The comic was described in solicitations as "Star Wars meets A Game of Thrones",[1] evocative of both science fiction and fantasy epics such as The Lord of the Rings, as well as classic works like Romeo and Juliet.

"[14] He was inspired by such influences as Star Wars,[13] Flash Gordon, and children's books, and has also invoked the awe and wonder of first seeing the Silver Surfer, which seemed an "incredible and different" concept to him.

"[14][16] Vaughan, who intended to return to writing a comics series following the 2010 conclusion of his previous series, Ex Machina, and who notes that the publication of Saga #1 coincided with the birth of his daughter,[14] saw parallels between the caution advised by colleagues against launching a new book in the poor economy and those who cautioned against bringing a new child into the world, observing:[13] I realized that making comics and making babies were kind of the same thing and if I could combine the two, it would be less boring if I set it in a crazy sci-fi fantasy universe and not just have anecdotes about diaper bags ...

Saga is a really important story to me, so I wanted a guarantee of no content restrictions or other creative interference, and I needed to maintain 100% control and ownership of all non-publishing rights with the artist, including the right to never have our comic turned into a movie or television show or whatever ... [Image Publisher] Eric Stephenson was the only publisher I spoke with who was thrilled to make that deal, and co-creator Fiona Staples and I didn't have to sign exclusives or agree to work on a bunch of corporate-owned titles to get it.

In addition to designing all the characters,[14] vehicles, and alien races in the story, she provides painted covers and hand-letters Hazel's narration using her own handwriting, which is the last thing she does after finishing the artwork on a page.

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

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

Because Vaughan sees Saga as a story about Hazel, he and Staples decided to have each new hardcover volume feature an original image of that character at a different stage of her life.

[16] Marko and Alana's respective people are incredulous when it is suggested that they have voluntarily mated[38][39] and they are pursued by forces in service of both Wreath and Landfall, both because of the perceived betrayal of the two fugitives and to prevent knowledge of their pairing from spreading and damaging morale among their troops.

Marko is successfully healed, and explains that he was engaged to Gwendolyn when he met Alana, but that they had grown apart as a result of his growing pacifism and her staunch patriotism.

The third Volume, beginning in August 2013, which Vaughan intended as a "big tonal shift",[14] introduces the amphibian tabloid journalists Upsher and Doff, as they pursue their own investigation of Alana and Marko, who take refuge at the lighthouse home of author D. Oswald Heist.

On Quietus, Marko and Alana are confronted with the reality that they will soon need to get actual jobs if they are ever to provide Hazel with a fulfilling childhood, while Heist and Klara begin a tentative courtship.

Left in a fugue state by head injuries sustained during the fight, Prince Robot is manipulated by Izabel into rescuing Klara from the burning lighthouse.

Alana is working, through a favor from D. Oswald Heist's ex-wife Yuma, in an underground theatre company called the Open Circuit whose shows, projected across the galaxy, are a combination of soap opera and superhero content.

The family's rocketship has set down in a frozen region of a planet, where Dengo meets with members of The Last Revolution, a radical anti-war group, who wish to use Hazel as a pawn in their campaign against Landfall and Wreath.

Meanwhile, as Marko and Prince Robot IV struggle to maintain their alliance while in pursuit of their kidnapped loved ones, Alana and Yuma both deal with the consequences of their use of the drug Fadeaway.

Vaughan stated in an interview that Petrichor would continue to play an important role in Hazel's development, and that what has happened to The Will is another subplot explored in the arc.

[48] The ninth Volume, collecting issues 49–54, centers around the ongoing dynamics between the family and their allied companions, which is complicated by the presence of their pursuers and building up to a shocking finale that sees the deaths of several characters.

The tenth Volume, collecting issues 55–60, marks the beginning of Book Four of the series and sees a significant time jump in the narrative relative to the number of years Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples have gone on hiatus.

The family and their allies have gone their separate ways since the traumatic events from the previous Volume, with this story arc primarily focusing on Alana struggling as a now single parent trying to make ends meet for Hazel and Squire who are now preteens.

The eleventh Volume, collecting issues 61–66, is set six months after the end of the previous arc and follows three key storylines: Alana's resolve to improve the fortunes of her family, Gwendolyn's plan to sway the Robot Kingdom's allegiances over to Wreath, and Agent Gale being forced by Landfall's government to finish the mission of eliminating Hazel and the allies associated with her during the course of the series.

[82] The first chapter was widely acclaimed in publications such as Publishers Weekly,[83] MTV, Ain't it Cool News, Complex magazine, Comic Book Resources, iFanboy and ComicsAlliance; they all praised Vaughan's ability to incorporate elements of different genres, establishing the vast setting and mythology, and introducing characters that engaged the reader.

[2][3][4][5][84] AICN singled-out the use of the newborn Hazel as a lone individual to chronicle large-scale events from a past perspective,[3] and Alex Zalben of MTV Geek remarking that he could hear a John Williams score as he read the book.

[1] Also widely praised was Fiona Staples' artwork, which was characterized as "glorious",[3] with Zalben predicting that readers would "fall head over heels in love" with it,[2] and Greg McElhatton of Comic Book Resources positively comparing it to that of Leinil Francis Yu, specifically her use of delicate lines to frame characters with large, bold figures and Staples' mixture of the familiar and the foreign together in her character designs to create a visually cohesive universe.

[89] In August 2013, Douglas Wolk of Time magazine referred to the series as a "breakout hit", calling it "mischievous, vulgar and gloriously inventive.

"[14] Joseph McCabe of The Nerdist included the hardcover Saga Deluxe Edition Volume 1 in that site's Top 5 Comic Reprint Collections of 2014.

[122] Later that June, Skybound announced that at the following month's San Diego Comic-Con, it would debut action figures based on the two lead characters, Alana and Marko, by McFarlane Toys.

Vinyl figures of Lying Cat, Alana, Marko, Izabel, Prince Robot IV and The Will from Funko and Skybound Entertainment, available in February 2018.

In "Pac-Man Fever", the April 24, 2013 episode of the American TV series Supernatural, the character Charlie Bradbury (played by Felicia Day) is seen wearing a Lying Cat T-shirt.

[126] The controversial cover of the comic's first chapter was referenced in "The Meemaw Materialization", the February 4, 2016 episode of the American TV sitcom The Big Bang Theory.