On Earth hate, racism, and war are exclusive to human beings. However, on Landfall, a fictitious planet from the comic saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, all three of those things exist between the Winged and Horn Race. For countless years, the two have been fighting in a race war. So long, in fact, that both groups don’t know what started the conflict: they only know that they hate each other. The barrier between both races is preventing them from completely solving the problem, and as a result, the war keeps raging on as both sides suffer more casualties. The first issue of Saga serves as a summary of an endless war between races and how it is motivated by meaningless racism.

Within the first few pages of the first issue the Horns and Wings demonstrate the strong hate both races have for each other. The horrendous scene on page fifteen shows the death and quick violence that results when both races see each other. They did not try to talk nor did they try to compromise. Both sides began to attack each other without hesitation and caught people in the cross fire. The illustrator used orange colors to represent a confrontation and used graphic deaths to reflect the realism of the hate between the races. Within the text there is a language barrier between the races but that is no legitimate reason for both to attack each other with cold- blooded intent. The hate between the races can be overcome by love. This is apparent in the actions of the main characters, who find love through of the hate between their races. They both come to understand each other and love each other, which causes them to look past their differences and try to achieve a more successful future. They come to have a baby which is a symbol of their love and the possibility for unity between the races.

Both races are highly disgusted by each other but in reality, they aren’t that different. They have human characteristics but small details, such as horns and wings, set them apart. Within the text they exclaim extreme revulsion for each other. This is a huge part of the problem considering they do not know why they hate each other. Small differences like this should not set people apart because they are all trying to do better through life. The racism forms a false underlying hate between the races and furthermore blocks them from achieving peace or an agreement. Once again, the main characters disprove this racism. Their being together and married serves as living proof that it can be overcome and everyone can live together peacefully. Since each side is so racist and appalled by the other, they never try to talk to each other. Each race forms rumors and lies about the other to instigate racism, “I’ve heard about female soldiers of ours being forced to give birth to half-breeds in the rape camps on Wreath, but those things usually died within a year” (Vaughan 25). The half-breeds dying within a year symbolizes the inability for their races to combine. The Winged race repeatedly uses racial slurs throughout the series to instigate their enemies, “the Moonies are threatening another land grab” (Vaughan 24). These small instigations keep motivating the war and cause both sides to get irritated wen the racial insults are thrown around. The name-calling relates to Americas society now because it is common to personally label and judge others that are different than you.

War is the final result between the two races. They proceed with armed conflict throughout the galaxy and involve multiple races. Everyone is forced to pick a side due to how large the battles have gotten: “the conflict soon engulfed every other world, with each species forced to pick a side” (Vaughan 20). Each side has many casualties and perseveres in order to destroy the other. It has been going on for so long that each side does not remember why they are fighting. It is a pointless conflict that could be solved if they stopped and considered working out their differences. The racism and war between them could be fixed if they opened their mind to the possibilities for success and peace. Both sides could end this pointless hate for each other and move past all the death and destruction of multiple planets.

 In many ways, this comic relates to our world. The only difference is that our world doesn’t result to an all-out war of races, in which everyone has to choose sides. In our reality, we judge and generalize people before we even approach them with an open mind. People pin their actions and personalities to generalizations about their race, but we are all one species with different personalities. Judging minorities and majorities is pointless, but people should keep an open mind. People can work together more efficiently and give everyone the equal opportunity they deserve because we would all be human, not black and white or horned and winged.

Race discrimination is almost literally skin deep and highly visual. Others judge each other because of the smallest difference between the two groups. This is seen in the comic by the small difference of wings and horns, but both races maintain a near human form. The illustrators want to relate this to our real world to get people to look at themselves and others, to realize they aren’t much different. Another example of how racism is skin deep can be seen in the Star Trek episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”. In the episode, the crew arrives on a planet where they find two groups of half black and white people fighting each other. As the episode continues the crew has no clue why they are fighting each other. They only see both groups as a single race of half black and white. When they finally question the races, they get the most dumbfounded answer. The races where fighting because one race was black on the left and white on the right while the other race was the opposite. The episode continued and the crew helped both sides realize that their fighting was pointless and if it ended both side could highly benefit from their race cohesion. The creators of the episode understood that race is highly visual and demonstrated it in a great way to show their viewers the pointlessness of discrimination.

The authors wrote this comic too exaggerate the underlying issues we have with racism in our world. They distance themselves from completely human characters in order to not offend people and also to entertain the audience. Within the first issue they demonstrated many key points that can lead up to a real-world situation like the comic. They want people to see the bigger picture and open up to the possibilities of what could happen on a large scale in our world. This comic is a great comic to read and follow with the series, as the comic continues it sublimely demonstrates real world issues and entertains the reader at the same time. 