Brian K. Vaughan’s and Fiona Staple’s comic known as Saga is a story that shows us how racism and discrimination of other sub-cultures can lead to the destruction of society. Saga is a comic sculpted to wake the reader up to the problems we have today, and does so by showing the reader that this fictional world isn’t too different than the one we live in. Saga shows us the similarities of this fictional world and ours through a distant race war, similar in motives to the one that we have underground in our country today.  From this intergalactic race war to breeding racism, Saga visually and textually displays the underground racism our world has today.

Saga begins by depicting an interracial couple with a baby attempting to escape a major racial war commencing between the two different races the couple was. In the first couple scenes, the reader visually sees a lady giving birth to a child in a car shop, and an oddly different looking man helping her do so. It is apparent to the reader off the bat that this couple isn’t in the ideal situation for child birth, and also is very clear that they are completely different races. The couple is quickly interrupted after having the child by noise from outside, where winged soldiers stood ready to kill the couple. The couple is under arrest for interracial marriage, and desertion. Luckily, in bright red color came soldiers on the husband’s side, Wreaths. Although these soldiers actually weren’t on the husband’s side and were also there to arrest him, they ended up missing the husband upon firing their weapons, killing the others. The couple escaped the firefight with their kid, leaving behind dozens dead on each side of the war. (Vaughan Pages 8-16)  

The war they were escaping is later described as one between those with wings, and those with horns. The races are neighbors in space, as one calls the planet home, and one calls the planets moon home. Both these races view the other as inferior, raising their children to hate the other. Interracial marriage and relationships were illegal, with those who broke these rules suffering death. This later explanation explains the first couple scenes, as the couple had no other choice but to have the baby in private. There was no driving to the hospital. They were forced to live in the shadows. (Vaughan Pages 17-19) 

The themes of division and racism comes into play in these first few scenes I described above, and are reinforced throughout the issue. On page 8 of the comic, when the couple was   interrupted by the soldiers when having the kid, the visuals immediately became washed out. The darker richer greens and deep browns became greyer, losing their color. It was apparent that the mood of the comic had altered from joy to horror, as these soldiers stated that “Private First Class Alana you are under arrest for abandoning your post and aiding the enemy”. (Vaughan) This scene is where the comic’s intense division theme reveals itself. While both were soldiers in the war, and later on are described to have fled together, the two had not ran off in an effort to conduct a military plan. The two were being hunted down solely for the reason they were intermingling with the other side, and because of their race. With further reading, this reality becomes overtly obvious because the comic shows the events that play up to them being found. 

On pages 22 through 26, the scene of Prince of Robot IV and a Special Agent discussed the couple and their plans to kill them. The Special Agent introduced the Wreath by saying “Anyway, this ugly fuck is a Wreath foot soldier we know only as Prisoner #9763572. Eighteen months ago he surrendered to coalition forces on a Cleave battlefield”. (Vaughan) While yes he was just describing the man, the agent takes a jab at him for looking different than him. He belittled him, cursing at him throughout the discussion. Combined with this, racist slang was also used to refer to the Wreath husband, with both men countlessly referring to the Wreath husband as a “moony”. As if this wasn’t enough already, both men also make stereotypical racial comments about the Wreath. On page 24, the Prince states “Love child? Surely he forced himself on her”. (Vaughan) With this all on the table, it is easy to note that the war was one of race. It wasn’t just a war between two different groups of people, but one that was fought because of racism. These men didn’t mention one security cause of why they are killing them, and when discussing their planes, they were focused more on the fact it was an interracial couple than escapees. In fact, from page 22-26, the Special Agent didn’t even seem concerned in the drawings. When the Prince confronted him as to why the agent needed his service, the agent had him wait until he could fix his cell phone, stating “Hold on, this app was trying to auto-update and now my whole thing is frozen. Are you even getting signal in here”? (Vaughan) He casually sat there fixing his phone, his eye brows hidden, with a blank worriless face. He seemed very relaxed, legs crossed, very comfy. The lack of concern in his posture and manner, and his neglection of security in a prisoner breakout situation proved his forces weren’t being led from motivation to protect his people, but yet to rid their galaxy of an “inferior” race. 

However, this race war is not one that is one sided. The Wreath people also are prejudice to the people of Landfall. On page 36 and 37, a lady named Vez of assumed importance tells false propaganda spread by the elders about the couple, and instructs a bounty hunter to kill the husband and wife. While she is never stated to be important, it is hinted by the visuals. She’s is in all white, an extravagant gown, has a unicorn horn instead of the ram like ones the others have, and has (or had) a giant monster bodyguard. The pictures on page 37 and the ones before it also depict her as being in a very secluded area, almost in hiding. With that said, just like the people of Landfall, the Wreath people’s leaders also act racist towards the other race. She implies the husband is a threat to society, stating “The Tables of Prophecy have just revealed that he’ll be soon responsible for the death of millions of innocent souls”. (Vaughan) When she said this we immediately knew it wasn’t the real motive behind the mission to kill the couple because the Lying cat called her out. The cat was the bounty hunters tool to detect liars, and this cat didn’t even wait a solid second before calling her out. She then realized she wasn’t going to be able to pamper this as much as shed like to, shortly going on to say that “To protect troop morale, my superiors want both Marko and his whore eliminated by a discreet subcontractor before the word of their coupling spreads to rank and file”. (Vaughan) While the racism is very subtle, she referred to her own kind, by his name. Even after stating he would cause millions of deaths, she treats him with more respect than the girl. The girl was referred to as a whore, just because of her race. 

After reading through the first issue of Saga, I realized the author’s message was to show us just how racism works today in the real world. Saga’s race war is not far off from the one who have in our country today. Although we have made some steps in the right direction such as eliminating the ban on interracial marriage, and providing voting rights to minorities, the racism is very much in graded into our society. Like in Saga, racism in real life is very underground. Being that today’s society is thankfully a far cry from the 1950’s society, race wars are no longer publically fought. Instead, they take place in areas we can’t see every day, just as they do in Saga.  People who we look up to such as Politicians, Business owners, and other people in power try to disguise racism under other motives, all in an effort to suppress those who stand against them.  Throughout Saga, the races tried to disguise their reasoning for eliminating the other races people as well. The Wreaths exaggerated to make the escapee situation seem as if it would lead to millions of innocent deaths, and the Landfalls made it seem as if the man deserved to die because his inferior self “had to of” forced her to do what she had done. It saddens me to say that the leaders in Saga justifying their actions with lies is exactly what people in our society do today. Whether the media is putting a fraudulent spin on a news story to justify a situation in which one race (usually majority) suppressed the other, or our Politicians are finding ways to silently segregate our school systems in the Deep South, our leaders are doing the exact same thing the leaders in Saga are doing. These are the type of situations and statements that keep racism alive. People fall for the bait those in power put out, and consequently allow those in power to successfully discriminate and oppress those of different skin color and physical attributes. I believe this is what Brian K. Vaughan’s and Fiona Staple’s comic known as Saga was trying to show us. To me, it’s apparent that the comic was meant to open our minds to what those in power are saying, and to really rethink why certain people say and think certain things about those of different races. People often take too many news articles and opinions people have on others as fact, and if we stopped raising our children to hate those who don’t look like us (like how Wreaths and Landfalls are raised) racism would slowly fade away.

 
