Writer: Rick Remender
Artist: Paul Azaceta
Colorist: Matheus Lopes
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Cover Artists: Paul Azaceta & Ben Caldwell
Editor/Designer: Harper Jaten
Designer/Production: Erika Schnatz
Assistant Editor: Gabe Dinger
Publisher: Image Comics
Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 26, 2025
Autumn Seasons sent her youngest sister a letter. The world-traveling investigative journalist claimed she knew what happened to their parents. Autumn warned Spring that the family was in danger, but Winter refused to leave town. Then someone broke into their home, rifled through Spring’s mailbag, and left an invitation to the Magical Carnival. Will Spring Seasons attend the circus that left Neocairo lifeless? Or will Winter have a change of heart? Let's leap onto our scooters, ride into The Seasons #3, and find out!
Story
Spring Seasons dreams of becoming a chef. Her job as a letter courier pays the mortgage in her parents and sisters' absence. While Winter toils over paintings in her studio each day, Spring rises early, cleans the house, delivers letters, attends school, delivers more letters, eats dinner alone, and (hopefully) does her homework before falling asleep. It's unfair, but the young girl does her best, even if no one else appreciates her hard work.
Winter upends a barrel of emotions on Spring in The Seasons #3. She claims the other sisters wanted to send Spring to boarding school, but she protected Spring's interests by keeping her at home. After reproving Spring for another interruption, Winter adopts kindness. Rick Remender portrays Winter as a woman who claims to be loving. Yet she manipulates Spring by constantly changing the rules and casts the blame for any problems in the relationship on her younger sister.
The residents of New Gaulia celebrate Winter’s painting, Autumn’s adventuring, and Summer’s modeling. Compared with her sisters’ glittering accomplishments, Spring seems like a disappointment. Their anger over Spring’s disregard for their safety while pursuing Winter’s letter is understandable. Yet they all treat Spring as chattel in The Seasons #3, readily disposed of when her irritations exceed the benefits she provides them.
Art
A hill separates the Seasons’ home from the circus tents in New Gaulia. When Spring parks her scooter outside the façade of Snail Mail, Mr Jelacker leans over his desk and points at her. Two finely dressed women surround Spring with bags of clothing when she returns to her scooter. Spring turns to regard a frowning Chimney King, clad in his cap and jetpack. He stands with hands on hips before toting up sums on his mechanical calculator. All the while, and after another member of the town turns his back on the "disrespectful ragamuffin," Gilbert gazes up at her with wide eyes from the bowl bungee-strapped onto her scooter.
Matheus Lopes adorns Paul Azeceta’s classic illustrations with a bright, cheery palette in The Seasons #3. When night falls, subdued yellow, green, and orange surround Spring in a darkened room. When she ventures out, the flickering candle projects a globe of yellow. Greens, blues, browns, and yellows enliven a brighter room that evokes a museum storeroom. An orange book and antics akin to Indiana Jones suggest which sister has most influenced Spring.
Rus Wooton broadcasts this story from a parallel Earth in 1924 using uppercase black letters in white dialogue balloons. The letters swell, grow bold, change color for emphasis, and rarely shrink. Spring's hero wages war on villains and schemers in starry balloons with lightning bolt arrows. Sound effects help us hear a slamming door, a shocking theft, a distant crash, and a magical transformation in The Seasons #3. Thanks to Image Comics and Giant Generator for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
While Winter strives for perfection, she claims that nothing matters. Her sisters Autumn and Summer travel the world, performing prestigious jobs, but send no money home. Spring's vivid imagination may have helped her stave off loneliness after her parents’ death. But the girl’s enthusiasm for life and devotion to her family proves her undoing when the Magical Carnival comes to town in The Seasons #3.
Rating 9.8/10
To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
