It's been three years since the last issue of Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples's Image Comics series Saga was released, with the promise of an eventual return after a brief hiatus. Readers who've been holding their breaths in anticipation of an announcement can finally exhale, as today, in front of a packed crowd during the "In Conversation with Brian K. Vaughan" panel it was announced that Saga will finally return in January 2022.

"It's been a long, strange, hard hiatus," Vaughan said. Vaughan was joined during the panel by Staples, who appeared via video for the Saga return date announcement. "I'm here in my studio working on Saga," she said, before revealing the January return date for the series, which had originally been rumored to be coming back in the spring.

Saga debuted from Image Comics in 2012 and ran for 54 issues before going on hiatus in 2018. The series has been collected into nine softcover trade paperbacks, three deluxe edition hardcovers, and a softcover compendium that includes every issue of the series so far. In 2019, along with the announcement of the compendium, Vaughan told EW that Saga will run for 108 issues total. Vaughan has also said that the reason for the hiatus was so that he and Staples could bank multiple issues of the series ahead of time and release them without delays.

Since its debut Saga has been nominated for more than a dozen Eisner awards, winning multiple times for Best Continuing Series, Best Writer for Vaughan, and Best Artist for Staples. The series has also won numerous Harvey Awards, as well as a Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story in 2013.

Look for the return of Saga next year.

With additional on-site reporting by Greg Silber.