The Hollywood epic has always been a massive draw for audiences ever since the creation of Hollywood. From Metropolis to Ben-Hur slowly building up to more modern epics likeThe Lord of the RingsTrilogy andAvatar. Massive budgets, expansive sets, a foray of colorful costumes, giant stories, larger-than-life characters, and the summer all combine to bring some of the most exciting and big movies in history. Many audiences had considered the Hollywood epic dead outside of comic book superhero movies as they were dominating the box office.
But 2021 was a year that all those who felt that the Hollywood epic was dying, got to see a resurgence of sorts to the massive scale stories many seemed to miss.The Green Knight,The Last Duel, andDuneare just some exciting titles fans gotto see this past year. This could be the beginning of a resurgence of large-scale movies and TV that isn’t based on comic book superheroes and other older properties like Transformers. Although comic book movies are majority filled with superheroes and supervillains, not all comic books are about super-powered characters in capes. Like any other form of media, comic books are filled to the brim with stories about gunslingers, robots, love, heartbreaks, and anything else writers can think of. Comic books are one of the most versatile art forms in existence and all it takes is some imagination for a massive story to unfold on the pages.
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One of the largest scale and most popular comic books on shelves right now is Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples' Image comicSaga. The epic space opera follows two parents from opposite sides of a war, Alana and Marko, fleeing the authorities trying to protect their daughter Hazel, who to both of their respective peoples is considered an “abomination” due to her mixed-species heritage.
The series spans so many worlds and nations thusly bringing in new and interesting characters regularly keeping it consistently fresh and fun. This is perhaps the strongest aspect ofVaughan’s wildly successful comic.There is such an emphasis on diversity and the uniqueness of those around the world or in this case, the galaxy that it doesn’t get boring just seeing different people who look the same.
The characters are what make the massive journey exciting to witness. From robot royalty with TVs for heads to a bounty hunter spider-women to a cat that can detect lies, it’s so rich with characters that aren’t just cardboard cutouts compared to the many other Sci-Fi space epics that are just riddled with white character after white character which is just simply lazy storytelling when it comes to massive Sci-Fi epics. The galaxy would be filled with people and species of all kinds of shapes, sizes, and colors-let alone spanning a planet’s worth of people, and it is refreshing to see a story utilize and demonstrate it on its glossy pages.
It isn’t just the deep roster of fun and unique characters that make the comic book so compelling, it’s also a very personal, intimate, and emotional story. What is grounding the massive scale of the universe it presents is the sense of family of Alana, Marko, Hazel, and those they find on the way. Beyond everything else, the book is simply a family drama set in anexciting Science Fiction epic. It will make audiences laugh, gasp, cry, and yelp in relief. The book spends so much time developing and enriching the relationships that the reader feels everything that the characters feel within those same relationships. It creates investment in the story and not just the massive scale of everything that is happening around it.
The scale is fun and intriguing, but the relationships and drama are what drive the story. But more important than getting the reader connected to the relationships of the book, the book presents real relationships that would be found in reality. They struggle with their in-laws, get into arguments about what they think is best for their family, and stress about the environment they are raising their child. It’s real, and it brings a much-needed reality to the science fiction-rich environment and story.
Although it is yet another comic book,Sagais fresh air to those who find themselves with superhero fatigue. Beyond theepics set during the Middle Agesand the superhero team-ups,Sagacould bring something refreshing to the genre with characters that are in an actual story. The audience would see aliens, but mostly they would see themselves and not many epics utilize that in their storytelling. They’re always larger than life or super-powered beings that don’t really have any real threat to themselves. But knowing those on the screen are mortal beings with real problems and concerns is what makesSagathe epic audiences should see on screen.
