Saga #34

Saga, Issue #34 begins where the "Hazel" storyline ended, with Hazel confiding in her nature to a beloved teacher, who promptly passes out.  A hermaphroditic Mooney with broken speech offers to help Hazel by killing the teacher and making her death look like an accident.  Meanwhile, Marko and Alana are reunited with Prince Robot IV, who promptly threatens to kill them slowly by shooting each of them in the bladder with a bow and arrow.  Violent, eh?  

For such a violent comic, Saga has very strong anti-violence themes.  It's very pro-diversity, and one of the more telling lines is Hazel's suggestion is that the reason civilized beings fight is not because they're different but because they're alike.  One of the funnier moments in this comic is when the two reporters assume that the Brand is gay because he's looking for a prince (Prince Robot IV).  One time after taking the wrong drug in college, I thought someone was following me.  When I told my roommate (who was/is gay), he said, "is he cute?"  There's a tendency to believe that everyone is like you, and the creators of Saga are very aware of this.  

The lettering used for Prince Robot IV and his son is so distinctive that merely seeing the lettering, I knew that one of the Robots would be on the next page.  A less formal lettering is used for the rest of the characters when they're speaking an intelligible language, and of course, Hazel's narration is in a more child-like lettering.  Unintelligible languages that are translated are in different font colors, and when the ghost talks, the font is red.  The lettering is done by Fonografiks.  The artwork, which is gorgeous, is by Fiona Staples.  Saga has been one of my favorite comics for a long time.