In general, graphic novels and comics are quite a unique genre which are suited to quite a special audience. Saga is without a doubt similar to other graphic novels in this way as it is filled with fantastical creatures, magic, robots, and essentially every kind of fantasy being you can imagine. There are humanoids with wings and horns, huge fire breathing turtles, and robots having sex, just to scratch the surface of this piece. When I first heard this comic was described as a ‘cross between Star Wars and Game of Thrones’, I thought that no such thing would really be possible but having read/watched both of those series and reading through Saga, I see how accurate of a statement this is. What led me to this thinking was the fact that just like those series Saga has a very elaborate backstory and set of characters, however I think Brian Vaughan decided to take his novel in a different direction. Despite the rather outlandish characters and plot of this graphic novel, there is a deeper meaning to the piece which I interpreted as Saga is based much more on interpersonal ideas of the characters such as their emotions and relationships rather than plot and setting. 

The very first scene of Saga is what really tipped me off to this idea because of the extreme level of intimacy and even the level of comedy in the first few panels. Right off the bat the graphic novel starts off with a scene of a woman with wings giving birth. The audience has no idea who she or what her situation is but the intimacy of the frames immediately creates a connection. Moments later the reader is presented with a beautifully drawn panel of the, presumed, father holding a newborn baby in his hand with the words, “It’s a girl” (Vaughan 4) written small in the top left corner. The father is crying tears of joy as he looks upon his newborn daughter and the background of the scene is a warm, comforting shade of orange which seems to envelope the brand new family. The reason I am going into such detail about this scene is because is struck me when I was first reading through that, for the first several pages the reader is not presented with a single shred of evidence which would be telling of the character’s names, age, location, or setting. While this leaves so much ambiguity and vagueness in the scene, it allows the reader to focus less on who, what, where, and why, and more on the relationship between these two, now three, individuals. I think that Brian K. Vaughan wants the reader to realize they just witnessed the most important moment in these three people’s lives and he wants them to appreciate the fact that all the plot, backstory, and setting that comes after this is insignificant compared to what the reader just saw. Of course this level of connection from character to audience makes sense when it is realized that these three are the main characters of the series, however, the next example of this solidifies my interpretation even further as the same level of intimacy is repeated but this time with more minor characters. 

A continuation of this idea of the reader getting an insight on the relationships between the characters is exemplified once again in the sex scene between the robots. On page 20 the two robots are introduced to the audience yet again in the most personal way possible, through a sex scene. This is a repeat of when Marko and Alana are introduced as the audience has no idea who these robots are or what their story is and yet we are acquainted with them in their most private moment possible. This continues as the conversation between the two of them leads into an even more private matter which is that the man cannot perform because his mind is preoccupied with other things such as the war. Similar to the scene of Marko and Alana the reader is only introduced to the robot man when his crocodile butler walks in and says, “I’m sorry to intrude but Prince Robert IV has a gentleman caller” (Vaughan 21).  Prior to this we have no idea of the identity of either of the characters having sex. This implies that Vaughan wants the reader to focus much more on the affectionate relationship between the two characters instead of who they are. He also wants to give insight to the audience as to what the two are going through together. Just a few pages later Prince Robert is notified that he has to embark on a mission to hunt down Marko, Alana, and the baby. This news is extremely concerning to him as he states, “I don’t understand. I told my parents I wanted to start a family this year” (Vaughan 25). This quite shows how disappointed and hurt Prince Robert IV is that his parents did not take his feelings into consideration at all. Especially because he clearly expressed how important it was that he start a family. The use of the bolded text in his speech bubble makes it even more obvious how important it is for him to start building a family and yet his parents disregard him completely. This is the kind of emotion and personality Vaughan wants to present to the reader, he decides not to get caught up with giving the reader every last detail of exactly who his parents are and why they don’t respect him. Instead, he just shows the audience the raw emotion Prince Robert has. 

On the flipside of this coin lies the fact that not only does Vaughan go into the emotional aspect of the characters with such depth but also he chooses to skip over detail he doesn’t think the audience needs. An example of this is the warring panel with fire breathing turtle. This battle scene is an excellent representation of the argument that Vaughan wants the reader to focus more on the character’s emotions than the war. This is because the illustrations of the warriors are really nothing but stick figures. Based on the excellent illustrations in the entire graphic novel the artist is clearly capable of drawing an extremely in depth battle scene. I interpreted this lack of detail as Vaughan purposefully choosing to keep these details out so that the audience can focus more on what the characters are feeling.

To reiterate, my interpretation of Saga by Brian K. Vaughan is that through his illustrations and text associated with the visuals it was clear that his focus was much more on the emotional and relationship side rather than just the plot. Of course, the flow and detail of the plot is essential to the overall story but I think he used this more as a tool for the reader really to connect with the characters. He wanted the audience to form a relationship with the characters through the visuals and text. Another interesting thought I had while reading through this graphic novel is that this form of media is really the only way this story can work. I don’t think the same message could be put across with media such as a book and even visual media such as a movie or a TV show would struggle to capture everything this graphic novel does.  