By Zack Quaintance — It’s hard to dig into Saga #56 without talking about the twist at the end. So, what I’m going to do is split this review into two pieces. The first half will be spoiler-free. Then, about halfway through, I’ll post a giant bolded spoiler warning, and I’ll start getting into more of the specifics. Okay then, so if you haven’t read Saga #56 yet, keep an eye out for that warning and bail as appropriate.

Anyway, my big takeaway from this issue was that during the hiatus, writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples clearly took notes, notes on what was happening in the culture at large, and notes about certain types of behaviors that upset them. As I just noted, I’ll get into how that manifests specifically in this book below, but for now, I’ll just saw I was thoroughly impressed with how organically Saga #56 takes aim at a specific type of hypocrisy of our day without feeling too proscriptive or preening. This speaks to how naturally Saga has riffed on universal challenges and problems throughout its run, having over the first 55 issues expertly build a story-driven framework that allows the plot to pivot and take on whatever the creators feel like needs addressing.

Past that central drive, this issue also catches us up with more of the fallout from the (still devastating) events of Saga #54, while at the same time using small and subtle moments to continue to introduce new cast additions like Bombazine. And it’s not just new characters who need introducing. One choice I’ve enjoyed throughout this issue as well as Saga #55 was how different Hazel feels from the little girl in this comic’s first half. One of the driving forces behind the nascent second half of Saga so far is essentially Hazel coming of age, and the book is doing a great job catching us up on how she has grown and changed since we’ve last seen her, both in terms of how she’s dealt with/still deals with the trauma of her early years as well as her budding adolescent interests and obsessions. I write about this all the time, but the great power of Saga is the way it’s so smoothly able to juxtapose the universal with the fantastic. So far in this new arc, the purest form of that is Hazel’s new interest in music, perhaps the hobby most associated with reaching adolescence, at least it was in my life, anyway.

There’s also a sort of maturation of Hazel’s narrative voice going on. She’s still telling us this story from afar, but her thoughts about what’s happening on the page are evolving, becoming more acute and pointed, as one’s own impressions of their lives tend to become as they age. It follows that Hazel’s early life memories would be just a little bit foggier to her, a little bit more emotionally removed, and it’s a major credit to Vaughan’s captioning that it feels like that veil is slowly falling away as we approach Hazel’s current age (whatever that may be). Lines like, “My mother never trusted people who were too enthusiastic about their jobs. She preferred anyone whose biggest career goal was QUITTING.” are just perfect.

The last generality I’d like to mention is that Saga #56 to me is another fantastic issue. It’s a bit slower than Saga #55, but it’s also not carrying the weight of expectations following a three-year hiatus. Instead, it’s Saga returning to its cruising altitude, maintaining the same level of quality long-time readers have come to expect. I have an overall summation of the review (again spoiler free!) at the bottom of this page, but let me just note once again that I’m so happy to have this book back. And now…

SPOILERS for Saga #56 below…

Now to get into some specifics…the additional fallout from Saga #54 comes here through the Robot Kingdom, specifically seeing King Robot reacting to the death of his son, Prince Robot IV. This scene is an instant reminder of just how effective a narrative device the TV screens for faces decision is in this comic. The book makes the same choice it did with Marko, in letting us see the ultimate resting place of Prince Robot' IV’s skull, which doubles in both instances as an assurance that yes, these characters are dead and they’re going to stay dead.

But the bulk of this issue is dedicated to the pirate crew that has essentially overtaken what’s left of our little family in their treehouse space ship. On first blush, they seem to be kindred spirits to our crew. They’re certainly flaunting conventions and making their livings outside the law. Past that, they also express disdain for the very concept of the forever war that serves as Saga’s grandiose backdrop. There’s a glimmer of hope early when we first meet them, and one of their crew mates who is a member of the Robot Kingdom denounces her people’s alliances as only applicable to the bluebloods, ie the wealthy and the ruling class.

It’s a small moment early in Saga #56, but it shades the rest of what transpires, seeding optimism that our folks have finally found someone who doesn’t buy entirely into the wings vs. horns narrative. This is where the exploration of hypocrisy comes in, though. The big reveal at the end of this issue is that the talk is exactly that, just talk, and that the leader of this little crew — himself one of the horns — is just as hateful toward the wings. He hates the war, sure, but the only thing he hates more is the filthy wings who started it. As such, before safely going into business with our crew, he needs Alana to strip and show him she doesn’t have wings, which she obviously can’t do.

It’s a devastating letdown, and pure rocket fuel for our narrative. And it’s certainly evocative of all the folks we’ve seen in recent years talking one way about things like the Me Too movement before their actions reveal them to be something else entirely. It also strikes me as a plot twist that probably wouldn’t have been written as astutely back in 2018, when the book went on hiatus. For better or worse, the tumult of the time that Saga was gone is now informing the book’s future, albeit it in ways that seem sincere to the story’s established plot. It’s interesting, and in some ways it makes the book more unpredictable, liable to swerve in new ways.

I’m here for it. My only qualm with the new arc of Saga is more Bombazine, please, although I’m sure I just need to be patient, because the koala man in his cargo shorts and flip flops doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. See you all back here the morning of Saga #57…

Overall: Another fantastic issue, Saga #56 slows down just a bit after last issue, but the continued exploration of what is happening now to our little family feels absolutely electric. 9.8/10

REVIEW: Saga #56

Saga #56
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan
Artist: Fiona Staples
Letterer: Fonografiks
Publisher: Image Comics
Everyone mourns in their own way. The most emotional epic in comics continues.
Price: $2.99
Buy It Here: Saga #56
Get Caught Up: Three Ways to Read Saga

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Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He has written about comics for The Beat and NPR Books, among others. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.