The Seasons #4 Review

 

Writer: Rick Remender

Artist: Paul Azaceta

Colorist: Matheus Lopes

Letterer: Rus Wooton

Cover Artists: Paul Azaceta; Max Fuimara & Dave McCaig

Editor/Designer: Harper Jaten

Designer/Production: Erika Schnatz

Assistant Editor: Gabe Dinger

Publisher: Image Comics

Price: $3.99

Release Date: April 30, 2025

 

Winter Seasons loves her younger sister. So when her parents disappear, and Summer and Autumn want to send Spring to boarding school, Winter agrees to be her sister’s guardian. But Spring continually interrupts her work. Her youngest sister craves attention and makes up fantasy diversions. When she hears Spring yelling and leaves her room to investigate, Winter finds the entry hall a mess. Mail lies scattered on the floor. Her youngest sister is cleaning up a broken window and blames it on the magical carnival.

 

Winter realizes that Spring needs an intervention. So she makes a nice dinner and asks her younger sister not to make up any more stories. That evening, she hears more shouting and crashing. Winter finds Spring amid more wreckage in Autumn’s room, and Spring blames it on the magical carnival. Will Winter carry out her threat? Or can Spring convince Winter to let her remain at home? Let's leap onto our scooters, ride into The Seasons #4, and find out!

 

Story

The same man who left Spring an invitation to the magical carnival tried to steal Autumn’s hope chest. But when the book spills out of the damaged wooden container, Spring believes what he wanted was Autumn’s diary. Her sister’s journal doesn’t just record Autumn’s thoughts and adventures. Autumn copied her parents’ research into its pages. Winter never believes anything Spring says, but Spring believes everything Autumn writes.

 

In The Seasons #4, Spring hopes that by reading her sister's book, she can find the proof to convince Winter the carnival is evil. Then perhaps Winter will follow Autumn's advice in the letter and flee New Gaulia. Or at least persuade Winter not to send her to boarding school. But as she reads, the radio announcer mentions that his sister Summer will attend the magical carnival tonight.

 

Her parents’ disappearance fractured Spring’s family. While Autumn searches the world to find them, Summer and Winter are miserable celebrities. Winter spends each day painting in her room. Summer graces photoshoots and gala events and cruises around on a yacht. As Winter exposes her misery in her paintings, Summer hides her misery behind a façade of glamour. Despite their differences, both sisters take out their misery on the people around them.

 

Art

Spring sits in a round chair stuffed with cushions while Gilbert swims in the fishbowl at her feet. As she reads Autumn's dairy and nibbles from a bag of Astro Knots, Spring envisions researchers exploring ancient burial sites. The young detective smiles as she gazes at Gilbert and announces she has discovered a clue. When Spring rises in The Seasons #4, her knees lock together as she hears the radio announcement.

 

Matheus Lopes adorns Paul Azeceta’s scenes of Spring's research and Summer's car ride in limited tones. But when Summer leaves the vehicle, pages explode with color. Red roses greet the beauty adorned in a pink dress, candy apple red nails, and blood orange shoes. Carnival workers surround the red-carpeted stairs while a costumed figure atop stilts expels a gout of yellow and orange. Inside the circus tent, cool tones embrace the enthusiastic audience. Yellow, orange, and red provoke rapturous applause. Yet Summer sits nonplussed, her arms hugging her chest, as orange and yellow confetti fall like leaves. 

 

Rus Wooton broadcasts this magical mystery using uppercase black letters in white dialogue balloons. The letters swell, grow bold, change color for emphasis, and rarely shrink as Spring seeks answers to her family’s dilemma in The Seasons #4. Sound effects help us hear fireworks erupting and the magical carnival demanding a toll for captivity. Thanks to Image Comics and Giant Generator for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

As a celebrated model, Summer has spent her life gazing into mirrors. Yet mirrors hold their dangers. Far from exposing photographs, mirrors filter our perceptions through our fears, hopes, and expectations. The inhabitants of Neocairo found their reflections so fascinating that they gave up on the world around them. And they are not the only ones who let mirrors imprison them in The Seasons #4.

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

For more cover art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.