The Good
The Will is quickly becoming my favorite character of this series. He steals the show in issue four. He's a freelancer, and by freelancer, they mean assassin. The Will's trip to Sextillion, the sex planet, brings him face-to-face with quite the scumbag. We get a deeper sense of who The Will is without any words, and frankly, he's pretty darn awesome.
Marko explains his past "wife" to Alana, which he shouted when he woke up in issue three. We get a bit of dialogue that deepens these characters. While this issue does lack the bit of action many comic fans crave, it builds on characters and the world around them, which is far more important.
The final pages of this issue put Alana, Marko, and Hazel in danger. Izabel isn't around because ghosts aren't out during the day. It's a situation where Marko has to break away from the pacifist he claims to be. Next issue looks to be an exciting one.
Writer Brian K. Vaughan is developing this rich and robust world, and I know I shouldn't be comparing this work to his past work, but I think I like Saga more than Y: The Last Man (previously my favorite series of all time). Saga is a brilliant mixture of mysticism, science fiction, and drama. It's a near perfect blend of everything that is awesome about comic books.
As always, I can't walk away from this review without writing about the brilliance of Fiona Staples artwork. She has great creature design work on this issue. Even more noticeable was the color work on Sextillion. The colors are vibrant and pop right off the page. Her line work is also fantastic here. There's minimal variation on line width, but it's just noticeable enough to give certain aspects of the face or clothes a bit more depth. What I'm really getting at is that Fiona Staples is pure awesomeness.
The Bad
Don't read this issue at work openly. It has some nudity in it. I found out the hard way.
The Verdict
Saga continues to be the best new title not only out of Image Comics, but out of all companies. On the positive side of things, The Will is a fantastic character who we get a bit more of each month. There's some great backstory about how Marko met his first "wife," and this issue leaves off with our characters possibly going into battle.
Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples are a fantastic and dynamic creative team, and they alone should be your reason for buying this book.
On the downside, don't read this book out in the open at work. There's a bit of nudity here.
This book is my Pick of the Week! I loved the hell out of it!
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