The Good
The team of Alana, Marko, and Hazel gets a little larger as Izabel, a ghost who died during the war AKA "the spiritual defenders of Cleave," joins up to help them out and save Marko's life. She's another character who really didn't have a place in the war because her parents were rebels even though she wasn't into it, but she was a casualty of it, and now she's a ghost wandering the world. Izabel officially becomes a member of this group after she bonds her soul to Hazel, in order to be able to leave the planet.
Prince Robot IV, who is one of the weakest and silliest looking characters in all of comics, proves he is a force to be reckoned with in this issue. During an interrogation scene, we get to how strong and tough this character truly is as he beats down a very tough looking prisoner. This non-threatening character is proving to be a villain to watch out for. Aside from that, we also get a moment of Stalk trying to escape Cleave, as beasts chase her and Will gives her no help. We get to learn a lot more about the world in this issue, and a bit more about Marko's history. Each issue gives of a taste of this world's history and it's refreshing to have it dealt to the reader this way than trying to drop a ton of knowledge on the reader in the first issue.
There's lots of great, dynamic characters in this issue, and I've been enjoying how this book is split up. The majority of the issue focuses on Marko, Alana, Hazel, and Izabel, but it's broken up twice to catch up on Prince Robot IV, and then the Stalk. It's a nice break, and more importantly, the breaks feature interesting characters that help build on the world.
As I've said before, I love Hazel as the narrator. It's a cool idea, and it makes me feel like this book will go on for a long time. It also gives us insight into a character who doesn't speak or really move that's a major part of this story.
Writer Brian K. Vaughan is the major reason why I started reading this series, and artist Fiona Staples is what keeps me coming back. It's a "come for the food, stay for the pie" situation. (Baker Square is a national chain, right?) What keeps me flipping through the issue again and again is variety of different types of characters in this book: humanoids, robotic, giant cats, humanoid-spiders, and ghosts. They're all such interesting designs and the color work is fantastic.
The Bad
None.
The Verdict
What a wonderful series. Saga is a beautiful mixture of fantasy, science fiction, and adventure. I have nothing bad to say about this series. It has a great cast of characters, and a world and story I have fallen in love with. Brian K Vaughan's writing is stellar and Fiona Staples art style is beautiful. I like the addition of Izabel to this team, and as always, I think having Hazel as the narrator is a great idea.
Overall, I highly recommend this issue and this series. Image Comics has really stepped up their game, and this is one of the books that is leading the way along with Walking Dead and Invincible... and about 10 other awesome books.