We Stand on Guard

Brian K. Vaughan is one of my favorite authors of all time since I read Y the Last Man.  We Stand on Guard is not a sprawling epic like several of his other tales.  I wouldn't put it up there with Runaways, Saga, or Y the Last Man but it is a very intriguing read.

We Stand on Guard takes place in the near future in Canada.  The United States was attacked in a similar style to Olympus has Fallen and they believe Canada is to blame.  The opening of the book is the retaliation of the U.S. to Canada and our main character Amber is just a little girl when this happened.  Amber along with her brother survive the initial attack.  The book jumps ahead 12 years Amber is an adult now and she is on her own.  Amber is trying to survive on her own and almost gets taken out by a U.S. scout when she comes across a group of Canadian freedom fighters.  One of the freedom fighters goes on a great tangent about the origin of Superman during this long occupation war the United States has inflicted on Canada.  Its a great little story and it adds some levity to this serious situation.  It is similar to a moment in Saving Private Ryan.  The freedom fighters take out a Gorilla unit but lose a man in the process this gives Amber the chance to step up and show what she is made of.  The freedom fighter's leader is captured and we are introduced to a woman known as the American who is one of the leaders of this occupying force.  

The story is told through present day events as we join the freedom fighters along with Amber and engage in a suicide mission to stop the Americans from their true purpose for occupying Canada.  But the story also shows some flashbacks about how Amber and Tommy lived on the run.  The story culminates in a suicide mission lead by Amber and the freedom fighters against the U.S. as they try to siphon off Canada's fresh water supply.  There are a lot of great character moments in this book, but as I said before this is not about the war between Canada and the United States but this is about Amber and her place in this war.  This book is not really about the war that it portrays instead it is allegorical in that it is about war in general.  It is about war for resources, refugees, terrorism, manipulating the public opinion of war, all of these are issues raised in Vaughan's work and I like that he is exploring these ideas.  This is by far one of Brian K. Vaughan's most violent books and but I wouldn't say most offensive.  Saga can be quiet offensive at times.  If you love Vaughan's work or you are a fan of Brian Wood, I would highly recommend this book for you.

Saga Vol. 7

It has been awhile since I've read Saga & without picking up volume 6 or looking back at my previous reviews of the other volumes; I just wasn't feeling as emotional about this one as I was supposed to.  I will definitely be rereading this series as a whole when it's finished.  This volume was only OK for me as there's a lot that happens in this collection.  There is a time jump of six months & the story takes place entirely on the comet of Phang.  This is by far the saddest entry into the series as several characters die but in some cases the deaths don't have the same amount of emotion as some of the characters who have been around for a while.  This collection has about the same amount of death as The Walking Dead.  

From here on (SPOILERS!) abound, Hazel & her extended family are coasting through space when they discover they are running out of fuel.  Petrichor who came with Hazel from the prison instead of grandma has sort of replaced her role in this family.  Their ship has to make an emergency refueling stop on Phang an inhabited comet flying through the blackness of space.  Phang is war torn & full of refugees in fact I would say that this is Brian K. Vaughan's cosmic version of Aleppo, Syria.  Phang is the birthplace of Sophie is still off with Gwendolyn & Lying Cat.  Lying Cat is still one of the greatest comic creations of the 21st century.  On Phang our family comes in contact with another family of small rodent like characters not as cute as Gus but just as likable.  Kurti & his family are a great addition to the book.  Throughout this book we see the extended family grow as Alana becomes a mother to all while she is going through her second pregnancy.  Petrichor warns Marko of these refugees that they have taken in saying that they are not what they appear.  All of this alludes to the fact that Kurti's family are religious fanatics who will go so far as to participate in suicide bombings against at least one side of the conflict.  Marko stands up for them saying that you can not judge a race based on the actions of a few.  Izabel & Hazel get into an argument which prompts Izabel to offer to help out Prince Robot IV.  Meanwhile The Will  with Sweet Boy tracks down Gwendolyn to get the band back together so they can continue hunting down Marko & Alana only to find out that his bounty hunter status has been revoked.  Izabel runs into a new bounty hunter The March she tries to run but they capture her & kill her, permanently. There is a really touching story where Hazel & Kurti are talking remembering Izabel,  Hazel tells this story about her past & the feather fairy it is really a touching story.  Gwendolyn goes on a mission for Wreath High Command to meet with a representative from Landfall.  Prince Robot IV gets high & comes close to crossing the line between raping Alana & committing suicide.  Right when The March finds Marko & Alana's tribe, Petrichor finds out why so many people have deserted Phang.  The showdown between The March & our group ends in Marko once again taking a life to save his family.  The Last issue of this collection sees the death of Sweet Boy & supposedly The Will by an unknown assassin.   Hazels family escapes Phang just as it is being destroyed but do to some turbulence Alana is knocked down & it is speculated that she has lost the baby boy she was carrying.  Kurti & his family refused to go with them preferring to remain on Phang believing that their faith will protect them from the time of trouble ahead; all were lost.

