By: Brian K. Vaughan (story), Fiona Staples (art)
The Story: Drugs, affairs, and murder. Alana and Marko sure live the celebrity life.
The Review: It’s not a pleasant experience to witness a couple’s row, but it has its fascinations. There’s a reason why these things are often referred to as train wrecks; from the outside, the disinterested bystander can clearly see what’s going wrong, though the people involved seem completely oblivious. And while the old adage is right in saying it takes two to tango, you can usually pin the larger share of blame to one person or the other.
Alana and Marko’s spat thus breaks against the mold in that you come away as bewildered and at a loss as to what happened as they, Klara, and Izabel do. When it starts, you’re ready to side with Marko on this: he’s the thankless stay-at-home parent who never gets a break ever while his wife’s flying high at her job. Even Alana’s anger about him muttering Ginny’s name in his sleep doesn’t shift your opinion much; we know Marko’s not actually cheating with the purple-skinned dancer. Marko’s actually in a very good position to be self-righteous—at first.
The problem is instead of engaging Alana on the Ginny thing and sweeping it out of the way, he very obviously changes the subject to whether she’s ever been high in front of Hazel, which is a vaguer point of contention. His avoidance means one thing: there’s a genuine interest in Ginny, even if it isn’t physical (yet). So when he finally lashes at Alana, there’s guilt mixed in with the insecurity of not being the breadwinner (he cuts off Alana’s complaints about working and finishes “—so you can take care of helpless me…”), and the resentment that his wife isn’t at home even when she’s at home.
Ultimately, you’ll be able to forgive Marko easier than Alana, probably. While he’s immediately apologetic for his loss of temper, Alana escalates, ordering him to leave the house, which she significantly refers to as “my house,” just as she refers to Hazel as “my daughter[.]” Having taken ownership of the rest of Marko’s life, he leaves him with nothing except—guess who?—Ginny. That won’t excuse any funny business that will likely happen between the two afterward, but it’ll be Alana who drove him there.
By doing so, they are now at their most vulnerable just when forces threaten to converge on the family once again. Not only does the unstable Dengo reach Alana’s workplace and violently leaves it in disarray, Prince Robot is on his trail thanks to assistance from Gale. The Landfallian agent claims to be doing so out of respect to the late princess, but as King Robot mentions earlier, the contract on Alana and Marko is still outstanding and Gale doesn’t seem like the type who forgets such things. So we’ve got two off-balance killer robots drawing towards our favorite couple; the fact that Upsher recognizes Alana’s Heist quote on the Open Circuit is negligible by comparison.*
There’s not much for Staples to do this issue except deliver her usually gorgeous work. Marko and Alana’s fight is very much open and direct, leaving little room for subtlety from the players, except a guilty expression from Marko here and there. The drama cuts deep, but it doesn’t give Staples an opportunity to show off—which is fine; she’s sure to do so very soon.
Conclusion: Despite the blaze of emotions involved, it’s a straightforward issue for Saga.
Grade: B+
- Minhquan Nguyen
Some Musings: * Although that does mean the Will’s sister may come back into the picture if Upsher and Doff pursue their old story again.
- This is the first time in a long time, possibly ever, that my issue of Saga came without its clear plastic wrapping, which is to say that for the first time, I didn’t feel like a perv for carrying it around.
Filed under: Image Comics, Reviews Tagged: Alana, Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples, Image, Image Comics, Marko, Prince Robot IV, Saga, Saga #22, Saga #22 review
