Note: Some spoilers within for previous issues in this series.

Saga tells the continuing story of the little family of (the late) Marko and his wife Alana - a mixed-race couple - and their daughter Hazel. The family struggled to stay together in spite of a war between their two races.

Alana is from the planet Landfall, where inhabitants have wings on their backs, and Marko was from its moon, Wreath, where all people have horns on their heads. The two defied all convention (and propaganda, viz: those people have horns on their heads!) and fell in love. Hazel was born with both horns and wings, and it is Hazel who narrates the story.

Marko and Alana just wanted to find a way to be safe and happy and live in peace, but it wasn’t possible. The three of them were pursued throughout the galaxy by a number of beings trying to exploit them or kill them (or first one, then the other).

In Volume 9, however, both Marko and Sir Robert - once an enemy but eventually an ally - were murdered. It is now three years later. At first, Hazel and Sir Robert’s son Squire were being raised by Hazel’s mother and a male named Bombazine, or “Bomba” for short. Squire hadn’t spoken a word since his father’s death, but they all got along fine. Then Bomba ran into a nasty blackmailer, and had to part from the little family.

This issue begins with Gwendolyn and The Will collaborating in an effort to turn the Robot Kingdom into allies of Wreath. Sophie, who was rescued from sex slavery by The Will and Gwendolyn, is skeptical - the Robot Kingdom has been the loyal ally of Landfall for centuries. But as Gwendolyn tells Sophie, “Loyalty is a fucking fairy tale.”

Back to Hazel’s story, we find it has been six months since the end of the last episode, when her family lost their home in a fire, and they were stranded on a world which had become “yet another front in the galaxy’s endlessly expanding war.” Hazel and Squire took to begging for food.

Petrichor returns in this issue, seeking help to find The Will.

As the story concludes, Alana goes to see Vitch, a fixer, for some documents so Alana can get transportation off-world for her and the kids. Vitch tells Alana she has the “still-beating heart of a baby dragon” in her freezer, and claims she can bring Marko back to life, if Alana can come up with the cost of the expensive ingredients. She tells Alana, “What I’m saying is, we live in a universe of funkin’ magic.” Hazel overhears the conversation, and the episode ends.

Evaluation: Excellent story by Vaughan and art by Fiona Staples, as always. ( )