Tag: saga

Kelly Explores: Saga and Philosophy

Jul. 11 Comics Comments Off on Kelly Explores: Saga and Philosophy

[In preparation for the discussion during the Wonderworld Comics Book Club on Saga this weekend, I am happy to release the third part of Kelly’s exploration into Saga. You can read the first part here, and the second part here. Again, this article talks about sensitive adult topics (Larry)]

I’ve already written about the position of women and the male gaze in Saga. Now, I’d like to draw everyone’s attention to a very small discussion between Marko and Alana when they first met. They’re discussing a book that Alana treasures dearly, and the two of them have read into the novel that it’s a commentary on the war that is currently affecting both of them. Marko then makes a suggestion that’s intense and terrifying:

Saga

Saga

“What if the writer is suggesting that war will never end, that it’s a self-perpetuating cycle of pointless brutality that can only be ‘stopped’ with more war?”

Marko’s question is a direct allusion to perpetual war theory, which is frankly something I would never have expected to see in a comic book. As soon as I read Marko’s question, I sat back and just stared at my copy of volume two for a minute.

As I’ve previously stated, I’m newly-returned to comic books. I was into them when I was young, fell out of them, and am now into them again. Now that I’m older, wiser, more educated, more experienced, more depressed, more cynical, whatever you want to call it, I couldn’t be happier that I wandered into Wonderworld Comics one day and asked for recommendations.

You see, comics, just like any other type of literature, expand the mind. They force you to look outside yourself and be immersed into a storyline that can be very threatening, very exciting, very breathtaking. In addition to the writing itself, the illustrations move the story along, which is something you frankly don’t see in novels.

I realize that to some people, comics are juvenile and pointless. But they’re a very legitimate field of academic and artistic study, and if anyone doubts their legitimacy for an instant, I’d highly recommend they read Saga.

Saga deals with rape culture, race relations, war, family, various cultural expectations for various genders, and a host of other issues that you don’t really see a critical perspective on in mainstream young adult literature (if you doubt this, I draw your attention to Twilight, and I need say no more) or popular adult literature (have you READ anything by Dan Brown or James Patterson? They aren’t exactly addressing cultural norms).

All in all, I have to say, I’d be recommending comic books over literature for cultural theory questions any day.

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Kelly Explores: Sextillion and Saga’s Critique of the Male Gaze

Jul. 09 Comics Comments Off on Kelly Explores: Sextillion and Saga’s Critique of the Male Gaze

[This is part two of a three part series exploring Saga. Please note that this series deals with adult topics. To read the first part of this series, please follow this link. (Larry)]

A common theme surrounding comic books is the male gaze and the negativity surrounding it. Fiona Staples, Saga‘s artist, takes the male gaze to a whole new level and blasts it in a significant and critical way.

Saga

Saga

When The Will heads to the planet Sextillion to blow off some steam before heading out to find and assassinate Alana and Marko, the reader is greeted by a picture that might stun some to silence: Two women stand facing the reader, but the women don’t have torsos. Their legs meet, instead, where their throats would be, suggesting that the face of a woman is located right at her vagina. Both of the women are wearing impossibly high stiletto heels and fishnet stockings, and both of them have disproportionately large mouths. Oh also, they aren’t wearing any clothing other than their stockings and heels.

So why would I suggest that this is a critique of the male gaze? Staples illustrates Sextillion as a lewd, impossibly sexualized planet that places the value of living beings in their sexual organs. The women in the picture don’t have breasts, because you can’t have sex with a woman’s breast (okay, you can, but this isn’t sexual show-and-tell). What they have are large mouths and, we can assume, easily accessible vaginas.

The entire planet of Sextillion is orgiastic, but Staples purposely shows The Will walking through a hall where there is only woman-on-woman sexual activity taking place. Women are making out with each other, performing oral sex on one another, or using dildos on one another. Why have an entire page of this? Because Staples, I think, is being deliberate. Not only is she showing exactly what happens on Sextillion, but she’s drawing very specific attention to the fact that there aren’t any males when The Will first arrives. All we see are overly-sexualized females. In fact, the only instance of male sexualization is when a group of men are stacked as a triangle, being whipped by what can be assumed to be a dominatrix.