Saga is still one of the greatest series on the shelves right now I love how Brian K Vaughan is able to balance writing multiple books at the same time.  I haven't read Paper Girls yet but that he is currently writing along with this one.

Saga Vol. 6

One big happy family, is what Brian K. Vaughan has crafted in Saga volume six.  I absolutely love this series there is nothing bad I can say about this book I am a little upset that we didn't get to touch base with all of our characters in this volume but it is still amazing.  If you are a fan of The Will then this may be your least favorite collection to date but overall it is still great.  The time jump is great it really is nice to see Hazel interact on her own Brian K. Vaughan has given her a great voice now that she is older  It looks like Marko & Alana's family is going to get a little bigger after this volume with the big reveal at the end.  I hope there isn't another time jump for awhile because I am need to readjust to how everybody is older in this volume.

Saga Vol. 5

Saga is back in all its glory picking up where the previous volume left off we start off learning about some of the history of the war between Landfall & Wreath.  However we still don't know what started the conflict between the two factions.  Dengo has taken the Hazel, Alana, Klara & the little robot baby hostage to get the attention of the Robot Empire, but the space ship tree has taken them to a snowy planet & stranded them there.  Meanwhile The Brand, Gwendolyn & Sophie are on a quest to save the The Will's life.  Their quest has taken them to the planet Demimonde a land of dragons.  The third party of our heroes is traveling across space trying to find where Dengo has taken the others.  This group consist of Prince Robot IV, Marko, Ghus & Yuma.  The underlying theme in this volume is the role of the parent & sacrifice or better yet the definition of sacrifice.  Three of our heroes heroes die in this volume one from each of the aforementioned parties.  One dies for the memory of a lost loved one, while another dies saving the other members of their group & the third character dies protecting the youngest member of their group.  All in all the every character has moment to shine in this story there are even some new characters introduced in this volume The Revolution a group of terrorist who are bent on killing innocents to stop both sides from fighting. The Will wakes up at the end of this volume & receives a gift from The Stalks brother.  By the end of this two of our groups are reunited but it is far from a happy ending for all.  I eagerly await the next volume of this series part of me wants to wait until Brian K. Vaughan & Fiona Staples are done with this series but it is just to good.

Y the Last Man: Book Five

Reading this final volume of Y the Last Man is a little bittersweet because you know the series is ending.  This series has truly been one wild ride, I can't believe it took me this long to read it especially since Brian K. Vaughan started writing this back in 2002.  First things first if I had been reading this by issues I would have been so frustrated by this final story line which came out bi-monthly.  This is one title that once you start rolling you really don't want to stop & it is best to read in the collected edition.  Brian brings all of his hanging plot threads to a head: characters are reunited, reveals are made & some are even killed off.  In China we find out that Dr. Mann's father is still alive & he has a connection to the plague, Ampersand & is also the employer of Toyota.  Dr. Mann's father is also in the process of perfecting human cloning to fix his shortcomings as a father.  Toyota & Agent 355 have their final showdown.  The group decides to split up at this juncture in the story with Dr. Mann & Rose staying in China while Agent 355 & Yorick continue on their journey to Paris, France.  Meanwhile Brian shows us what has been going on back in the states and around the world with little tidbit stories about the twins in Kansas, Waverly the supermodel turned undertaker, the drama troupe that put on the play The Last Man & everyone's favorite psycho bitch Alter.  Hero, Beth number two, Beth jr., Ciba, Vlad & Natalya all arrive in Paris as well to look for Yorick & Beth number one.  I know a lot of people are upset by some of the final events in this story but when read all in one sitting it really does make sense.  I don't want to spoil anything from here on to the final issue because that would just be rude & ruin the experience for anyone who has a slight interest in this title.  The final issue jumps ahead sixty years into the future to see how the world has changed & how our friends have dealt with life after their journey around the world.  This is truly a touching & heart string pulling issue in which our hero performs their greatest trick of all.  Only time will tell what Brian K. Vaughan's greatest work is between Y the Last Man, Ex Machina, Pride of Baghdad or Saga.

