In March 2012 Image Comics published the first issue of Saga, an ongoing series conceived by writer Brian K.

She also provides painted covers, and hand-letters the narration (using her own handwriting), which is the final work she does after finishing the artwork on a page.

Staples, who had previously provided variant covers for the publisher, contributed her distinctive drawing style, rather than Archie's house style, and designed "a new look and an edgier tone" for the Archie comic book, whose storylines will portray the character in darker, more complicated situations, though not necessarily for a strictly adult audience.

In Saga, Staples inks only the figures in pen-and-ink, using a lot of self-shot photo references to finalize the poses, which she does not use in the thumbnail stage.

She then imports the art into Photoshop, which she uses to paint the backgrounds entirely in colour,[17] to achieve a look inspired by video games and Japanese animation.

[12] At the 2012 Image Expo, Staples described the process by which she produces the art as harkening back to animation cels, in which emphasis is placed on figures and backgrounds.

[11] The organic forms of most of the series' technology, for example, such as the main characters' wooden rocket ship, is derived from Staples's dislike of drawing mechanical objects.

[14] Staples's work on Saga received wide acclaim from numerous reviewers,[19] with Ain't it Cool News characterizing it as "glorious",[20] and P.S.

Hayes of Geeks of Doom praising her art as "amazing", saying, "From the gorgeous painted cover all the way through the last page, she delivers in every way that’s artistically possible.

Alex Zalben of MTV Geek predicted readers would "fall head over heels in love" with it,[22] and Greg McElhatton of Comic Book Resources positively compared it to that of Leinil Francis Yu, specifically her use of delicate lines to frame characters with large, bold figures, and her mixture of the familiar and the foreign together in her character designs to create a visually cohesive universe.