The Saga of Brian K. Vaughan

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This is the one where I tell you that one-season cancelled TV Show you saw while scrolling endless on streaming sites, or that one forgotten Marvel Television adaptation that no one talks about are actually based on some of the most badass work ever written in modern comics.

The bad luck this guy has with live-action adaptations is a stark contrast to his incredible talent for crafting genre-defining, intricate, and complete narratives. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the stage: Brian K. Vaughan!

Brian is an absolute powerhouse of modern storytelling. An architect of worlds, a dealer of heartbreak, and a master of the unexpected twist. Born in 1976, he broke into comics in the late '90s and quickly established himself as one of the sharpest voices in the medium. His work is a cocktail of high-concept premises and deeply human emotion mixed with razor-sharp dialogue and gut-punching moments.

Brian K. Vaughan is the guy whose stories Hollywood keeps trying - and failing - to adapt. But on the page? Unstoppable. We comic fans love to roast our favorite writers when they slip up, but BKV? He’s left us no weak spots to exploit. Oh, and he co-wrote Lost for a while, because, of course, he did.

Now let's check-out his work (and let's see if we can find a flaw and break his streak!!!)

Saga with Fiona Staples

Oh, so he's the mind behind the best comic book of the century? Yes, no biggie. This is just the space saga Star Wars wish it could be.

Jokes aside, Saga is what happens when George Lucas, Dune, Shakespeare and a mushroom trip get smashed together at full speed. It’s a space opera, a war story, a love story, and a straight-up bonkers adventure, all rolled into one. And it has nudity. Space nudity.

Saga follows Alana and Marko, two star-crossed lovers from opposite sides of a never-ending intergalactic war. She’s a no-nonsense soldier with wings, he’s a magic-wielding warrior with horns, and together they do the one thing no one from their warring species has ever dared: fall in love and have a baby (and we see how they made that baby right away, if you know what i mean). That baby, Hazel, is born into a universe that wants her dead, and the series is told through her eyes as she and her fugitive parents dodge bounty hunters, robot royalty that had a television for a head, a cat that knows when you are lying and way too many weird, sexy aliens.

It's brutal. It’s hilarious. It’s devastating and in this beautiful chaos, at the center is one of the most heartfelt and human stories ever put to the page. And Fiona Staples is a rock-star on the art and the whole thing feels like if George Orwell wrote songs for The Beatles.

This WILL get you, and will deliciously get you when you are looking away.

And I remember reading that Brian purposely makes this as unadaptable for Hollywood as he could. He's unapologetic writing comics for comics. So no, this is not how we break him.

How can you read Saga?

It's available in every way shape and form.

Trade Paperbacks:

A Saga TP Bundle collecting Volume 1 to 11 for 99€ (instead of 164€!).

Three Deluxe Hardcover Editions:

Or one big and price-worthy Softcover Compendium collecting the whole first phase of the well, Saga.

Also it is still being published in singles with a roadmap for it's ending in sight.

Y: The Last Man with Pia Guerra

What would the world look like if an apocalyptic event suddenly wiped out all men? (Aside from significantly less complaining.)

Well, except for one man. And let's make this guy the worst possible option while we're at it . Yorick is that guy, that one friend you have that has no job - well, he's trying to make it as a escape artist, almost as bad as trying to make it as a comic writer. And he has a pet monkey. Because of course he does.

Now, Yorick is the most valuable, and most hunted, person alive. Scientists, mercenaries, cults, and government agents all want a piece of him.

Brian K. Vaughan takes us on this high-stakes road trip alongside Yorick, Dr. Allison Mann (determined to uncover why he survived), and her formidable bodyguard, Agent 355. While the story offers a deep and thought-provoking exploration of gender and its role in society, at its heart, it’s a beautifully crafted character study on growth, responsibility, and love.

Y The Last Man is a very fun thriller that will punch you in the gut when you are, you guessed it, looking away. Even though you will hardly-ever look away, because Pia's art is incredible.

And yes, another book featuring one of the best pencilers in the business. Not “one of the best female pencilers” because that would be ridiculous, especially in the context of this story. Though, ironically, it’s exactly the kind of thing Yorick would say without realizing how dumb it sounds.

