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A review by princessrobotiv
Saga, Vol. 9 by Brian K. Vaughan
3.0
I don't know how I feel about this volume, tbqh. Hitting it with a 3 until I sleep on it.
--
Forewarning that this review WILL contain major spoilers.
All right, so I've ruminated on the rating and . . . I've gotta keep it at a three.
The thing is, though, that even considering I knew exactly what I was getting going in, I still should have been impacted by what happened. I've had cases where I've been 100% spoiled on a character death and still fought against that inevitability throughout the entire episode/volume/book, and felt devastated when it ultimately came to pass.
That didn't happen here. I've spent the last couple of days examining why it didn't happen, and I think that the answer is twofold:
1) The ill-advised inclusion of Ianthe as antagonist and catalyst to these events, and
2) A lack of narrative tension resulting from the setting and the directionless writing.
The first is most inexcusable to me. I really didn't enjoy the direction they took The Will in, and I didn't so much object to Ianthe's character (her character design is decent), but to the narrative weight given over to her quest of vengeance and her alleged mastermind-status villainy (especially if they were just going to . . . Kill her off? Like what?). She wasn't that strong or unique of a character, and she came out of left field to right a wrong that we as readers didn't have any emotional attachment to.
In one respect this is, you know, the "point." There are constant casualties on every side, and most of these are treated lightly by the text - but they wouldn't be treated lightly by anyone involved with the deceased. In a way, that's Saga's message: everyone has a story, violence perpetuates violence, nobody is spared during war, etc.
But from the very first volume, Marko and/or Alana's death(s) have been foreshadowed. This is also true of the eventual reckoning between Prince Robot IV and The Will. Something with such series-spanning significance should never have been instigated from a completely external force.
The Will was essentially dragged to Marko and Alana's doorstep and figured he might as well take care of overdue business while he was in the neighborhood. I felt zero tension in the scene between The Will and IV -- in fact, the jarring bathos of that moment (IV's responses, that pointless and dramatized flashback just before he died, he and Marko's banter) just felt so wrong considering the extreme violence of what followed. It almost makes me question whether we're going to get some sort of random-ass "Gotcha!" moment in the next volume, where IV is like "Oh, poo-poo, we robots can't be killed so easily - so long as my head is intact, my body can be restored!" Because honestly the moment was so painfully flat. And I'm saying this even though IV was one of my favorite characters in the series (up until recent volumes, anyway).
Marko's death was slightly . . . . Uh, "better"? But it was still cheapened by The Will's blasé and poorly-established motivations for the act. To redeem himself as a bounty hunter? To reclaim his identity? Like, where was the build-up to that? The final show-down in Ianthe's ship was probably one of the strongest moments in the volume, and it gave us a decent resolution to Marko's central conflict (his struggle to reject violence in a violent and unforgiving world, and the tragic "reward" for such pacifist impulses). But it was still pretty anticlimactic for me.
My second point regarding the overall tone of the volume comes into play here with Marko. I get that the writers wanted to give us an idyllic family interlude before killing off one of their protagonists, but the tone was so at odds with the ultimate showdown that it further undermined any chance the volume had to build tension.
I really think that Fiona Staples has been carrying this series for the past couple of volumes, because quite honestly, the writing has taken a major nose-dive. I'm not sure what's going on with Vaughn, or who else is contributing to the dialogue and plot progression, but I really hope that the team uses this year-long hiatus to reevaluate the direction of this series. Because they're running on the fumes of their early success in terms of plot and character development, and it's really becoming disheartening.
--
Forewarning that this review WILL contain major spoilers.
All right, so I've ruminated on the rating and . . . I've gotta keep it at a three.
Spoiler
Which is tragic. A volume with two MAJOR character deaths should be an emotionally harrowing experience, and for me, I have to say that it just wasn't. And I can't attribute this entirely to the fact that prior to reading the volume, I already anticipated one or more of these deaths (based on non-spoilery reader feedback).The thing is, though, that even considering I knew exactly what I was getting going in, I still should have been impacted by what happened. I've had cases where I've been 100% spoiled on a character death and still fought against that inevitability throughout the entire episode/volume/book, and felt devastated when it ultimately came to pass.
That didn't happen here. I've spent the last couple of days examining why it didn't happen, and I think that the answer is twofold:
1) The ill-advised inclusion of Ianthe as antagonist and catalyst to these events, and
2) A lack of narrative tension resulting from the setting and the directionless writing.
The first is most inexcusable to me. I really didn't enjoy the direction they took The Will in, and I didn't so much object to Ianthe's character (her character design is decent), but to the narrative weight given over to her quest of vengeance and her alleged mastermind-status villainy (especially if they were just going to . . . Kill her off? Like what?). She wasn't that strong or unique of a character, and she came out of left field to right a wrong that we as readers didn't have any emotional attachment to.
In one respect this is, you know, the "point." There are constant casualties on every side, and most of these are treated lightly by the text - but they wouldn't be treated lightly by anyone involved with the deceased. In a way, that's Saga's message: everyone has a story, violence perpetuates violence, nobody is spared during war, etc.
But from the very first volume, Marko and/or Alana's death(s) have been foreshadowed. This is also true of the eventual reckoning between Prince Robot IV and The Will. Something with such series-spanning significance should never have been instigated from a completely external force.
The Will was essentially dragged to Marko and Alana's doorstep and figured he might as well take care of overdue business while he was in the neighborhood. I felt zero tension in the scene between The Will and IV -- in fact, the jarring bathos of that moment (IV's responses, that pointless and dramatized flashback just before he died, he and Marko's banter) just felt so wrong considering the extreme violence of what followed. It almost makes me question whether we're going to get some sort of random-ass "Gotcha!" moment in the next volume, where IV is like "Oh, poo-poo, we robots can't be killed so easily - so long as my head is intact, my body can be restored!" Because honestly the moment was so painfully flat. And I'm saying this even though IV was one of my favorite characters in the series (up until recent volumes, anyway).
Marko's death was slightly . . . . Uh, "better"? But it was still cheapened by The Will's blasé and poorly-established motivations for the act. To redeem himself as a bounty hunter? To reclaim his identity? Like, where was the build-up to that? The final show-down in Ianthe's ship was probably one of the strongest moments in the volume, and it gave us a decent resolution to Marko's central conflict (his struggle to reject violence in a violent and unforgiving world, and the tragic "reward" for such pacifist impulses). But it was still pretty anticlimactic for me.
My second point regarding the overall tone of the volume comes into play here with Marko. I get that the writers wanted to give us an idyllic family interlude before killing off one of their protagonists, but the tone was so at odds with the ultimate showdown that it further undermined any chance the volume had to build tension.
I really think that Fiona Staples has been carrying this series for the past couple of volumes, because quite honestly, the writing has taken a major nose-dive. I'm not sure what's going on with Vaughn, or who else is contributing to the dialogue and plot progression, but I really hope that the team uses this year-long hiatus to reevaluate the direction of this series. Because they're running on the fumes of their early success in terms of plot and character development, and it's really becoming disheartening.