Multiple farewells, none of them friendly, and the cost of magic are in the spotlight in the penultimate chapter of the return arc of Saga in Saga #59, drawn by Fiona Staples, written by Brian K. Vaughan and lettered/designed by Fonografiks.
Matt Lazorwitz: You know, you can only be around so many disastrous relationships before you have to start wondering if youāre jinxed, right? Even if a character in this issue hadnāt said something to that effect, I canāt imagine Alana wouldnāt be feeling it after so many different break-ups of different sorts in this issue.
Mark Turetsky: Itās the fate of all bands: join together, make some music, fight about credit, split up. Except They Might Be Giants. Theyāll be around forever.
Breaking Band
Matt: This issue features two break-ups of sorts, so letās start with the one you just referenced: the band breaks up over credit. Guitar (Hectare) is pissed at Vocals, Drums (Dranken) and Keyboards go at it, and by the end? The band is broken up. And weāll get into that, but there is also an important character beat for present-day Hazel here, yes?
Mark: Yes, she sticks up for her brobot, Squire. Not just sticking up, sticking up with āweird intensity,ā as Vocals puts it. But is it so weird? Hazel and Squire are pretty much all each other has with Alana away. Yes, they look up to Bombazine, but they have to look out for each other, and you bet your ass sheāll look after her younger, special-needs brother.
Matt: I donāt think itās weird at all. I think Hazel probably has more of her dad in her than we have previously seen. And she doesnāt have Markoās need to hold his violence in check, so when she needs to defend Squire (or Alana, as Iām sure will happen at some point)? She will pull no punches.
I wonder how much of the discourse of credit here is metatextual. Saga is one of few comics that credits the artist first on its cover, which is something I try to remember to replicate in the header of these reviews. I feel like Vaughan is very conscious of credit going where credit should, and the argument of music vs. lyrics in songwriting strikes me as analogous to words vs. art in comics. Do you see that, Mark?
Mark: Are you implying that maybe theyāre too focused on squabbling with each other over proper credit that they ignore that theyāre working for a psychopath whoās happy that theyāre at each otherās throats, because if theyāre fighting each other, theyāre not coming together and demanding better things from him? Donāt get me wrong: Proper credit is essential, but it can be used as a distraction from some bigger issues in the industry.
Matt: This actually has more to do with our next topic, since itās from a scene between Skipper and Bombazine, but that guy is scary. The way Staples draws him, with his wide, clearly at least stoned, eyes, and then shifting a couple panels later to this much more sly, devious look? Yeah, I stand by the fact I think he might be the scariest character weāve met in this series.
Goodbyes Are for Assholes
Matt: So here we have our second major parting of the ways: As Alana gets ready to leave, Bombazine stays behind. And not because Bombazine is willing, but because of what dirt Skipper has on him. I wasnāt expecting this to be what Skipper was gonna ask Bombazine to do, but I guess it makes sense. If Bomabzineās history is as dark as has been hinted at, he would make a good heavy for Skipper, even if he doesnāt do anything. His reputation would be enough to scare victims into submission in some cases.
Mark: Iām wondering if itās because Skipper knows precisely what Bombazine is capable of. If itās so terrible, even in the context of the war the galaxy is going through, it might be a useful skill set for a pirate captain.
Matt: That sounds about right, yeah. Now, how did you take Bombazineās verbal attack on Alana? While there is definitely some John Lithgow from the end of Harry and the Hendersons in there, he hits pretty close to home. I donāt think Alana is an unfit mother (then again, I defend Batman for having a Robin, plus Iām childfree by choice, so your mileage may vary on my opinion there), but Alanaās addiction to the chaos and the moving around, and the needs that kids have for stability? There is truth to that.
Mark: I definitely wrote down Harry and the Hendersons in my note re: this scene. I think a similar scene shows up in the Mystery Science Theater 3,000 classic Pod People, which would actually be my touchstone for that kind of scene.
And yes, I think to a certain extent heās being truthful with Alana. But where is this stability heās telling her to find? She and her children are literally being hunted by both sides in a war thatās consuming their galaxy. Any time they find something relatively stable, it blows up on them and ends in death and heartbreak. It sounds like Bombazine is really mad at the war itself, and is redirecting that anger at Alana, if you ask me.
Matt: Oh, good call on that one.
Also on the Alana front, we should probably mention she has a wild new haircut. Iām not sure if thereās anything about it that is significant, character wise, or if itās just a good sight gag, and could be the Alana equivalent of Mohawk Storm. And now that Alana has the medallion she needs to go legit, do you think she will? If Bombazineās assessment is correct, I doubt sheāll be able to just live life as a cargo hauler, especially when someone else is hunting her ā¦
Mark: I know sheāll try. Whether she succeeds or not ā¦ I also doubt this is the last weāll see of Bombazine. Maybe itāll be years from now, maybe itāll be in the gut-wrenching arc conclusion thatās coming next month, but Bombazine, his past and his deal with the Skipper is too juicy a plot thread to leave unplucked (to mix metaphors).
Something Fishy
Matt: Special Agent Gale is still out there, hunting Alana and family, and it seems he is more than happy to leave a trail of collateral damage in his wake.
Mark: The aquarium store owner, Tjumpseat, is just one of many, many dead bodies in the hunt for Hazel across the galaxy, and Iām betting heās not the last. We learn something which I think is pretty interesting and I think will become important over the course of this series: Species other than Wreathians can perform magic. Is Tjumpseat able to cast a spell just because he was partially raised by Wreathians? Is it purely a cultural, rather than a biological thing? If so, that would have some pretty huge implications for the war.
And the murder that Agent Gale commits here: Itās like what Tjumpseat says about magic, it always comes with a price. Every time someone is killed in this series, there are ripples that are unpredictable. It could be as huge as the wrath of King Robot, or as small as a beautiful fish catching a stray bullet. The fish is the cover character of this issue. Staples and Vaughan want us to think about the innocents, the ācollateral damage.ā Whether itās across the world in Ukraine or the next state over in Texas, death begets more death.
Matt: Oof, yeah, that hits pretty hard this week.
I think our āfriendā Gale, now that he has killed Tjumpseat, may be the one who has to pay the cost of the magic. Iām not sure if this is a literal cost, as Jason Aaron wrote about in his run on Doctor Strange and has been played out in various books across the DC Universe, or something more karmic and ephemeral. But with the bodies heās left behind? This guy has racked up a pretty big karmic debt as it is.
And while I think I said it last issue, I love the design for Gale. The demonic bat wings (and I by reflex capitalized bat there, which tells you what I regularly write about) give him a distinct silhouette, and the coloring as he enters the scene, with the eerie light off the one fish tank? Thatās some gorgeous art.
Mark: And once again Gale seems to be genuinely gutted by the death of the fish. The way he can compartmentalize the deaths that come in the course of his job separate from the stray deaths he causes is really chilling, and the way Staples can convey that in just a single panel at the end of a sequence, itās just masterful.
And what Gale has learned in Tjumpseatās ritual: Markoās closest family member is on Landfall. Iām guessing Galeās next stop will be the detention center where we last saw Klara, Markoās mother.
Matt: I was under the same impression, yes. But weāll have to see next issue.
Saga, Etc.
- The Blue spell translates as āremains [the noun] unchanged.ā
- Insult of the issue: ācumrag.ā Say what you will, Vaughan writes some ā¦ evocative digs.
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.
