Saga Volume 7

Just great and heartbreaking and absolutely amazing. The art continues to look and feel new and amazing. The story Getz better and better as characters continue to grow or stall and meet new ones, by far one of the best series I've had the pleasure to read.

This trade paperback of SAGA collects volumes 37-42 and is a heart wrenching and exciting journey. Saga is easily one of my top favorite series and this collection brought me to my knees. Once again nailing social and family issues that pull you along with beautifully stunning artwork. With the family reunited and faced with more challenges, I guess it was a great time to rip out our hearts and stomp on it for good measure. Not very often do I get emotional about fictional characters, but when the writer and artist have you relating to almost every character, it is impossible to avoid connecting with them. Only this amount of connection allowed them to yank my heart out and carry it around like a broken toy for a few days. This high conflict and character driven story continues to amaze me. The amount of real world problems that face Alana and Marko on every page is beautifully woven into a fantasy universe, creating a remarkable combination. This is an amazing story and I cannot wait for more.

One of the greatest graphic novels of all time. This is the only modern graphic novel that I feel is on the level of Watchmen, Sandman and the like as being the best of the best. The story is so well written and nuanced without ever being convoluted. The art and the writing combined often leave me speechless (and heartbroken at the death of characters). The thing that stands out the most to me is how natural the dialogue sounds. People talk like people and that's so refreshing! I hate the stilted Whedon-esque "clever" dialogue of most comics now. But Saga really is different, it's something special and deserves the attention it is getting. Dont think for a second this is just some comic book aimed at kids. It's definitely not for children because of the sex, violence and language. This is hard R and borderline X in some cases.

NO SPOILERS I love the 'Saga' series. Its weird and refreshing yet somehow relate-able to our current political and world climate. If you're reading a review for this (Volume 7) it would be safe to assume you're familiar with the Saga series and I wont go into much detail as this just continues the plot. For those who ARENT familiar with Saga, go buy the other 6 volumes, totally worth it! One gripe I have: similar to Game of Thrones there is so much despair and death that you have to be a bit of a sadist to keep reading Saga. I understand the need to keep things realistic and how not everything will turn out OK, but it seems every volume is 1 step forward, 2 steps back sort of deal. Still, I love Saga no matter how many times it punches me in the gut.

“Nothing in the universe was safe from the endless war between mom’s planet and dad’s moon…” This seventh installment is truly a masterpiece, and one of the most impactful graphic novels I’ve ever read. The ending of this is true and utter perfection, and the emotional range that Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples are able to evoke is truly something I don’t have words for. This but seventh volume truly shows why Saga is one of the best graphic works in existence. And this volume really talks about heaven and hell and believing and not knowing. All six issues really have the theme of what if there is something better after this life? What if there is something worse? What if there is nothing at all? And we get to see so many people live their lives feeling very differently on the spectrum, while also seeing it shape their lives entirely. We get to see some amazing new characters in this, but we also are forced to say goodbye to many. All the volumes in this world can get pretty dark, but this one especially has some major content and trigger warnings for sexual content, violence, attempted suicide, death, murder, an animal death, talk of miscarrying, and war themes. Please use caution going into this bind-up. And it feels extra heartbreaking because you only want the best for these characters, after seeing them go through such horrific things for the last six volumes, all because two people, from two different races, decided to fall in love.

I think the superlatives surrounding this comic are probably as well deserved as ever. The humor, art, and diversity of characters continues to keep this book at the top of the ranks. My complaint for this book, even more so than previous volumes, is the sledgehammer of personal politics that the author bashes over your head at every opportunity. The analogies to global politics and social issues are so thinly veiled that he might as well have a talk show on cable TV. having said that, if you agree with his world view, I'm sure that this comic is the best thing in the universe. As far as this volume is concerned, I enjoyed the march towards an inevitable conlusion: the more characters you introduce, the more you must eventually cull. I wasn't sold on Rogue One until the last fifteen minutes of that movie. Similarly, I didn't know how much I liked this story arc until the last couple pages and then I was satisfied with the direction we went with these issues. The last volume seemed to almost have had a natural conclusion for the book and this volume managed to wrap an entire story in its pages and yet set up possibilities for the future.

I am so excited about this series. The art is amazing, the story is amazing, the writing is funny and quirky and absolutely heartbreaking. I love how the story is set in this exotic universe with all of these bizarre creatures, but at the same time everything that happens is so relatable and immediate. The characters are wonderful, hilarious people you'll wish you could talk to or hug or, occasionally, slap. Saga hit me right from the first issue and this book is no exception. Buy it. You won't be sorry.

this story really had to change like this??? no clue how the story will even progress from here..will likely only get more chaotic