Saga Reading Guide: Where to Start, How to Follow the Series

Saga launched on March 14, 2012 from Image Comics. Brian K. Vaughan (writer) and Fiona Staples (artist and colourist) follow Alana and Marko — two enemy soldiers turned lovers — hunted across the galaxy by forces from both sides of an endless war. The narrator is their daughter Hazel, born in the first issue. The series blends space opera with philosophical parable, graphic violence and unsentimental tenderness, in a register its creators have described as impossible to translate to screen. Vaughan has stated that Saga was created specifically for the comics medium — "to do absolutely everything I couldn't do in a movie or a TV show" — and as of 2026 no film or television adaptation exists.

This guide sticks to the verifiable: edition dates and contents confirmed by Image Comics and specialist sources, market data from our eBay estimator (eBay.fr + eBay.com, June 2026), and documented records. One methodological note: any eBay median based on fewer than 15 listings is not cited as a price reference — several key issues in this run are too thinly represented to produce reliable figures.

Series structure: volumes, arcs, and the overall plan

Saga is published as monthly single issues, grouped into six-chapter story arcs collected as trade paperbacks. Nine volumes cover issues #1–54 — the complete first half of the series according to Vaughan, who has confirmed a total of 108 issues planned. The series is conceived as a diptych: two halves of 54 chapters each.

Where to start: Volume 1 or the Compendium?

Volume 1 (issues #1–6) is the canonical entry point. It reads in roughly ninety minutes, establishes every major character, and gives an accurate sense of the series' register — graphic, funny, human, violent. It is also the natural test: if Volume 1 does not land, the series probably is not for you; if it hooks you, the next 48 issues will follow quickly.

Compendium One (August 2019, 1,328 pages, $59.99 cover price) is the solution for readers who want to commit immediately to the complete first half. It is also the most cost-effective format per page. Its practical drawback is bulk: 1,300 pages make this a weighty object, better suited to reading at home than on the move. The Compendium includes a new cover drawn by Fiona Staples specifically for the edition.

Single issues carry their own collector interest. Issue #1 was under-ordered — approximately 37,641 copies for the first print according to Comichron data — sold out before its March 14, 2012 release date, and ran to five printings. Our eBay estimator returns a median of €6 across 46 listings for all copies of the #1 currently in circulation, but that figure blends all five printings and must not be read as the value of the first print. The first print is identified by the orange lettering of the "Saga" title on the cover.

The hiatus (2018–2022) and the return

On July 25, 2018, issue #54 was published, closing the first half of the series on a significant cliffhanger. Vaughan and Staples announced a pause with no stated return date. The hiatus coincided with the 2019 release of Compendium One, which packaged all 54 published issues into a single volume.

On October 9, 2021, at New York Comic Con, Vaughan and Staples announced the series would return in January 2022. Issue #55 — a double-length, 44-page issue — was published on January 26, 2022 and relaunched the series. The continuity is direct: the story picks up exactly where issue #54 left off. Our eBay estimator returns only 4 listings for issue #55: the volume is insufficient for a reliable median, though demand at release was strong.

The issue that made headlines: Saga #12

Issue #12 became the centre of a notable controversy in 2013: ComiXology temporarily removed it from its iOS app, believing — incorrectly — that Apple would reject it for its graphic content. ComiXology later acknowledged it had self-censored in anticipation of a policy it had misread; Apple had raised no objection. The episode was widely covered in the specialist press and highlighted the tension between the series' editorial freedom and the content policies of digital distribution platforms. The issue was reinstated promptly. Our estimator returns only 2 listings for this issue: no eBay median is cited.

Critical recognition: the Eisner Awards

Saga accumulated Eisner Awards — the industry's most prestigious recognition — with unusual consistency: Best Continuing Series in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017; Best Writer for Vaughan in 2013, 2014 and 2017; and multiple honours for Fiona Staples, including Best Painter/Multimedia Artist in 2014, Best Penciller/Inker in 2015 and 2017, and Best Cover Artist in 2017. This record of critical recognition, combined with the under-printed #1 and the deliberate absence of any screen adaptation, shapes the series' market dynamic: value is grounded in the work itself, not franchise spin-offs.

The variant to know: the Diamond Retailer Summit cover

Outside the standard print run, there is a variant of issue #1 distributed exclusively to retailers at the Diamond Retailer Summit before the C2E2 convention in March 2012: approximately 500 copies in existence, with a different cover zoomed in on the three main characters. In CGC 9.8 grade, documented market value sits around $2,500 per GoCollect data. This variant does not circulate through conventional retail channels and belongs squarely to the advanced collector market.