After a lengthy hiatus, Saga is back. Fiona Staples' art is still stunning and flawless, and there are some new story dimensions added. We see Hazel and Squire (Prince Robot IV's son) as children, with Hazel gaining her own interests and becoming increasingly independent. Their relationship was one of the most interesting parts of this arc for me. We also get to see Alana's new survival strategy, and more character depth for the members of the Robot royal court. Brian K. Vaughan continues to be good at balancing suspense and emotional pain with moments of joy and love, even if we didn't get much time to get attached to some of the new characters.

Still, Volume 9 ended with a huge bang and left me with big feels that, to be honest, have since faded quite a bit. While I was still here for every cell, every page of this volume, it didn't quite capture the magic for me in the way that I had felt to this point. I'm hoping it'll build back up with the comic coming out more regularly, and I'm still committed to seeing where the story ends up, if only for Lying Cat.