Saga #65 Stuns With Major Death

Saga #65 spoilers will follow! We’re over a decade into Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan’s run on the acclaimed comic Saga, and heartbreak might feel good at an AMC but it still stings when it happens in these pages.  As one might expect, the latest issue of the series is one that keeps the narrative momentum up in a big way but also features major heartbreak. Despite acting in a heroic way, the series said goodbye to one of its longest running characters as Sophie dies trying to protect The Will. Let’s dig into it below, and see the response to the devastating events.

In the issue, Petrichor is seeking out The Will to get revenge for the deaths of Prince Robot IV and Marko that happened way back in 2018. Now armed with some magical weapons and aware of his exact location, Petrichor moves in to attack, but The Will isn’t alone, naturally Gwendolyne, Sophie, and Lying Car are all present. Though they get a chance to leave, none do, and they’re dispatched in some creative ways. After attackign Gwendolyne however, The Will uses his lance’s extending blade to pierce Petrichor in a way that’s not too different from how Mark died, though they appear to leave still alive, but not before firing a poisonous arrow at The Wil, which Sophie deflects with her own hand. 

We know that she won’t make it out of this issue alive by one word. The Will says “Thing only grazed her. She’s gonna be fine,” which earns a dreaded reply from Lying Cat, “Lying.” The death of Sophie is juxtaposed by Hazel, Squire, and Alana finding a new home, one with actually nice accommodations; and the final splash page with Sophie’s death confirmed features the saddest caption of all, “An actual happy ending.”

Despite the dramatic weight of this issue having you think that it is the end of the current arc of the series, there’s actually one issue left before Saga goes on hiatus again. Vaughan and Staples even leave an extra blank page in the comic between this final splash page and the start of the letters column. To start it, Vaughan writes: “After that last scene, | wanted to establish a bit of an emotional buffer zone before we segued to your letters. Brian here, and while this issue may have felt like a ‘season finale,’ our current storyline still has another important chapter next month (and our series hopefully has many more after that, if you’re still game).”  

You can see how people are reacting to the moment below.

I feel SICK

Heartfelt and heartbreaking

Broke me

maybe something bad will happen

I can’t believe you’ve done this

here’s a tissue

We’re here for you

Is it REALLY a happy ending??

5 out of 5