I think a lot about violence, and how much I absolutely love violence in fiction, where it’s beautiful and funny and cathartic. To try and do a fantasy sci-fi story, but to try and do it with the complexity and moral grays of actual conflict has been an education for me. It’s interesting that for a lot of kids it’s your first exposure to war, like, ‘Oh the bad guys wear this costume, the good guys wear this costume, and you can end it through bravery and getting this MacGuffin.’ It has very little to do with the reality of war. Star Wars is obviously a classic and an important piece of art, but it has little to do with actual war. As I’ve started to have children of my own, I realized Star Wars would be a huge part of their upbringing, as it was for me. VAUGHAN: That’s been my thought since the very beginning. Prince Robot went on this whole redemption journey, but even so his murder of The Stalk way back in issue #5 still came back to bite him in the end. Your guys’ depiction of war in Saga almost resembles something like The Iliad, where no one really knows why they’re fighting in the first place and it just becomes a cycle of self-perpetuating violence. As Marko lay bleeding to death, readers were treated to the very same narration by Hazel that ended issue #1: “Thanks to my parents, at least I get to grow old. It was a deadly mistake, one that allowed The Will to sneak up behind Marko and deliver a fatal blow to one of Saga‘s most important characters. Marko overpowered The Will and came close to killing him…only to relinquish the chance at a finishing move in favor of looking out the window at the planet where his family still survived. Marko tackled The Will, and the two combatants ended up battling on a spaceship as it rocketed away from Quietus’ orbit.

This enraged Marko, who let his well-honed pacifism slide in favor of murderous bloodlust. He killed Prince Robot IV in revenge for the robot murdering his lover The Stalk way back in an early issue.

Things only got worse after The Will escaped from Ianthe’s control. The Will, the bounty hunter who was tasked with hunting down Marko and Alana way back in the series’ first issue, was brought to Quietus by his sadistic torturer Ianthe. And so, just as the main characters had all reunited on the planet Quietus, disaster struck.

Throughout the series, Vaughan and Staples have loved to pull the rug out from under their characters at the worst possible moments.

Saga fiona staples