Fairy's and Moonies

I have a confession...I cheated.  I was supposed to finish at least one of the books I have been reading this weekend so I could get some sort of rambling up, but then a new book appeared in the mail and...well...I read that one instead :-) The book is actually a graphic novel called Saga volume 1 by Brain K. Vaughan and drawn by Fiona Staples.  I had seen this one pop up on all kinds of nomination lists for all kinds of awards and I like graphic novels and fairies so I decided to give it a go.  As always SPOILERS AHEAD

This little synopsis may be a bit different as it is a graphic novel instead of a traditional words only novel but I will give it a go.  In this world (which is a great fantasy/sci fi hybrid) a planet called Landfall and an inhabited moon called Wreath are at war with each other (not sure why).  After a couple of cities got destroyed they decided to outsource their war to designated zones on other planets and hire their inhabitants to help fight the war for them.  The people of Landfall resemble fairies a bit, though that is not what they really are, but they are characterized by having some form of wings and tend to be more technological.  The people of Wreath or moonies all have some form of horns and seem to be the more nature/magic oriented.  This story is

narrated from the future by Hazel a child born from a Landfall mother and a Wreath father with traits of both species.  Alanna and Marko met and fell in love while he was her prisoner, got married and had a kid.  Most of the book deals with Hazel's birth and her parents attempt to escape the higher ups on either side of the war.  Various forces are sent against them as they search for the fabled Rocketship Forest and they continually escape by the skin of their teeth.  They meet up with a ghostly teenager named Izabel (who owing to stepping on a landmine is only the top half of a girl) who helps them escape in exchange for being allowed to bond to Hazel.  Alanna, Marko and Hazel dodge army forces from both sides, and a creature called The Stalk who apart from being a bizarre (and kind of cool) cross of armless human and albino spider is also what is known as a Freelancer, a feared hired sword who is sent to kill Alanna and Marko and bring back the baby.  Other hunters include a very human looking Freelancer called The Will (who is a cold blooded murderer but risks his neck to save a child Slave Girl), the Prince of the Royal Robots (who are human bodies with screens for heads...very weird) and various contingents of military personnel from both sides.  At the end they make it to the Rocketship Forest in one piece and Izabel helps them activate on of the remaining Rockets (so so so cool) and they zip into space...just as Marko's parents arrive on the ship!
The story it self is pretty simplistic, very straight forward and to the point most of the characters that we met were pretty moralistic and wanted to do the right thing.  The bad guys were immoral and corrupt and the in between characters where torn between duty and the right thing to do.  All that being said the premise is pretty awesome and well executed.  The reason I picked it up was because it was about a family.  A mom, a dad, and a baby and you just don't see a lot of adventure stories with that dynamic.  The creators did a fantastic job in having the parents have to deal the reality of having an infant, the constant feeding, burping, changing, jiggling, comforting, waking up constantly reality of life, regardless on weather you are on the run or not.  I liked how the author allowed the parents to be traditional parents who very much loved each other
and their tiny daughter.  The other characters were hit or miss.  The Stalk looked pretty cool, but you don't get to know her all that well.  The Will seems like your stock "I'm a big, bad, mean guy, but underneath I really have a soft heart", but we will see in later volumes if this holds true.  The Robot Royals...I'm not really sure what part they play yet.  It is kind of a weirdly cool dichotomy to see this technological head on a body that dresses in 18th century clothing, along with all the royal quirks that go along with it.  Izabel cracks me up, on her world when you die you hang out as a ghost helping to defend your people, but she doesn't really want to do that.  She is very teenage like in her interactions, but with a mature streak that is plausibly explained as her being the oldest of 7 children.  Overall the story was fairly simple, predictable and very graphic novely (that is a real term I swear), but with an original, well executed premise.  I will definitely be picking up the next volume soon.  I give it 7 out of ten horns and wings.

Do you read graphic novels?  Do you consider them books?  Have you ever tried to shoot a ray gun while nursing a baby?