Saga was never intended to be gone this long. It was expected that the Image Comics series would last about a year. It didn't until... Saga is back to pick up the pieces it left behind, adding a fascinating twist to one of its biggest shocks.
The series left on a sad note, as one of the main characters, Marko, was murdered to save his daughter Hazel and wife, and their motley crew of friends and associates were picked up. Even if Saga's creators had stuck to their original year-long plan, it was shocking to conclude the series even if they did. As Saga returned this week with its long-awaited issue 55 and entered the beginning of its end, it was hard to imagine how it would handle both the death of Marko and the wider metatext of the series.
It's not entirely hard. Since the announcement of the series' return late last year, we have known that we would be dealing with some amount of time skip, allowing Saga's focal characters to have sat with the time that we as readers. Saga #55 has a fascinatingly melancholic air, one that asks us to consider the possibility that Saga doesn't want or need to immediately deal with the grief it ended with three years ago, because perhaps, like we have, it has had time to pick itself up and carry on. Sometimes, people just change over time, move on in different ways and try to keep going, but always try to keep going.
Even if Saga #55 does not directly address the death of Marko, the shadow of it continues. The way in which we encounter both Hazel and Alana, years later, who have become targets of both Marko and Alana's people, is informed. Hazel is a little older, a little smarter and a little more willing to listen to her parents than she was a few years ago. There is a tug of war between being more hardened in some ways in her isolation, and softer in others, as she still yearns to find a way to find peace, away from the ever present conflict between Wreath and Land.
As it re-establishes a new status quo and also throws in a terror attack, two police-stand offs, and an encounter with pirates flying around in a giant skull-and-crossbones ship, Saga #55 is appreciated. It doesn't see the need to recap what happened in the past, even though it has been a long time away, because it trusts its readers to know all that. The pace and humor of the series catches you by surprise, as it pushes aside any residual grief the series might have had over the death of Marko. It has no time to look back, just run forward and ask you to join or get left behind.
It's as refreshing as it is sad, because it shows that Saga gave us the time to move on, instead of waiting for it.
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