Written and drawn by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, respectively, "Saga" is the hottest book being put out by Image Comics today. I say that with full knowledge that Image also publishes comic book behemoth "The Walking Dead."
The story of fugitive parents on the run from the government with baby in tow brings shades of Star Wars and Bonnie and Clyde to the page. Mother Alana meets her future lover and father of her child, Marko, when she is assigned to guard him as he serves out his sentence as a prisoner of war.
I did mention the war, right? Alana and Marko are from different ends of the warring factions, making their love a true Romeo and Juliet story. With magic. And blasters. And ghosts. And aliens. And robots. And a baby. It's pretty awesome.
While the book is filled with high-concept fantasy and sci-fi, its core lies in relating human emotion better than any other media currently coming out. More than anything else found in the book, your heartstrings get pulled by the relationships that come, go and evolve as the book goes on.
It's hard to think of a film or television series that can provide high-action thrills and still have you invested in what's going to happen to these parents and their tiny helpless child. If you have a child in your life, you can't help but think about what lengths you would go to protect them.
It's amazing the ease with which the creators weave all these elements into a gripping, touching and mind-altering story. As such, to the surprise of everyone and no one, the book is a solid hit. As you read this "Saga" sits at #1 on The New York Times Best Sellers list under it's Paperback Graphic Books category for the second week in a row.
When stocking your shelves, it's generally a good idea to save some overstock so as not to give the impression that you're overflowing with a book. In all my years working for a comic book store, this has always held true. Until "Saga" hit the shelves. We will stock 20 copies at a time and sell multiples volumes several times a day. We simply cannot keep it in stock.
We've had men, women, young people, seniors, students, teachers, tech workers, Hollywood insiders, black, white and everyone in between come in to check out the book.
Now in it's third year, Saga has managed to win the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series every year it has been eligible. It's simply that good.
And that's the type of book that is best for our business in the long run. While huge launches and event books that span an entire publisher's line will bring in money in the short run, "Saga" will forever be an evergreen product.
When I have a young person come in to the shop in 10 years time, they're not going to ask me about DC's "Identity Crisis" or Marvel's "Secret War" re-launch, they're going say, "Hey, I heard about this one book. With magic. And blasters. And ghosts. And aliens. And robots. And a baby." And more likely than not, we'll have 20 copies on the shelf.
