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. Alana, Hazel and Sir Robert’s son Squire are trying to make their way through the universe, surviving on scraps and barely escaping all those who still want to kill them.

This issue begins with a flashback to several years earlier, when family friend Petrichor helped Alana track down Marko’s remains. Alana expressed a wish to bring Marko back, but Petrichor disabused her of that notion, saying “Nothing in this universe will bring the dead back to us. But we can start to make things right again.”

Petrichor, who lost her partner Sir Robot, proposes that she and Alana “hunt down the monster who took our loves from us . . . and we’re going to tear him to fucking pieces.” Alana just laughs, telling Petrichor that Marko would not want her to spend the rest of her life in “some dopey blood feud.” Besides, she points out, she is a mother, and needs to take care of her child, not to mention Sir Robot’s child.

For a long time, Hazel reports, she was furious at her mom for “denying me the closure I would have gotten from helping her bury my father that day.” She admits: “It took me a lifetime to learn that some doors just can’t be closed.”

Hazel was also angry because Alana refused the offer from Vitch, a fixer, to bring Marko back to life if Alana could come up with the cost of the expensive ingredients. Alana tries to tell Hazel that Vitch is a liar, even though Vitch did sell them a necklace that hides Hazel’s wings. Alana explains:

“That’s how liars work, sweetheart. They earn your trust by giving you truth after truth. And then, one day, they tell you something you, really, really want to believe . . . and that’ll be the whopper that does you in.”

Checking in with The Will, we find he is contemplating proposing to Gwendolyn.

We also catch up with Special Agent Gale, Landfall Secret Intelligence. He is killing his way through interrogations, trying to find “an alleged journalist by the name of Upsher.”

Evaluation: As usual, Vaughan’s text is full of humor, pathos, and astounding insights into life that will have you coming back for every new issue. ( )