Comics are books with images that people enjoy to read mostly for entertainment, however, they are not strictly just for this purpose. They are capable of having an underlying theme like a novel would. Saga is a good example of an entertaining comic that also provides a very interesting underlying theme. The comic is trying to tell the reader something specific about society. This comic is trying to say that war is not a good thing. Saga successfully tries to show the reader that the costs of war on society greatly outweigh the benefits. These costs include the toll it takes on the innocent people living in the battling groups and the children of these societies

Saga shows many of the negative effects of war, one of these is the effect that it has on innocent people who are not even involved. There are a couple of images that I thought really reflected this element of war. Towards the beginning of the comic the two lovers and their newborn child are caught between people fighting each other. These two are the main characters of the story which is interesting because it gives the reader the perspective of innocent people caught in a war. One group of soldiers originally came to apprehend the two, but an opposing group came and attacked the soldiers. The small family was literally caught in between the crossfire of this battle. I can tell that this part was emphasized because during this moment, which went by fairly quickly, there were no words in the comic and the panels kept jumping from both sides shooting gunfire to focusing on the family in the middle that was just trying to protect their child. Before the shooting starts, one of the panels focuses on the lovers and the reader can clearly see the fear on the woman’s face. This image is pretty dark because it appears that these two loving characters are doomed. Later images the reader sees dark red bullets flying by them. The fiery illumination of the bullets evoke a sense of danger because the reader sees these dangerous bullets flying around the man and women, who are scared for their lives. The whole scene is very violent as the reader sees people being shot and there is blood everywhere. 

This comic also points out the effect that war can have on the youth of the parties involved. Right in the beginning of the comic a baby is born. This baby girl is the narrator of this comic. Almost immediately after she is born her and her family are attacked. I believe that this is meant to show that the children who are born into times of war are born into very dangerous times. Children born into times of war, in some cases, are taught to fight for their entire lives. Wars can potentially deprive them of having a great and fun childhood like they deserve. These children grow up not knowing what life is like without war. They are taught to hate the enemies that they are fighting the war against, but sometimes are not given an explanation for why they are enemies. The narrator of the comic mentions this blind hatred by saying, “If there was ever a time these two got along, nobody remembers it.” The text in this suggests that the two sides have been fighting for so long that they no longer know what they were fighting about. The image in the panel in which this was said is a picture of a moon and outer space. Space is almost complete emptiness and is an open vacuum. This specific illustration was put on this panel because it accurately describes the way the people feel about the war. The substance of this war is nonexistent for the people because they do not even know why they are fighting it. The war is emptiness, just like outer space. 

Another negative aspect of wars that Saga points out is that some of them are fought for terrible reasons. Wars, in theory, are supposed to be fought for some sort of gain or to get vengeance. Some wars, like the one in this comic, are just unnecessary violence. The reader is not even given a reason for the war that is taking place in this comic. All the reader knows is that two sides hate each other and are fighting each other and the only thing that is truly differentiating these groups is their outward appearance. In the comic, there is a group of robots and another group that seems to be full of wizards that attack each other. The reader sees as these two sides begin firing at each other without any real confrontation or dialogue. The reader witnesses people being unnecessarily shot and killed. So basically the people fighting in the war are fighting because their parents fought, and their parents’ parents fought and so on. If the sides do not know why they are fighting, they should not even be fighting. The more graphic scenes in Saga are meant to challenge the reader to ask whether or not fighting in the war is worth it. In this war the benefits of winning the war are not more substantial than the costs of staying in the war.

Saga also points out that wars are unfair because of the people that participate in them. In the story, everyone is forced to pick a side and fight, even if they have no affiliation with either side. The common people fight for reasons they do not even want to fight for. The common people fight for little or no gain, yet the people who are gaining from the war are nowhere to be seen in the midst of the battle. These people who are not fighting are actually gaining from the lower class fighting for them. This becomes evident in the comic when the wife of the Robot Prince says to him, “No they’re customers. Highest bidders in The War of Good Versus Good.” She says this in response to her husband after he tries to explain to her that these people are their allies. She clearly sees these “allies” as a means of personal gain. She refers to them as customers because the Robot Prince and his wife are receiving the benefits of the war without paying the same cost that most of the common folk do. This shows how the upper class take advantage of those who actually do the work in the war.

The whole purpose of this comic is to show the reader that war is not beneficial to society. The comic is trying to show the reader that there is no such thing as a good war. No matter what, something is lost in a war. Whether that be money, land, lives, or the innocence of children. Wars are fought for bad reasons, such as greed, if for any reason at all. In this comic, there is no obvious reason for the fighting taking place. For all the reader knows the characters may not even know why they are fighting. All they do is cause more harm and more destruction than necessary. This comic is meant to show the reader the futility of wars and to try to promote peaceful solutions to problems in the future. This comic is trying to promote peace by challenging the readers to think of alternative options to war. By showing the futility of the war in Saga, people begin to think about the wars in the real world. Ultimately Saga is trying to say that war is not worth it. The risks of war definitely outweigh the rewards. 
