The Seeds #1 - Review

Written by: Ann Nocenti

Art by: David Aja

Published by: Dark Horse - Berger Books

Berger Books continues at Dark Horse with this new entry by David Aja and Ann Nocenti called The Seeds. What are the Seeds per se? Not sure. But we get a couple of hints in this debut issue.

The very first thing that struck me while reading this new series by Aja and Nocenti was how beautiful the art was. It’s hard not to notice since the entire comic book utilizes a total of three colours throughout: green, black and white, and that the green is very muted and reminiscent of earthier tones. The choice to go this direction, I feel, actually helps the story throughout and adds a sense of dread to this new world that we are being introduced to.

The other aspect of the art that jumps at you, but should not if you are familiar with Aja’s previous work, is the constant use of the 9-panel grid. These days, the 9-panel grid has become more of a throwback with all the use of border bleeds and non-conventional paneling. Here, like another recent comic using the 9-panel format Mister Miracle at DC, the choice of paneling helps the story move along and helps convey more information with more scenes - even when no text is present.

As for the story itself, it’s a good introduction to this new world, and Nocenti does a perfectly admirable job in conveying enough information to the reader to allow us to get a glimpse at what is going on, without outright telling us.

To do so, Nocenti separates the comic into six distinct chapters following along with, what appears to be, three characters. First, we are introduced to Astra, a photojournalist working for a click bait-style paper/website who is looking to tell a story that will leave her mark on the world. The story she wants to tell seems to revolve around this “Zone” that is mentioned throughout the issue that I suspect we will learn more about in latter issues.

The other two characters, Lola and Race, don’t get as much development, but I suspect will be important to the story down the line. Race especially comes off extra-mysterious as they are a gasmask wearing (of the old-time variety) resident of the “Zone” who meets up with other mysterious gasmask wearing residents who then proceed to have a very cryptic conversation that will more likely be explained in future issues.

After this first issue, I’m very intrigued to see where this story goes, especially with the fantastic work that Aja is bringing to the table. The entire issue itself gave enough hints to keep my attention - the whole seeds thing does get mentioned, but not explained - and I’m hoping the end-of-issue reveal proves to be a little more original than what is presented. Good first issue.