Saga, Volume 9

I think some of the shine is wearing off this series. It might just be that it's so spread out. I go so long between volumes that I can barely remember who some of the characters are. That doesn't make it particularly easy to sympathize with them. But also, all this tragedy is getting a bit boring. Sure, they do a decent job of balancing it with hope and alternating happy endings with sad ones. And sure, the series is ultimately about war. But three characters died in this installment, and I barely felt anything.

Maybe it would help if I actually went back and read the whole thing from the beginning, like I've been meaning to for a while now. I'm sure some of these hits would land harder if I could remember why I should care. Then again, the comic is now taking an extended hiatus, so who knows when the next volume will be released. By then I'll probably have forgotten it all again.

At this point I think I'll wait until the series ends before investing any more time in it. Then I'll know how long it is, I'll know the general reaction to the ending (always useful for long-running stories), and I won't have to wait so long between installments. I like comics, but reading the ongoing ones just isn't for me. It's time to go digging through the backlog of stories that are already done.

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