The Seasons #1 Review

 

Writer: Rick Remender

Artist: Paul Azaceta

Colorist: Matheus Lopes

Letterer: Rus Wooton

Cover Artists: Paul Azaceta, Jordi Lafebre, Kent Williams & Wes Craig

Editor/Designer: Harper Jaten

Designer/Production: Erika Schnatz

Assistant Editor: Gabe Dinger

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: January 29, 2025

 

Spring Seasons has three sisters. Summer and Winter live with her in New Gaulia. She hasn’t heard from Autumn in weeks. When she gets a letter from Autumn, Spring can’t wait to read it. But a gust of wind snatches the letter away. Can Spring recapture her sister’s letter? And how might Autumn’s message relate to other mysterious events occurring in her world? Let's leap onto our scooters, zoom into The Seasons #1, and find out!

 

Story

Autumn Seasons is a senior correspondent for The Global Gazette. She has written about the silence that has fallen on Neocairo. Air Traffic Control no longer communicates with arriving airplanes. No one responds to telegrams. People who travel there do not return.

 

Recently, Autumn has gone as silent as Neocairo. So when Spring gets a letter from Autumn, and the wind blows it out of her hands, Spring hops onto her scooter. She slips between pedestrians and forces them to move out of her way. Her antics provoke outrage and endanger her future as a letter carrier.

 

Spring speaks as readily to animals and birds as she does to Humans. Perhaps she understands their vocalizations. Spring lives in a world separated from us by time in The Seasons #1. Names like New Gualia, Neocairo, Lilve River, and the University of Rexandria suggest an alternative history. Spring's world resembles ours from a century ago. Yet modern plastic bins line New Gaulian streets on trash pickup days. Workers use jetpacks instead of cherry pickers and cranes.

 

Rick Remender ushers us into a world that has known war. Yet, people get on with their lives. They wear fine clothes and uniforms when they venture outside in New Gaulia. They purchase muffins, breads, and cakes from Pat's Bakery. Readers can procure the latest vampire novel and coffee in a disposable cup from Beans N Books. A billboard promotes perfume.

 

While no one complains when the circus hits town, perhaps they should. In The Seasons #1, Neocairo fell silent when the circus left town. No one there rides a scooter through the wreckage-strewn streets. Nor do they enjoy a muffin and coffee while reading the latest vampire novel.

 

Art

Spring races down the cobblestone street past stores and shoppers. Her scooter hits the crest of the road and hurtles into the air. Spring's braids and jacket catch the wind as she races downhill. Spring bumps onto the curb and knocks hats, purses, and boxes into the air. Gilbert splashes from the water-filled globe strapped to Spring's scooter in The Seasons #1. Then Spring demonstrates feats that evoke action in the big tent as she pursues an envelope covered in stamps.

 

Compared with Spring’s frantic actions in New Gaulia, the inhabitants of Neocairo are more sedate. They sprawl on the ground. People slump against walls. Most stare into a hand mirror and smile. While Matheus Lopes paints New Gaulia in lively pastels, Neocairo burns with yellow, orange, tan, and brown. Only the festive circus brings vibrancy to the desert town. Camels lie in rubble-strewn streets, fires burn, and smoke rises into the sky.

 

Like the mirrors that fascinate Neocairo's inhabitants, purple invades Autumn’s black and orange passenger car. But Paul Azaceta leaves the windows blank in The Seasons #1 as Autumn writes her letter. After writing Urgent in big red letters, the reporter affixes stamps to an envelope.

 

Autumn writes italicized lowercase letters onto scraps of beige parchment. People express their concerns with uppercase white letters. Rus Wooton enlivens Spring's racing, flying, and crashing with enlarged colored dialogue and vibrant sound effects. But the small, lowercase excerpts from Autumn's report squeeze into off-white boxes. Barking fills the air in Neocairo, expressing outrage at the departing circus. Thanks to Image Comics and Giant Generator for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

In The Seasons #1, a traveling circus infects spectators with a strange malaise. Spring Seasons yearns to learn what Autumn has discovered about her troubled family. But Autumn's letter arrives as a circus hits town, and a clown gives Spring a gift.

 

Rating 9.4/10

 

For a look inside, more covers, and creator interviews see my preview for The Seasons #1.

 

This review was originally published on Comic Book Dispatch.