Review: The Seeds
"They make you the thing, you might as well be the thing."
A dying Earth is the battleground for a war between nature and science. Outside the city wall is 'the Zone' which has been claimed by Neo-Luddites, an area in which no technology is allowed and people try to live a traditional, rustic existence. They believe that over-reliance on our gadgets has led to ruin. In the city gas masks are a common accessory due to the toxic air. Society is fractured, sickness and poverty all around.
Then came the aliens. Not to invade, not to rescue humanity but to collect samples: seeds and embryos to preserve a living record of the doomed planet's lifeforms. Disguised behind gas masks they pass unnoticed in the dark, desolate streets.
Astra works for The Scoop, a tabloid that specialises in sensationalist stories. She learns about Lola, a disabled woman who has a secret alien lover.... and who is pregnant.
The Seeds by writer Ann Nocenti and artist David Aja is a somewhat surreal dystopian drama with a dash of UFO paranoia. In a world crumbling to dust, everyone is trying to survive whatever way they can.
Some are even hoping to repair the damage: two scientists bicker about how to accomplish this, one using technology, the other using natural methods. Robot bees to pollinate crops? Or a fungus that decontaminates the environment? The aliens - amoral in a very human way - have a vested interest in such efforts failing; if life on Earth survives, their samples are worthless and they don't get paid...
With machines failing, access to information becomes more difficult. The lines between reality and fantasy, accuracy and supposition, truth and lies become increasingly blurred. Astra's editor only cares about sales; if a story has to be invented - or reality altered to match an eye-catching headline - no problem. But Astra wants to know what is really going on.
Aja's art evokes a suitably unnerving atmosphere. The aliens - totally humanoid below the neck, large-eyed 'greys' above - are sinister figures in their gas masks, like creeps in some underground fetish club; anonymous, faceless strangers blending into the shadows. His style is a curious mix of closely-referenced photorealism with a rough, retro printed look; bichromatic with muted green bleeds and tonal dots, creating a hallucinatory feel for the reader. It underlines one of the prevailing themes of the story: What is real, what is fake ... and does anyone really care?
The politics is far from subtle here and some may find the tone a little bit too arch and cunning, but it does not detract overly from the momentum and mystery of the narrative. The sense of being caught up in momentous changes that defy explanation hangs over the characters and the reader like an obscuring cloud. The revelation, when it finally comes, is satisfying thanks to the clues that were hidden in plain sight throughout the story.
The Seeds was originally conceived by Nocenti and Aja in 2016 as a work centred on ecological concerns and the issues of how events are conveyed in the media: bias, conspiracy, false news... Production was delayed and it was finally completed in 2020, just in time for reality to catch up with the fiction. Just like in the story, a global health crisis is upon us and people wear masks for protection. At the same time there is in some quarters distrust of official sources of information and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories constitute a parallel pandemic. Some believe the virus is man-made; a disaster created by human folly. Some deluded individuals reject vaccines in favour of natural remedies; nature vs science... The creators could not have anticipated just how topical their book would turn out to be.
Can scientific solutions solve all of humanity's problems, even the ones arising from scientific interference in the natural order? Some say the planet will survive our passing, and life - minus homo sapiens - will carry on just fine; much better, in fact. Species vanish every day, why should ours be any different?
The future of life on this planet, and how it will adapt to the violence we have committed against it, is an enigma yet to be resolved.
"It hurt me when the bees died. Didn't you feel it!?"
Zak Webber
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