Two Widows, Three Chords, One Kinky Agent in Saga #58

Alana meets a fellow survivor, Hazel learns that learning is hard, and the Skipper learns the truth about Bombazine in Saga #58, drawn by Fiona Staples, written by Brian K. Vaughan and lettered/designed by Fonografiks.

Matt Lazorwitz: Well, isn’t it nice when a plan comes together, Mark? We do a three-section column, and this issue is divided into three distinct plots. 

Mark Turetsky: Maybe it’s a little … too convenient.

The Widow and the Widower

Matt: I am fortunate to never have lost a partner the way Alana has, so I can’t imagine what she has been through, and I’d imagine most people who haven’t couldn’t either. So this issue’s introduction of the buyer for the Fadeaway she’s smuggling, a widower seeking to stay connected with his lost spouse, allows Alana to share her pain with someone who does get it. Even if she goes about it in a very Alana fashion.

Mark: I was somewhat worried in this sequence when Alana thought she picked up on the buyer mentioning D. Oswald Heist. I was pretty sure at that point it would lead to a plot where Alana thinks she might replace Marko with this dogman. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen, and they open up to each other about their own viduity. 

Matt: Do I think we’re going to get that plot eventually? Sure. Narrator Hazel hints at it at one point later in the issue. But it wouldn’t have been right at this point. We’re still getting back into this world, and I know there are a lot of readers out there still wounded, three years later, by Marko’s death. To have Alana seemingly move on would definitely strike an ill chord for them: How can Alana have moved on when I still am sad about these fictional characters? Of course, Staples and Vaughan have never had a problem doing what they feel is right and damn the torpedoes full speed ahead, so to speak.

Mark: And just a note on the design of these scenes: First off, the buyer is a great design. Who doesn’t love a friendly dog? Second, the colors that Staples uses in this sequence are really nice. The purples and blues of the planet and the color of Alana’s jacket work to create a calming mood. But then there’s the garish primary colors of the packaging of the fadeaway. It stands out so much, signaling a strong reaction in the reader’s mind. It’s the dangerous thing in the scene, more so than the mountain grumbler. It’s the thing that doesn’t belong.

Matt: Oh, that’s a good call! I like that.

Speaking of D. Oswald Heist, we get a mention of Marko’s novel here. It was a last-minute element in the previous volume, something introduced just before his death. I wonder if our nameless dog man has started up a major plot element. Is Marko’s book, finishing it, the thing that is going to allow Alana to make her peace with the loss of a beloved spouse? Is she going to spread her own gospel through it? Will she use fewer adverbs than Marko? Time will tell.

Mark: It also says something about the war. Alana could have been an actress, Marko could have been a writer, but the war turned them into soldiers, and then into refugees and fugitives and drug dealers. I’m curious to see if Alana can do something more with her life than being a smuggler, if the world she lives in will allow it to happen before it kills her.

Learning the Chords, Finding the Past

Mark: Back aboard the pirate ship, Squire shows an aptitude for drumming. It’s good to see him expressing himself, considering he hasn’t spoken since Prince Robot’s death. On the other hand, Hazel discovers that music, while easy to listen to, is hard to play. 

Matt: Hazel is sure a tough kid. We’ve talked about it before, but she’s had to innure herself to all manner of pain, both physical and emotional, so it makes sense that the early trauma of what a guitar can do to your fingers doesn’t even seem to phase her. And she shows more dedication, too. Her declaration that learning a chord is impossible is more frustration than her giving up, which would be in character for many a 10-year-old.

Mark: And Guitar is a good teacher to her, though I still think this will not end well. 

Matt: Oh, hell no! I think Skipper might be one of, if not the, most diabolical characters we’ve encountered in Saga, and you know how much that says. This guy is always playing some angle, always looking for some way to get ahead, and has the weird powers to back that up, Hence why our poor friend Bombazine is in quite a bit of trouble. Doing a favor for Skipper isn’t going to go his way, I’m sure.

Mark: No, it’s super bad. Really, really bad. But look at the way Staples draws the scene. The variety of expressions Bombazine goes through is just incredible. He’s a big guy, you know he can take care of himself. And you really buy it at the beginning of the scene, but then you see him slowly deflate and it’s heartbreaking.

