The Saga of Brian K. Vaughan

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This is the one where I tell you that canceled TV show you saw, the one-season wonder while scrolling endlessly through streaming sites, or that forgotten Marvel Television adaptation no one talks about, is 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 a 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 became one of the sharpest voices in the medium. His work blends high-concept premises with deeply human emotion, 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 Brian K. Vaughan? 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 see if we can find a flaw and finally break his streak!

Saga with Fiona Staples

Oh, so he's the mastermind 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 with a television for a head, a cat that knows when you’re lying, and way too many weird, sexy aliens.

It’s brutal. It’s hilarious. It’s devastating. And in the midst of this beautiful chaos, at the center is one of the most heartfelt and human stories ever put to the page. 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 it will deliciously get you when you least expect it.

I remember reading that Brian purposely makes this as unadaptable for Hollywood as he possibly can. He’s unapologetic about writing comics for comics. So, no—this is not how we break him.

How can you read Saga?

It's available in every 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 all 60+ issues in one weekend and was completely entranced. 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 really 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 more can I say?

Ex Machina with Tony Harris

The gist this time? Well, what if a superhero was elected mayor of New York? I think most can agree this taps into themes we’ve seen before about how heroes would fare within a real political system (think back to classics 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 dubs himself "The Great Machine." But soon, he realizes that being a superhero is actually more of a logistical and practical nightmare. So, he does the next logical thing: he runs for mayor of New York City - and wins. And quickly, he begins to understand the real nightmares that come with it.

This reads like The West Wing meets Vertigo, and if you’re both a comic and TV buff, this sentence alone should be enough. Brian K. is writing in a post-9/11 America, with the simple twist that these machine-controlling men could have saved one of the towers.

It’s very much a story about the risks of rising technology, a shift in the hands of power, and the decadence of the American Dream in the 21st century. And considering the technocracy we’re living in today, it almost feels premonitory, and dare I say… it reads even better knowing what we know now?

If one of the core themes of superhero stories has always been the balance of power, then this is the perfect lens through which to explore a massive shift in it. It's about 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 like a The Wire-type thriller mixed with a debate about the use of the N-word on an Abraham Lincoln portrait in a city-funded museum. Very early-2000s author television. If that sounds like a must-read to you, like it does to me, see you on the other side.

And, of course, it is full of insane plot twists.

Well, you can't make and cancel a TV show if my comic is already structured like a TV show. Points for Brian K. Vaughan. 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 doesn’t read like something trying to surf on a wave of popularity. Instead, it’s Brian K. Vaughan’s take on the same '80s nostalgia that The Duffer Brothers were tapping into when making the Netflix show. The time travel element serves as a great analogy and lens through which to explore that nostalgia.

Set in the late '80s, Paper Girls kicks off with four 12-year-old paper delivery girls (Erin, Mac, Tiffany, and KJ) who find 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 perfect setup for something that Brian K. Vaughan is a master at: insane reveals and twists and turns. It keeps building and building until it explodes right in the characters' faces.

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, it also has some unapologetic LGBTQ+ representation.

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

It can also be collected in three beautiful Deluxe Editions or the always perfect, reliable and affordable compendium Paper Girls Complete Compendium. This is the one to get for younger audiences, but that doesn’t mean it shies away from very complex stories.

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

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) but sometimes they are forgotten almost immediately (Bye, Gravity and Reptil, will never forget you guys).

Marvel's Runaways, 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 were secret supervillains? Well, they’d runaway and rebel against them, of course. Add superpowers to the mix, and you’ve got a recipe for something special. Look, rebellious teens were the way characters 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 expectations while also breaking away from them. The characters feel messy, flawed, and relatable. And the power set? It can only be described as 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 and the snappy younger kid, and Gert… well, she has a telepathic raptor.

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 lands with emotional weight. He makes you fall in love with these kids… which means when things go bad (and they do), you really feel it.

Without Runaways, we probably wouldn’t have Young Avengers as we know them, or even things like Ms. Marvel and Spider-Verse leaning so heavily 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 favorite page-turns of all time, and it’s tied to that big reveal. You’ll 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 might seem counterproductive for a comic shop to recommend, but it would feel like cheating not to mention it here. Plus, it’s my manifesto for reprints (it should be an evergreen).

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

VOTE FOR A RUNAWAYS REPRINT!

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

What’s 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 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 on. 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.)

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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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