Y the Last Man: Book Four

So much has happened since the end of the previous volume, Yorick & company have been on a quest to reclaim Ampersand, find Beth & save the human race.  After the revelation of drug running pirates on the high seas the book goes through several flashback stories about all of the important characters.  All of these stories explain how Yorick, Beth, 355, Dr. Mann & Alter got to were they are today.  Yorick has made it to Australia only to find that Beth knows he is alive & has gone in search of him in Paris, France.  Before he can leave the land down under a reporter takes Yorick's picture showing the world that the last man isn't a myth.  They have to leave to continue on their quest for Ampersand in Japan.  The company gains a new companion in the form of Rose who is more than a friend to Dr. Mann along the way but is she all that she seems.  Back in the states Hero is performing some task for her brother as penance for her bad decisions in the past.  She finds Beth the woman who seduced Yorick is pregnant with his child.  The two then travel to Kansas back to the astronaut & her baby.  By the end of this book Yorick's group have retrieved Ampersand from some messed up Triads, Dr. Mann has reconnected with her mother, 355 & Yorick have grown closer together but there is still an unseen storm on the horizon.  Alter is back on the hunt for the last man on earth & she will kill whoever she has to in order to find him even Secretary Brown.  Plus we still don't know who Toyota is working for but whoever it is was working with Dr. Mann before the plague hit.

Y the Last Man: Book Three

The  third volume of Y the Last Man takes place entirely in California.  By this time two years have passed since the plague hit killing off all of the male mammals.  One of the best things about this volume clears up some plots while adding more chaos to story.  We find out who killed Agent 711, Yorick gets laid finally but who is Toyota working for?  Finally we get a chance to see what Beth has been up to in Australia if only for a brief couple of pages. 
Brian K. Vaughan has set up a couple of threads as to what caused this plague; at this point as the reader I am so invested in this that any of the reasons he's come up with would work for me.  There are two great surprises in this volume the first is that Yorick is no longer the last male human on earth.  The second is that Hero is back on the side of the side of her family but she seems to be carrying the scares of what she did during her time with the Amazons. By the end of this book you start to wonder if Yorick has fallen for a new girl in the captain of the ship they are on.

Y the Last Man: Book Two

I went out picked up the rest of this series since the book was such a great read.  Brian K. Vaughan continues to impress with Yorick & company as they journey across the country.  New characters are introduced & some are even killed off in the process.  In this book Yorick shows a great amount of character growth compared to the previous volume.  One of the things I like about this series is that the story arcs are little vignettes of their journey with several month time jumps in between.  it makes for an exciting read.  Now on to volume three, I really hope they reach California soon.

Y the Last Man: Book One

After just sitting here on my must read list for years I finally picked up a copy of Y the Last Man Book One.  This book has a slower start that some of the other Brian K. Vaughan books that I have been reading like Saga, Runaways & Pride of Baghdad.  By the end of this book however I was wishing I had picked up the other volumes as well because I finished this in a day.  From the get go a team made up of Yorick, Agent 355, Dr. Mann & Ampersand have been an amazing group of survivors to follow on their journey across America.  I really want to know who is sending Alter after Yorick & his team & is Hero ever going to come out of her brainwashed state?  Y the Last Man is really an apocalyptic tale its Brian K. Vaughan’s The Walking Dead but instead of being on the run from zombies Yorick & company are on the run from the Daughters of the Amazon & several other angry women.  Whoever thought being the last guy on earth surrounded by women would be a dream come true really needs to read this, you won’t have that opinion by the end of this book.