The ending here is absolute perfection. I read this whole 60+ issues thing in one weekend and was just entranced by it. It’s the kind of story that makes the hours disappear in an instant.

How can you read Y The Last Man?

There's a huge Y The Last Man Omnibus (although out of print) but the story is also collected in five Trade Paperbacks:

and in two (again, price worthy) compendiums:

It's very sad that the FX adaptation of this failed but we don't need this revolution to be televised, because it's comicsized (is that a word?). Yeah, no flaw here. There's a monkey, what can I say?

Ex Machina with Tony Harris

The gist this time? Well, what if a superhero was elected mayor of NY? I feel like most can say that this is very evocative of themes we saw in the past regarding how heroes would fare with a real political system (going back even to the classic of all classic graphic novels like Watchmen) but trust me, this is different.

The story follows Mitchell Hundred, a former civil engineer who, after an accident involving an alien-looking device, gains the ability to communicate with machines and promptly calls himself, "The Great Machine," and… promptly realizes that being a superhero is actually more a logistical and practical nightmare. So, he does the next logical thing: he runs for mayor of New York City, and wins. And soon, he comes to understand the nightmares that come with it.

This reads like West Wing meets Vertigo and if you are both a comic and tv buff this sentence alone is enough. Brian K. is writing in a post-911 America with the simple twist of these machine-controlling men being able to save one of the towers. It's very much a tale of the risk of rising technology, a shift in the hands of power and the decadence of the American Dream ideal in the 21st century. And seeing the technocracy that we are inserted today, it feels almost premonitory and even dare I say.. reads better knowing what we know today?

If one of the core themes of superhero stories has always been the balance of power, then this makes for the perfect lens through which to explore a massive shift in it. It's a guy trying to do good but realizing that good is very much a political issue.

I’d say it's much more of a dialogue-driven, House of Cards-type narrative rather than an action-packed story in every issue.

The first-arc is a The Wire type thriller mixed in with a debate about the use of the N-Word on a Abraham Lincoln portrait in a city-funded museum. Very early-2000s author television. If that sounds to you like a must read thing like it does to me, see you on the other side.

And again, insane plot twists.

Well, you can't make and cancel a TV Show if my comic it's already structured like a TV Show. Points for BKV. No flaws. (wait, can you?)

There's an Ex-Machina Omnibus collecting the whole story but the story can also be collected in two compendiums:

Brian K. Vaughan is all about these easy to read complete full experience compendiums.

Paper Girls with Cliff Chiang

This is the kind of comic that fans like me point to when we say, “Oh, you like Stranger Things? You have to check this out.” It's that perfect gateway for convincing that one stubborn friend who definitely would love comics, but just can't seem to pick one up. And of course, I should add, “AND THERE'S TIME TRAVEL!!!”

Stranger Things is a valid comparison but also not entirely fair, mostly because Paper Girls does not read like something that is trying to surf on a wave of popularity. Instead being Brian K. Vaughan take on the similar 80s nostalgia that The Duffer Brothers also were looking at when making the Netflix show. With the time travel being a great analogy and lenses to look at that nostalgia.

Set in the late '80s, it kicks off with four 12-year-old paper delivery girls (Erin, Mac, Tiffany, and KJ) finding themselves caught in the crossfire of a secret war between rival time-traveling factions. Next thing they know, they’re jumping through timelines, dodging futuristic soldiers, running into their own future selves, and trying to piece together WTF is happening before reality itself gets rewritten. This is a great plate for something that BKV is a master at, the insane reveals and twists and turns. It keeps building and building until it explodes in the character's face.

The lost 80s iconography of paper delivery kids, often more closely associated with boys, serves as both a cozy nostalgia trip and a sharp disruption of that nostalgia. It’s a reflection on who we were, who we thought we should be, and just how fragile all of that can be. One could say it’s as fragile as paper itself, yet, like paper, it has a surprising potential to endure and persist through time. It's about friendship and love - and yes, more LGBTQ+ unapologetic representation.

