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Uncanny Avengers, Deadly Class, and The Sacrificers writer Rick Remender is back with a new creator-owned comic at Image. The Seasons, co-created with artist Paul Azaceta, is being billed by the publisher as "an elevated tale of whimsical horror unlike anything ever experienced in comics," which is a pretty bold claim. The Walking Dead and Void Rivals creator Robert Kirkman, meanwhile, has called it "a comic that will make you remember why you fell in love with comics in the first place."
The first issue is out now and this is definitely an intriguing and eccentric new comic, a funny book (in every sense) but also an eerie one.
The title refers to four sisters (Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, naturally) who are "the daughters of the world-renowned Seasons Detectives." A decade ago those same detectives mysteriously vanished. The sisters have raised themselves, but when a strange new – or perhaps very old – threat emerges, it's down to Spring to save the rest of her family.
The first issue doesn't dwell too much on that aspect of the story. Instead, it opens with a newspaper report from 1924, which we learn was written by Autumn. The city of Neocairo has fallen silent, we're told, the captions from her story overlaid by images of devastation – and a hint at the culprit. Azaceta's art in these pages is shadowy and desolate, the sepia tinge from colorist Mat Lopes lending an air of despair that's in stark contrast to the colorful caper that follows.
We quickly meet Spring Seasons, racing through the fictional and ambiguously French city of New Gaulia. She chases after a very important letter and gets into a squabble with a cat. It's not immediately clear how this daft caper links to the issue's more unsettling prologue, but a connection is eventually revealed as a colorful carnival rolls into town.
Suffice to say, on the basis of the first issue, The Seasons feels a little bit like Ray Bradbury's classic dark fantasy novel Something Wicked This Way Comes if it was directed by Wes Anderson, or an infernal riff on Tintin, perhaps.
Remender has acknowledged the latter's influence on the book, as well as citing Miyazaki and Little Nemo creator Windsor McKay as touchstones. It's an intriguing start, then, equal parts amusing and bone-chilling. It's also a really beautiful looking book, with Azaceta commanding two very different moods across the issue. This is a really strong first issue and a book to keep an eye on over the coming months.
The Seasons #1 is out now from Image Comics.
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