Posted in: Comics, Dark Horse Comics, Review | Tagged: ann nocenti, berger books, dark horse comics, david aja, drama, sci-fi, the seeds

The Seeds #1 Review: Honest and Upliftingly Depressing

A wall has been erected in the city. On one side, there are those who want to keep using technology. On the other, there are the Neo-Luddites, people who don't want to use modern technology anymore. The world is ailing, and it looks like won't last much longer for either side of the wall. Astra is a reporter interested in recording how life has changed since the wall came up as well as the families separated by it. She wants to continue, but her editor wants more click-bait stories to keep the newspaper funded. Lola is a woman who just finished hooking up with a guy named Race. Race is odd, though, and there is something more to this person.

The Seeds #1 is a bleak yet honest view of a world teetering towards destruction. It looks at the last gasps of this split society while a group of people just try to make their mark while there is still a mark to be made.

It plays like a glib independent film—but a competent one. Astra and Lola are likable. The setting is interesting. The pacing kind of meanders forward, but that suits the nature of the narrative.

Something more is going on, but it's almost incidental. Even if there wasn't a bizarre twist in the middle of this, the world would still be dying, Astra would still be a reporter, and Lola would still be seeing people.

The meandering nature of the narrative does leave it light on tension. Some of the almost non-sequitur lines are a little hokey and seem to grasp for deeper meaning that isn't there.

David Aja does his David Aja thing with this one. The paneling is often small and lends itself to moment-to-moment sequential art as opposed to the more common larger jumps of many modern comics. The world is presented honestly, unflatteringly, and without glitzing. The black-and-white palette is net major positive here, as it allows for that mixture of ominous and genuine that this story needs.

The Seeds #1 is a bizarre read, but it's atmospheric, compelling, and at once soothing and depressing. It's sad and funny, meaningful and empty, and it does all this with a nice balance of clever dialogue and art that aims for real instead of dramatic. This one definitely gets a recommendation. Give it a read.

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