It's a tight and perfect 30 issues story, available in six Trade Paperbacks:

or three beautiful Deluxe Editions and the always perfect, reliable and affordable BKV Paper Girls Complete Compendium. This is the one to get for younger audiences, but that doesn't mean it shy away from very complex stories.

The TV show wasn't Stranger Things and got cancelled - another wonderful story people won't get the ending to. Wait a minute, they can pick up a comic book. “It's like Stranger Things” you can say to your friend. No flaw. Point to BKV.

Runaways with Adrian Alphona

Oh he wrote Marvel too?

Yes. And this one is near and dear to my heart as one of my Top 10 Marvel Runs of ALL-TIME.

Marvel is always creating young superheroes to captivate new audiences, sometimes they stay (Hello, Miles and Kamala) and but sometimes they shine bright and are forgotten almost immediately (Bye, Gravity and Reptil, will never forget you guys). This, as the already quoted, along with Allan Heinberg's excellent Young Avengers, are the outliers.

Part of this is because of the cool premise. What if a group of teens discovered that their parents are secret super villains? Well, they would Runaway and rebel against them of course. Add super powers to the mix. Look, rebellious was the way teens were written at the time and this type of book comes with very specific expectations.

Brian K. Vaughan strikes a magic balance of attending to those while breaking with them. The characters feel messy, flawed and relatable. And the power set cannot be described in any other way than fun. Alex is the strategist, Nico has a magic staff that does whatever you say, but only once, Chase is the jock with stolen flame gauntlets, Karolina is a literal alien, Molly is a super-strong mutant snappy younger kid, and Gert… well, she has a telepathic raptor. What can I say?

Runaways proved that you didn’t need big-name superheroes to tell a gripping Marvel story. It’s self-contained, easy to jump into, and doesn’t rely on decades of continuity. You could hand this to someone who’s never read a comic, and they’d be hooked.

Vaughan nails that mix of humor, heartbreak, and adventure. The dialogue is snappy, the plot twists actually twist, and every arc hits with emotional weight. He makes you fall in love with these kids… which means when things go bad (and they do), you feel it. Without Runaways, we probably wouldn’t have the Young Avengers as we know them, or even stuff like Ms. Marvel and the Spider-Verse leaning so hard into youthful, outsider perspectives. It’s that influential. Alphona went on to co-create Kamala as well so yes, he's also my one true promised king.

It's an incredible premise with fun characters. And it has one of my favourite page-turns of all-time and it has to do with that big reveal. You know it when you get there. Go read this.

It's out of print but there's an omnibus and a complete collection out there and it's worth the wait for a reprint. I know this is counter productive for a comic shop to recommend to you but it would feel like cheating, to not mention this here and at least it's my manifesto for reprints (it should be an ever-green).

Vote for it whenever Omar and the fine folks at Near Mint Condition take their annual Marvel Omnibus reprint. Yes, this is my political campaign now.

VOTE BKV-Y FOR REPRINT-Y!

(The TV show is ok, Brian K. Vaughan is involved, but in their attempt to lean too much on The O.C aspects of the story makes the punky-fun rebel attitude kinda stalled) Is this a point for him anyway? Yes!

What is the score again? Oh, it doesn't matter.

The truth is: Brian K. Vaughan doesn't need Hollywood

And that, my friends, is the Brian K. Vaughan experience. A writer so good, so consistently brilliant, that Hollywood keeps fumbling his work like a cursed artifact they were never meant to hold. He also has an underrated run on Batman, a run on the Ultimate X- Men, Swamp Thing and an awesome Mystique solo series.

Brian K. Vaughan delivers every. single. time. His stories hit you in the gut, make you laugh, make you cry, and make you wish you could experience them all over again for the first time. So go. Read Saga. Read Y: The Last Man. Read Paper Girls, Runaways, Ex Machina. Read all of it. And then come back and tell me if you found a flaw. (You won’t.)

Written by Matheus

Hey, I’m Matheus.

I’m a writer and filmmaker from Brazil! If I’m not reading comics you can probably find me trying to see everything that comes out in my local cinema, giving a lecture (again) on Kamala Khan to my boyfriend or, most likely, researching reading orders for characters that I want to read next (I’ll get to you someday Doctor Fate!! I promise, my king).

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