PAPER GIRLS: BOOK ONE by Brian K. Vaughan

After falling in love with his Saga series, I wanted to branch out to other projects written by Brian K. Vaughan, and that led me here! The Paper Girls are Erin, Tiffany, Mackenzie, and KJ, pre-teen kids living in 1988 Cleveland, who meet on their respective newspaper routes early in the morning after Halloween, and find themselves dropped into an epic fantasy adventure.

This adventure of the Stranger Things/Goonies variety happens to be a bit of a mind-wreck filled with parallel timelines, multi-verses, dinosaurs, giant maggots, and futuristic soldiers.

Oh who am I kidding, it might not be about that stuff at all; I would be lying if I said I understood everything that was happening here! The comic lets it's secrets out on its own terms and it can get a little frenetic and confusing but the interesting thing is that I didn't really care. I enjoyed the characters and their budding relationships so much that I could watch them do anything. Plus, I'm a sucker for time travel so I'm down to being patient and seeing where it all goes! The second volume in particular is a rollercoaster of crazy-ass ideas that are sometimes hard to follow, but I'll be holding on for the ride.

The two volume included here in this deluxe edition are also available in cheaper single editions.

GRADE: B

SAGA: BOOK TWO

We pick up again with our heroes as they try their hand at living a normal life on the planet Gardenia, with Marco taking up stay-at-home-dad duties while Alana wins the bread as an actor in shitty tv shows on the Open Circuit. Oh and Hazel is a toddler!

The first part here is really great as we really focus on the relationship between Alana and Marco and I thought it was a wonderful look at how doubts, trust and insecurity can strain a marriage even outside of the fact that the two are star-crossed lovers from enemy alien races. But just when the relationship is at it's lowest, the past catches up and the story is off again on an intergalactic adventure that's even more action-packed than before, involving new alliances, space heists, and a dangerous quest for dragon jizz. 

It's once again addictive, imaginative, and exciting, with characters you care about, proving once again why it's considered one of the top comic series being published right now. 

GRADE: A-

SAGA: VOL. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan

Everything comes to a head now in this installment of Saga as all of our characters converge around Oswald Heist's lighthouse home on the sleepy planet Quietus. You can tell that the creators are more confident and comfortable with the characters and the story as things quiet down a bit and they focus on exploring them. But then it all blows up in grand action-packed form in the end. My favorite characters are still Prince Robot IV and The Will, the three-dimensional antagonists hunting our heroes. The series continues to be heartfelt and endearing and I can't wait to see where they take the story next! Tons of possibilities!

GRADE: A-

SAGA VOL. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan

Jumped back into Saga with this second volume! We pick up again with our heroes as they are still on the run in their rocket ship (which happens to be a living tree they picked out of a rocket ship forest). And The Will, Lying Cat, and their two unlikely new partners are still in hot pursuit. This volume is just as enjoyable and hilarious as the first one. But we also explore the characters a bit deeper.

We get flashbacks that show us the time when Alana and Marko first meet as enemies and fall in love, which not only pushes the story forward by setting up their desire to seek out Oswald Heist, but it also makes the reader love them even more as a couple which is what makes the series work so well. Every character is great and I want to learn more about them! I especially enjoyed the further development of Prince Robot IV and his PTSD.

Vaughan and Staples seem to have found something really special here with this series.

GRADE: A-

SAGA VOL. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

Yes, I know I'm a bit of a "Richie-Come-Lately" to this Saga party and you've probably heard this before, but I'm here now, better late than never. This one is the real deal, this is what great comic book work is supposed to be: creative, original writing, iconic art, and most importantly (and I suppose the most difficult), a fine balance between the sequential art and written word. I always think it's important to understand what is going on, to provide just enough text to be able to understand things that you can't portray with pictures, but it's also important to avoid getting so wordy to the point that the writer probably should've just written a novel (Dark Tower books, anyone?).

Saga is an epic space opera that takes place in a far away galaxy where two warring races have been battling for generations. In the middle of the fight are two enemy soldiers, Alana and Marko, who fall in love, and along with their newborn baby, must evade both sides of the fight to find a safe place to start their family.

The makers of this series are really singular in their vision. It's so refreshing to see a piece of work so wholly original. And I think that Brian Vaughan and artist Fiona Staples achieve this by completely ripping away the limitations of their imagination. It's as if they reverted parts of their brains back to those of their six-year-old selves and just let all the crazy shit fly out and onto paper! Not only is our hero a magical warrior with horns on his head and our heroine a soldier with wings that shoots a pistol that stuns you by breaking your heart, but there's also a prince that has a television for a head, a seahorse that's also a talent agent, a bounty hunter client that walks around with a big hairless grumpy cat that is also a lie detector, and he's sad about getting friend-zoned by the love of his life, which happens to be this thing:

But the real genius is being able to wrangle all of these wacky ideas into something relatable, charming, and enthralling. It's got well-drawn action, witty, smart comedy, all mixed in with moments of tenderness. I can see what all the fuss is about with Saga. Based on the covers, I didn't think that this comic series would interest me, but boy was I wrong. And if you haven't read it for that reason, you're probably wrong too, so definitely give it a try. If you're a fan of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, you'll probably love Saga.

GRADE: A