That was some cliffhanger.
More than three years after upending comics fandom by hitting the pause button on one of the most celebrated comics of the 2010s, Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples are finally ready to bring back their creator-owned title Saga.
The award-winning comic, from publisher Image Comics, will return with Saga No. 55 Jan. 26, 2022, launching a new story arc written by Vaughan, also known as the co-creator of Y: The Last Man, and drawn by Staples.
The announcement was made during the In Conversation With Brian K. Vaughan panel at New York Comic Con.
Saga is a sci-fi fantasy that up to this point has centered on a husband and wife from opposing and warring races who try to keep their little daughter, Hazel, alive while being chased around the galaxy. Star Wars, Game of Thrones and Romeo and Juliet are influences, while Hazel is the gravitational center of the entire epic.
The comic ran 54 issues from 2012 to 2018, winning numerous Eisner and Harvey Awards, selling 7 million copies to date across single-issue, trade paperback, compendium, hardcover and digital editions, and breaking out of the confines of the comic shop by gaining a loyal and vocal crossover fan base.
That fan base was surprised when Vaughan and Staples announced a hiatus in summer 2018, ending the comic on a cliffhanger featuring the death of a major character.
Staples told Entertainment Weekly she was suffering from mild burnout while also experiencing “a lot of loss and change in my life.” Vaughan said the duo had always planned to “regroup and take a breath,” although it’s unclear if it was intended to ever be this long.
The team is now ready to tackle another 54 issues, which will comprise the back half of a story that is envisioned as a 108-issue saga.
No. 55 will be a double-length issue — 44 pages of story for the regular $2.99 price point — without gimmick variant covers or renumbering.
“Saga launched at Image during the company’s 20th anniversary in 2012, so it seems more than fitting that the series is returning to shops just in time for our 30th anniversary next year,” said Image’s chief creative office and publisher, Eric Stephenson, in a statement. “I can think of few better ways to celebrate what Image is all about than by welcoming back one of the most incredible storytelling teams in comics history as they embark on the second half of a true epic-in-the-making.”
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