The Seasons #10 drops into comic shops today as Summer and Spring continue to try to save the world from their sister Winter. The two are like oil and water, but they are doing their best now that the world is snowy and cold. Ultimately, the series has thrown new problems in front of Spring for most of its run, but in the tenth issue, the larger mystery gets back on track.
The Seasons #10 opens with Spring and Summer trying to find the sword Spring used to smash a mirror and save Summer. The plan is to sneak the sword into Winter’s stronghold, find the mirror that corrupted her and the world, and save everybody. A fairly straightforward affair, especially since they have tickets scored for the big gallery showing last issue. This issue is satisfied by giving readers a beginning, middle, and end for this little caper.
All along the way, the two sisters’ badgering and needling of each other are major elements. Writer Rick Remender leans into the nature of sibling tensions, and it all reads quite realistically. The world may be on the cusp of ending, but you can’t change how you speak to a sibling.
As far as Winter, a key scene shows how ruthless she’s become when a critic is pointed out. The penalty is quite awful, and tucked away in her action is Remender doing a bit of commentary on artists incapable of taking criticism.
As the mission progresses, Remender stuffs a tantalizing clue into the narrative. I won’t spoil it here, but it raises a major question regarding the family and these sisters. Even with a clue staring them right in the face, Remender smartly lets the tension between Spring and Summer reach a boiling point, underscoring the need for this family to get along. It all culminates in a cliffhanger that one can guess where things are going, and that’s quite exciting.
These sisters aren’t the best of friends.
Credit: Image
Art by Paul Azaceta is fabulous as always, packing a lot of detail and character work into every page. The comic feels quite dense thanks to the attention to detail in the backgrounds, with creative flourishes here and there. One example of that is Spring and Summer running up the stairs, drawn in profile, with the background mostly white, save for lights and two doors.
Color by Matheus Lopes is fantastic, with a stylized feel using blue to convey Winter’s takeover throughout the issue. There’s a retro quality to a lot of the color choices that draws your eye and makes things pop.
Something that doesn’t quite work here is that the bickering between sisters ends up feeling like the main point, which can make the issue feel repetitive and simplistic. Most of the confrontations are sidestepped rather than elevated to tense moments, so what ends up happening is a fairly easy infiltration of Winter’s castle. That includes the tickets they needed to get last issue, which ended up not mattering this issue, mostly to point out Summer’s bosom. With very little in their way, their bickering ends up being the only conflict to hang the issue on.
The Seasons #10 gets the larger mythology back into motion while continuing to explore the messy emotional friction between Spring and Summer. Rick Remender delivers sharp sibling dynamics and drops a compelling clue that deepens the central mystery, while Paul Azaceta and Matheus Lopes continue to make this one of the most visually distinct books on shelves. The issue occasionally leans too heavily on repetitive bickering, but the strong atmosphere, character work, and intriguing cliffhanger keep the momentum moving forward.
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