Matt: Meanwhile, Skipper never loses his cool. He is grinning throughout, with the electricity playing along his antlers. If what Bombazine (or La Buĉisto as he was known, which unsurprisingly is The Butcher in Esperanto), did was so terrible, then we again see the stones this guy has. But a bit of important character is revealed about Skipper. He warns Bombazine off both himself AND his crew. Maybe Skipper really does care about them … 

Mark: And the thing Bombazine is most worried about is that Alana might find out about his past. I don’t think he’s lying in this scene, and it tells me that Alana was probably right to trust him with her kids.

Matt: Completely agree. I think there are parallels between Bombazine trying to stop being the bad man he was before and Marko’s quest to be nonviolent, although I think Bombazine might be more willing to crack some skulls if he needs to. This also comes through in his dialogue with Hazel, about bravery and cowardice.

Hazel’s narration here talks about how Marko was never far away from her family, even in death, and we see that in Hazel and Bombazine’s dialogue. “You have to be brave before you can be good” is a very Marko statement, and here, Bombazine, who is clearly running from his past, is happy to extol the virtues of cowardice. So maybe they aren’t all that alike after all.

Spy on a Cross

Matt: Now, Mark, you’ll have to remind me, as I didn’t go and do a deep reread of Saga before its return. My memory says we’ve spent more time with Wreath politics than we have with Landfall in general, right? When it comes to Alana’s side of the war, it’s been more with their allies the Robot Kingdom than Landfall itself. 

Mark: The Landfallians were happy to let the Robot Kingdom do their dirty work in the case of Marko and Alana, yeah. Still, Agent Gale was there. He was Prince Robot’s contact for the job and quashed the news exposé about, well, everything. He’s a pretty bad person.

Matt: Who’d have thought the guy with the bat wings was going to be a bad guy? Actually, with his hair color and those wings, he reminds me of Lucifer Morningstar, although Lucifer is more of a strap-you-to-the-cross guy than a being-strapped-to-it one. Still, if Hazel’s narration is any indication, he’s moving from minor threat to major threat status here. I’m looking forward to that, truthfully. I want to get a better understanding of what Landfall is like. I mean, I’m sure they’ll be just as terrible as Wreath, but I hope in a different and interesting way.

Mark: Well, if you want terrible, the reveal on the last page is all you need, right? I’ve been asking about where our missing characters have gotten to, but I didn’t want it to be like this. They’re now a kill list for Agent Gale. And Ghüs has a little picnic basket and a straw hat in his photo. Who could kill someone that pure and good?

Matt: There will be a full on revolt if anything happens to that good, good boy.

My favorite panel of the issue comes in this section, when, frustrated by him being kind of a fuckup, or at least not picking up what she’s laying down, Director Croze starts choking Gale. The look of bliss, the way he bites his lower lip, the “…harder…please…” It’s creepy, but it’s telling you something about this character, and is something you don’t see in many mainstream comics outside of Saga.

Mark: Not to mention his genuine distress at finding out Mistress Olive is dead, and his concern for his other friends. You’d think the lifelong spy and hitman would be more inured to such things, but I think you’ve hit on something key to understanding his character moving forward.

Matt: Absolutely. And it would be easy (and lazy) to play the submissive on the cross for laughs, or in a kink-shamey way. And while there are some funny lines here, it’s mostly Gale snarking and the actual scenario isn’t funny.

Mark: Yeah, it’s more a scene about establishing power dynamics between Director Croze and Gale in the most direct way possible. 

Saga, Etc.

• Alana and I have the same taste in romantic partners: Nothing is a bigger turn-off than someone who doesn’t read.
• Director Croze is the Amanda Waller of the Saga-verse. And I am here for that.

Matthew Lazorwitz

Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of 5. 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 podcasts BatChat with Matt & Will and The ComicsXF Interview Podcast.

Mark Turetsky

Mark Turetsky is an audiobook narrator and voice actor who sometimes writes about comic books. Originally from Montreal, Canada, he now lives in Northern Louisiana.