.
Matt Lazorwitz: If Saga does anything well, it’s bend and merge genre. And this issue adds something I don’t remember appearing before: real, honest to gosh pirates!
Mark Turetsky: I’m shocked that you don’t remember back in issue #50, a scant six issues (and four years) ago, there was a mechanical version of Zombie Pirate LeChuck from Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge in the derelict amusement park. But as for real living pirates? No.
A Pirate’s Life for Me
Matt: The pirates that we meet here are sure a jovial bunch. They seem absolutely like the kind of crew we’d want to hang out with for a while. The antlered captain, a Robot, a little frog guy and two other species we might have seen in the background before (I really need to do a reread of this book). And of course, because they look so trustworthy, they absolutely aren’t, right, Mark?
Mark: I would probably say no, although the frog pirate drummer is making me feel like maybe forgetting about Ghüs and caping for him. [Grote’s note: MARK.]
No, wait, never. Ghüs is a wonderful boy and a loving caretaker. [Grote’s note: Phew.] But maybe if you’re into bad boys… [Grote’s note: MARK.]
Matt: Oh, Skipper, the captain of the ship, has us definitely covered on bad boys. His whole demeanor is that of a slick operator. He positions Alana where he wants her, gives her an offer she can’t refuse, and then shows what a merciless being he is.
But as with so much of Saga, we’re given some hints that things aren’t what they seem, since Hazel’s narration says, “some of my best memories are from the time my brother and I spent aboard this thing.” This thing being the pirate ship.
Vaughan always does a good job of keeping the reader on their toes with hints like this. Without them, we’d be expecting this to turn into a quick escape. But instead we know something will keep at least Hazel and Squire on the ship. Whether Alana and Bombazine will stick around, too? That’s left up to our imagination for now.
Mark: Skipper definitely gives me vibes of the true believer. He’s against the war, but he definitely has a side. But I think potentially the most dangerous thing about him is that I believe he’s being honest in everything he says. He’s a drug user who’s a pirate, who wants the universe to live in peace, but also despises Landfallians. He’s a pacifist who would absolutely murder anyone who might be an inconvenience. I don’t even think the band manager thing is a put-on to keep his sailors in line. I think he truly believes they’re going to be a rock band when all is said and done. He’s pretty much the anti-Marko, isn’t he?
Matt: That’s a very apt description!
The rock band thing was great. I love that none of the crew members are pirates by calling, that they do this while they prepare to make their mark as a band. What a great hook, and especially great after we saw how much Hazel loves music last issue. It absolutely gives these brand new characters added dimension quickly and not cheaply. And the line about the guitar? That’s priceless. I can’t wait to see Hazel’s reaction to her first Hendrix-esque guitar riff.
Mark: Considering Hazel was waxing poetic just last month about a band named Fartbox, I’m sure you’re onto something. I’d also like to point out Staples’ lovely band logo sticker designs. There’s Pyrosis, The Mistook and an unreadable horror that’s a mirror ambigram. Very realistic stuff!
Meanwhile, in the Robot Kingdom
Matt: This is the first time in quite a while we’ve really spent any time in the Robot Kingdom, yes?
Mark: Yes. We’ve seen King Robot IV before (and I love the Henry VIII with a giant plasma screen look of him), but we only get a few pages here and there in the kingdom. Not a ton since Dengo kidnapped Squire way back when. But it’s interesting that this scene is a mirror image of the one in the last issue. Instead of The Will bringing Marko’s skull to Gwendolyn in triumph, here we have Countess Robot bringing the head of Prince Robot IV to King Robot IV in mourning.
I’d say that King Robot is taking the murder purely as a personal affront. You know, that it’s an insult to the monarchy to kill one of them, but there’s that moment where we see him playing with baby Prince Robot, and it seems like a genuine regret and sadness that his son is dead. Let’s be honest, though, it’s probably a bit of both.
Matt: No doubt. I love that the Robots’ inner thoughts are shown on their face screens sometimes in a way that isn’t apparently conscious. Not a fresh observation, but a note I always enjoy.
Countess Robot is setting up to be a worthy new addition to the regular cast. So many of the characters we meet who are among the warring races’ political hierarchy are so consumed by the war. The Countess is most assuredly not. Her snide comment about the Landfallians as “our so-called allies” and wanting to stay at the homefront makes me think she has an agenda that might be starkly in contrast to what we’ve seen before, and makes her an interesting counterpoint to Gwen, who after last issue seems confident she can win the war.
Mark: I’m also wondering who the mysterious visitor is that Bennington the footman announces. My money is on Upsher, the journalist who was going to publish Prince Robot’s story. His partner, Doff, was killed in the bloodbath of 2018, but he’s still very much alive and kicking. The other possibility is Petrichor, but I doubt she’d a) want to inform the robots of anything b) be able to get a meeting with King Robot.
Matt: Yeah, Upsher is definitely the favorite on this one. I also think there’s also a chance that this is what might get us the return of Ghüs. I mean, Prince Robot wouldn’t have died if he had stayed with the seal-man. Maybe Ghüs has been trying to avenge his friend all these years and now has to come to King Robot because he has been unsuccessful? OK, I might be stretching, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility.
Trigger Warning for ‘Trigger Warning’
Matt: That last couple of pages? That was possibly as hard as I have seen Vaughan push the envelope when it comes to dialogue in a series that always pushes the dang envelope.
Mark: It’s absolutely brutal language, but I doubt that any of that will play out on the page. I know the series goes hard in its content, but I think that’s a line they wouldn’t cross. Especially with the wide crossover appeal of this comic. I’m betting (hoping, really) that it’s there to serve as a thrilling cliffhanger for us, and not a harbinger of things to come. In that moment, Skipper is giving me some serious Negan/Governor from The Walking Dead vibes.
Matt: Another apt comparison! I agree that, especially judging by the bit of narration I mentioned above, I doubt we’ll see anything so brutal on page, but it still shocked me, and I’m pretty unflappable when it comes to this book.
It was interesting to also see him use the words “snowflake” and “trigger warning” so casually. I have a friend who is possibly the biggest Star Wars fan I have ever met, which is saying something, and she is endlessly frustrated when very particular Earth phrases or the names of Earth-specific things are used instead of sci-fi analogues, like when someone writes coffee instead of caf and editorial doesn’t catch it. I felt this was a little like that; those phrases are so overused in this way, as an indicator someone is an ass, and so specific to a place and time, they hit me with more of a thud than Vaughan’s dialogue usually does.
Mark: That particular thing doesn’t bother me. I feel like Saga deals with the familiar as part of its stock in trade. To me, the bothersome thing is that this seems purely like it’s being done for shock value. It’s not like Vaughan isn’t aware that threatening sexual violence against children won’t get a rise. It can be handwaved away as, “Well, this is a bad guy, he’s threatening bad guy things,” but at this point, the comic itself is threatening sexual violence against (fictional) children. It’s a fraught subject, and I’m not sure there’s a good way to handle it, but I don’t think this is it, to be honest.
Let’s not forget that The Will, the baddest bad guy this comic has produced, drew a very solid line at the exploitation of children very early on in this series.
Saga, Etc.
- Matt’s creative insult of the issue: “Insolent wank-snot!”
- From the same scene, “You speak above your channel” is such a great phrase for beings with the heads of TVs. Especially since “you speak above your station” would be just as effectively punny, but it’s changed to “channel” to make the pun more obvious.
- The spell the Skipper casts is “beams of light.”
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of five. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the creator interview podcast WMQ&A with Dan Grote.
