So, this was a thing.
Creative Staff:
Story: Ann Nocenti
Art: David Aja
Letterer: David Aja
What They Say:
In which a spaceman overshoots his mark, the Queen Maker arrives, the bees are fed up, someone is kidnapped, the American Dream gets feral, the alien Race is buried in the quicksand of love, and the secrets of the zone are revealed.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
By all measures, The Seeds is the kind of book I should be pretty ecstatic about. Fantastic artwork from David Aja, interesting world design from Ann Nocenti, and a kind of solid color design that’s distinctive and leaves you wondering just how immersive it’ll become as a part of it. But while the first issue had some ideas that had me wanting to know more, particularly with the aliens, the second issue just feels like it all falls apart. Did I read it at the wrong time? What changed? The interest I had in the first issue earlier this summer has evaporated as we get something that’s enjoying being mysterious but unable to provide enough for the reader to really latch onto in terms of story.
There are a lot of little moments here throughout that simply feel disconnected, to the point where I’m hard pressed to identify most of the characters since only Astra really left an impression the last time around. We do get a little bit of interest with the wheelchair girl at the start as she cross into the zone but it’s Astra as the reporter that dominates here as she heads in to find out about the alien she saw and get the story. Her boss is pressing her for any kind of story since making it up is part of the job in his eyes but she’s resisting that. But considering it’s hard to tell what’s going on with what’s real in this world and aliens and all, well, it’s just kind of a mess of things. It does get interesting when Astra is captured by some of the aliens and is about to get a lobotomy, but everything is just so haphazard that I’m left unable to make sense of it.
In Summary:
I’ll likely try the third issue just to make sure but this issue has nearly turned me away from the series, Aja’s artwork and layouts are a big draw as I love how he puts together the aliens and Astra as well, but the story just doesn’t feel like I can get a handle on this world and how it operates. I was definitely intrigued by the first issue but the second simply didn’t cement anything that I could latch onto in a strong enough way here to carry it forward with.
Grade: C
Age Rating: 16+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: September 12th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
