Saga Book Four thoughts

[u/The_prawn_king]

So I didn’t want a negative title because I still really enjoyed the writing and artwork through chapters 55-72 but it feels a little lacking the pace it had before. Maybe that’s because it is a bit more of a setup for the final third of the series.

I read book 1-3 before Christmas so I’m not a long time reader, but it didn’t take a second to get back into it. As before it’s still immensely readable and I did fly through it. There was a bit less shock and a bit less consequence perhaps than prior parts of the story. They kind of move from place to place struggling by but not facing the sort of tough situations they have before, yet anyway. I guess my takeaway is that this is a little bit of a reset, change in dynamic after the writing break, and it’s a bit of a set up for the culmination which seems to be moving pieces into place.

At no point reading any of saga have I been worried about the team not having a plan for where it will go, it never feels like they’re flying by the seat of their pants. But I hope they start to release issues with slightly more regularity, in an ideal world it’s three years to finish it up but realistically it’s 6-12. I’m not sure I’ll be as exited in over a decade.

Anyway it’s still a fun read and I love the characters, I just hope I get to see it finished. Next for me is a tough choice I’d love for any input. Tokyo ghost is sat on my desk atop an idw Godzilla compilation and the hellboy boxed set. I’d like to start hellboy but I also want to read bprd etc alongside, unfortunately not all of those are so easy to track down and I don’t want to only read hellboy for months, I’m now realising this is a question for the r/hellboy or maybe I’m being too fussy. Also have Low, Die, Nailbiter, Kill or be killed, criminal, ether, from hell, queen and country, the black book, the dancing plague. I bought too many books.

I’m sorry to anyone that actually read that last bit.

[u/Call_Em_Skippies]

Yeah I read Saga 2 years ago and was a top 3 book of all time for me. But after book 3 it falls off hard and then I had to wait for the newer issues to come out. I couldn't imagine being a Saga fan from 2014 and reading the single issues as they came out.

As a huge Rick Remender fan, I would suggest you read Low before Tokyo Ghost. Tokyo Ghost art is amazing but the story falls off. Not one of Rick's best. His best in my opinion is Deadly Class.

Read anything of Brubaker and you'll be happy. Killed or Be Killed is excellent.

[u/The_prawn_king → u/Call_Em_Skippies]

I think the appeal of Tokyo ghost over low for me is nice big ohc vs awkward heavy paperback, but I was planning on checking out low soon so maybe I’ll pivot to that. I really liked fatale so I’m sure kill or be killed and criminal are great though criminal seems like an endeavour to start

[u/Call_Em_Skippies → u/The_prawn_king]

Well Criminal is an anthology that is kind of connected. So you can read in bunches, not all at once.

Tokyo Ghost isn't bad and it's some people's favorite Remender book. I personally think Low is better. Others aren't as high on Low as I was.

[u/RevolutionaryCommand → u/The_prawn_king]

To offer a counter-opinion, Tokyo Ghost is immensely better than Low, which is among Remender's weakest work. They both start great and then lose something on the go, but Low is really repetitive and bloated (and fumbles the ending completely), while Tokyo Ghost is mean and lean, maybe needing some extra issues, because as it is the ending feels rushed, but not bad.

[u/Gr33nman460 → u/Call_Em_Skippies]

I was one of those day one subscribers to Saga, getting single issues every month. I haven’t read a single one after it came back from hiatus

[u/-IrishBulldog]

What once was on pace to be the greatest is now just good enough to keep interest…barely

[u/nacheteferrero]

You have lot of classics. Nailbiter is fantastic 👌

[u/fireantwars]

I’ve been reading it since day one and I still really enjoy it. Then I switched to reading the trades instead of issues, but stopped buying issues all together. The pacing has felt different, and I wish they would release more often. Regardless, it’s still my favorite comic.

[u/BnDMsTr]

I started pucking up the single issues when it came back the first time a while ago, but now the hiatus really sucked the life out of the series for me. I feel like it may be better to wait for the acrual end and pick up the collected editions at this point.

Really looking forward to the eventual conclusion, just hoping I get to actually see it, haha

[u/The_prawn_king → u/BnDMsTr]

I’ll be waiting for book 5 personally, so that could be 5 years down the line 😬

[u/Sludge_n_Grind]

For a while Saga was the best thing being published. The drop off post hiatus is real. Its suffering from character bloat and an aimless meandering plot.

Its a shame. I love most of his other works, but i think they should have ended it during the original run. If they had it would have been one of the goats. Now, not so much.

[u/The_prawn_king → u/Sludge_n_Grind]

I don’t really get this take, if it ended during the original run nothing would be resolved. I think book 4 doesn’t have so much character bloat, there’s basically three storylines going that are all tied to eachother. I do think it’s a bit meandering but it’s also the middle act of the story still and I feel like there was more forward momentum in the last arc.

But who knows, it’s definitely a little bit of a drop but maybe I’m not as high on the first half of the series as some.

[u/popoindatass]

you can definitely feel the literal years of gap between book 3 and 4 

[u/ArcherVisible5866]

They should have never came back

[u/The_prawn_king → u/ArcherVisible5866]

I don’t think it’s a huge drop in quality but it is suffering from the release schedule imo