I argue that this isn’t meant to offend, and is instead meant to bring sharp attention to the fact that this hasn’t been seen anywhere else in Saga. We see Prince Robot IV having sex with Princess, and we see Alana and Marko making out a few times, but in each of those instances, the women have agency. The women we see on Sextillion have no agency, and they are literally used for their physical attributes. We don’t really have a backstory on the women of Sextillion, so there’s no telling if they’re willing sex workers or forced sex slaves, which is an important difference. However, judging by The Will’s later interaction with a child sex slave, it can be assumed that none of these women actually want to be there.

On a personal note, I absolutely loved The Will’s reaction to being shown a child prostitute known only as Slave Girl: He crushes the skull of the person who took him to see her, and eventually is able to get her off Sextillion. I am completely okay with that.

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Saga and the Position of Women by Kelly Jackson

Jun. 20 Comics Comments Off on Saga and the Position of Women by Kelly Jackson

The cover of the first issue of Saga says everything you need to know about the position of women in the series. It features Alana standing beside Marko, with their daughter Hazel feeding from her breast. Marko’s arm is around Alana, Alana is staring directly at the reader, and both Marko and Alana have their free hands on weapons. Alana’s gaze out at the reader is a challenge, a direct statement that she is in control. Marko stares off in the distance, not making eye contact with the reader, but showing his support for Alana all the same by keeping an arm gently around her while she gives their child the nourishment she needs to survive.

Disclaimer: This article deals with sensitive adult issues presented in Saga

Saga

Saga

Then we have Vez, obviously a leader among Marko’s people, who hires a free-lancing mercenary to kill Alana and Marko, but deliver their daughter Hazel safely back to Vez’s location. She wants the infant “alive and unharmed,” though she doesn’t give an explicit reason besides the fact that Hazel is an innocent in the war that’s taking place. (I assume that Vez has serious ulterior motives in having Hazel delivered to her, but I guess we’ll find out more about that in later issues.)

After Vez, we see the planet of Sextillion. Keep an eye out for an article solely about that planet to follow this one.

Shortly before encountering the entirely sexualized, super rape-culture depiction of Sextillion, we meet The Will’s former partner and fellow mercenary, The Stalk. The Stalk is intelligent, ruthless, and very good at her job. After all, she’s known as one of the best freelancers in the galaxy. She’s made herself into a valuable asset to anyone who may need a freelancer, and a very dangerous enemy to anyone who winds up on her bad side.

I love a number of things about Saga, but so far, my favorite theme within it is the theme of strong women. Alana continues to survive, The Stalk is merciless, Vez leads her people. And these women aren’t seen as somehow extraordinary; it’s normal for Alana to be a soldier, for The Stalk to be a freelancer, for Vez to be a leader. There’s nothing at all remarkable about these things in this world, and I like that because it normalizes strength in women without fetishizing it.

Another things I was very happy to see in Saga is women experiencing pleasure without some form of shame attached to it. We see this twice: once when Alana is giving birth and once when Prince Robot IV is having sex with his wife (who remains mysteriously nameless other than IV referring to her as “Princess;” more on that later).

While Alana is giving birth, she mentions that it feels good and wonders if that’s normal. It turns out that orgasming while giving birth is a completely normal response of the female body; while it doesn’t happen to all women, it’s a natural occurrence. And considering the fact that Alana is able to experience pleasure while giving birth to a baby in a dirty machine shop with armies on the other side of the door, props to her. What’s even more refreshing is that Alana tells Marko that she’s feeling pleasure during the birthing experience; she’s not ashamed to admit it, and it’s obvious that Marko’s not going to judge her for saying it, either.

We then have the scene of Prince Robot IV having sex with his wife (I suppose it would save time to simply refer to her as “Princess” until I know her actual name). Princess vocalizes what she wants, shows no shame in doing so, and even suggests getting on top in order to make it easier on IV. Granted, she doesn’t realize he’s having a hard time because of what is very likely combat fatigue, but she’s willing to do what she has to in order to take her pleasure, and she’s not afraid or ashamed to say it out loud.

Being unashamed in regards to pleasure and strength are two suggestions I can definitely get behind. This also portends well for Hazel; with such strong women surrounding her, she’s not doomed to be any sort of wilting flower.

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