The Seasons has been a great adventure that’s only gotten weirder as it has progressed. Spring is one of four sisters, each named after a season, which adds a bit of whimsy to a strange world that becomes even stranger when a circus rolls into town. From the first issue, we learned this circus tears through towns, ruining them, but only Spring is aware they are nefarious at best. With her sister Summer mind-controlled thanks to a magical mirror, the circus goes full tilt to take over Spring’s mind in The Seasons #6. Can she outlast their attempts to subdue her?
Picking up where we left off, Spring is falling topsy turvey through the circus’s magical world, and artist Paul Azaceta is using every inch of the comics page to convey the fourth wall-breaking nature of it all. We open on her running from the lead clown, only to reach an edge at the end of the first page, and then fall down a water slide (a completely new location) straight down across four long panels. First down, then up, then over, and finally up seemingly right off the page into the white gutter.
Much of the issue is similar, with page turns taking us to entirely different locations. Thanks to the circus magic, it’s logical within the story, but also the structure is jarring on purpose, making every page a kind of story in itself. Each “story,” so to speak, is a nightmare, as the circus attempts to make Spring give up and submit to the mirror that’ll make her forever happy.
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Credit: Image
Writer Rick Remender and Azaceta take us through multiple locales we’ve seen before, like the bakery, and entirely new ones. It’s a fun way to see all the places Spring frequents.
With all the magical weirdness going on, a bit of deus ex machina occurs, throwing Spring’s goldfish into a whole new kind of character. From guards at magical doors to the various scene changes, this issue has an Alice in Wonderland and mythic feel that’s delightful.
There’s thankfully some plot progression in this issue as well. I won’t spoil it, but despite the weirdness, there are some concrete discoveries, with an ending that promises Spring may finally take the fight back to the circus. Sure, we have no clue why the season’s family is being targeted yet, but at least we know Spring has some help and enough freedom to turn the tide.
The Seasons #6 is a trippy, visually inventive ride through circus-fueled chaos, blending surrealism and emotional stakes as Spring battles for her mind and her family’s future. It’s a wild narrative experiment that works, and leaves you eager to see what comes next.
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