Saga Vol. 4

For some reason this book seemed a little off compared to previous volumes, maybe it was the slight time jump or that it has just been so long since I last picked up Saga.  I really liked how Brian & Fiona have taken the main couple of the story & separated them for a brief time.  It brings out this real world aspect to the book that many stories about young couples with a baby seem to glaze over.  It is such a trying time & when there is only one bread winner it creates a lot of stress in that family unit especially when the roles are reversed.  The conflict on the robots home world I have to say is the biggest surprise of this volume for me because it throws such a monkey wrench into Landfalls plans & the plans of the robot royal family.  One of the things I would have liked to see more of is The Will & his band in this book but alas one chapter is all  we got.  Brian & Fiona have created a universe full of magic & wonder but it is easily becoming apparent that it is almost too big for this medium to handle.  I found myself wanting more of characters previously introduced like the reporters,  Lying Cat & The Brand; also is Stalk still alive?  They were able to get all of these characters in but how long will it be before a character won't show up for an entire volume?

Saga Vol. 3

So much happens in this third volume of Brian K Vaughan's Star Wars / Final Fantasy esque Saga.  New characters are introduced while old friends grow by leaps & bounds.  Marko, Alana & their family pretty much stay in one place throughout this entire volume but all of them grow so much through personal interactions with each other.  Its like meeting up with a bunch of long lost family members after years of not seeing each other.  Like each of the preceding volumes death looms in the back ground & by the end of this volume three major characters that readers have grown to love since the beginning of the series will be dead.  Like the Song of Ice & Fire series by George R.R. Martin you'll be screaming at the book when a character that you have grown to love is killed off; Ned Stark anybody?  Like many of Brian's works this ends on a great cliff-hanger that is full of hope for the future of this series.  In this day & age where comic book movies are a dime a dozen Brian K. Vaughan is one of the only superstar creators out there that hasn't had any of his work turned into a movie or a television show.  As much as I wish this was optioned for the silver screen, I am glad that Brian & Fiona have said multiple times in interviews that Saga was made for the page & only the page.  That way it will always remain true to their vision & no one else's.  I can't wait till Saga, Book One the Deluxe Ed. is released this December.  It will contain all the issues in the first three volumes of the series, this is definitely one of the title out there on the stands that deserves to be owned in the hardcover format.

Saga Vol. 2

The second volume pulls on your heart strings like no other comic book out there.  Also who said comics were just for kids has  never seen or read this or a myriad of other titles like Watchmen, 100 Bullets or Kick-Ass just to name a few.  Those are not your kids comics they are heady titles that have deep meaning & even adult content within the pages, yes even Kick-Ass (I know your rolling your eyes but just wait for it).  This second volume pulls no punches flips so many standard things you thought you knew about science fiction out the window its baffling & cool at the same time.  Also this volume has firmly established Fiona Staples as one of my all time favorite artist.  I loved Lying Cat in this book & all I can say is I want one of my own.  Brian's writing makes you care deeply for a character even if they are only there for a few panels like the mouse medic in the final chapter of this volume his brief story had you rooting for him & broke your heart when he died.  Izabel reminds me of one of the female characters from Runaways also done by Brian K. Vaughan.  I am really looking forward to the showdown between The Will & Prince Robot IV. 

Saga Vol. 1

I literally just finished this like a half hour ago & I must say this book solidifies for me why Brian K. Vaughan is one of the best writers out there.  From the end of the first chapter in the book I was hooked I can’t wait for the next volume.  This is by far one of my favorite books out on the market right now.  Anything that I could say about this title is potentially a spoiler all I can say is grab a copy and read the first dozen pages if your not hooked I’ll be shocked.  Also if you like this check out Brian K. Vaughan's digital series The Private Eye I've skimmed through the first two chapters of that, I can't wait for the collected ed.