HADRON AGE SF (7)
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February 16, 2022
One in a series of posts about the 75 best sf adventures published during the genre’s Hadron Age era (from 2004–2023, according to HILOBROW’s periodization schema). For Josh Glenn’s Hadron Age Sci-Fi 75 list (a work in progress), click here.
Annie Nocenti and David Aja’s The Seeds (serialized 2018–2021).
In a not-too-distant future, ecological disaster is upon us… and American society has split into those who continue to live in cities and use advanced technology… and the Luddites who live on the other side of a massive wall. On the non-Luddite side of the wall, we meet the newspaper reporter Astra, who yearns to tell a story that matters — even though her editor cares only about ratings. On the other side of the wall, we discover a strange group whose mission involves collecting “seeds” (specimens of all sorts) to preserve… for profit. One of their number, Race, is less cynical and materialistic than the others… in fact, he falls in love and plants a seed of his own. I mention love and caring because these are the true themes of this gritty, atmospheric graphic novel — serialized by Karen Berger’s Berger Books, an imprint of Dark Horse Comics. What we care about, and who we love, are what matter most. It’s a lovely message, and the visual story telling is mesmerizing too — recurring patterns and motifs remind us that ultimately we’re like bees who can’t survive if we destroy our hive.
Fun facts: HILOBROW’s Adam McGovern reviewed the graphic novel upon publication. Excerpt: “Zooming in on subliminal hexagon/honeycomb motifs, crisscrossed with old-school mechanical dot-matrix tones for shading, the world of The Seeds looks like it is disintegrating before our eyes, but perpetually reconstituting.”
JOSH GLENN’S *BEST ADVENTURES* LISTS: BEST 250 ADVENTURES OF THE 20TH CENTURY | 100 BEST OUGHTS ADVENTURES | 100 BEST RADIUM AGE (PROTO-)SCI-FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST TEENS ADVENTURES | 100 BEST TWENTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST THIRTIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST GOLDEN AGE SCI-FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST FORTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST FIFTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST SIXTIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST NEW WAVE SCI FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST SEVENTIES ADVENTURES | 100 BEST EIGHTIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST DIAMOND AGE SCI-FI ADVENTURES | 100 BEST NINETIES ADVENTURES | 75 BEST HADRON AGE SCI-FI ADVENTURES.