Spectrum #1

SPECTRUM

by Rick Quinn, Dave Chisholm (illustrator)

Melody Parker is losing her mind. She’s living on the streets of Seattle during the WTO protests of 1999. She is seeing things. Androids. Aliens. Pigs in high fashion. And a creature named Echo—one of the elemental beings with the power to alter reality through music. She invites Melody to join her as she brings about the end of the world. As Melody tries to escape this strange woman, suppressed memories from across vast spans of time flood into her awareness, bringing her very identity into question.

You don’t want to miss this stunning new release from writer Rick Quinn and music-comic-specialist Dave Chisholm (Miles Davis & the Search for the Sound).

Genres: Graphic Novels

Kindle Edition

Published November 27, 2024

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another comic about music, I love it!

I listened to Hall & Oates Rock n Soul Part 1.

[Colin Post · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a mesmerizing first issue, exploring the idea of some unified theory of the universe hidden in pop music. The art is gorgeous and the writing is poetic.

[RatGrrrl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an ARC through NetGalley for an honest review.

This review is for the collected volume of issues 1-6 that doesn't appear to be on goodreads yet.

WOW.

Just...wow!

This is one of the most uniquely exquisite graphic novels I've ever had the privilege of reading!

I'm literally left dry-mouthed and wet-eyed in awe and from being so powerfully moved by this beautiful work of art.

Spectrum is the story of two women in difficult situations who find themselves drawn into a musical odyssey across the 20th century to save all creation from destruction...

This is a surreal ode to the love of music and art, and how close to madness artists come in their pursuit of their art and the constraints and difficulties of being an artist in our capitalist, increasingly fascist societies.

The writing is riveting and plays with the comic book script and lettering, as well as music and poetry. The artwork and composition is mind-bending in its form and beauty.

I am absolutely rocked by how much this graphic novel consumed, moved, and blew me away.

This is without a doubt one of the greatest comics I've ever read and I absolutely need to read anything and everything these two have worked on!

[The Bookish Chimera - Pauline · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It wasn’t what I saw. It was how I felt. The joy of creation. The need to take the chaos around you and mold it into something you can understand.”

Spectrum was a crazy comic, in all possible ways. The artwork is colorful and explosive, immersing the reader in this story in which Synesthesia reigns, in which madness and creativity collide to disorient us as much as possible. Just like the MCs, we dive into the waves, let ourselves be carried by this universe that makes ourselves lose our minds. This is a magical and intense experience that is pretty faithful to how some people experience synesthesia (even though I have another experience), as much as how creative process can be perceived by some.
I had a great time!

Thank you to the authors and MadCave for the eARC sent via NetGalley. My opinions are my own.

4.5/5

[Wm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful imaginations at work here in this mirror universe, though I do wish the references to our-world musicians and other personalities weren't quite so veiled. I picked up on MLK and Elvis, but I'm left guessing at a couple others, and the rest are opaque.

Still, it's pretty great. But readers with fairly deep knowledge of history are certain to enjoy it even more than I did. Might footnotes be in order, Messrs Emmett (ed), Quinn (w) and Chisolm (a)?

[Thurston Hunger · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times too text heavy, I see the author is at work on his debut novel. Seems Rick Quinn has explored a variety of creative careers, not sure if he's a time traveler himself, but he may have dabbled.

Artists who struggle with the world, and with themselves. Musicians being married to their art which can be its own dominant world, less time traveling than time unraveling - these themes ring familiar I suspect for many artists.

Also ringing familiar here the song quotes and artist extensions; let me just say that Quinn is likely closer to my age than my sons, but sharing the glory/story of Joni Mitchell, Patti Smith, CBGB's is worth bridging decades. Is that a orgone/rainmaker a reference to a Kate Bush song/video?

Anyways, the story succumbs to the comic pull for a galactic apocalyptic battle, but it is the artwork from Dave Chisolm that makes the case best for creativity as guiding/saving force. Many pages explore with creativity that reverberate more strongly than characters named Melody and Echo and so forth. Variety of styles/tones and arranging pages - ch-ch-changes serve this collection well.


For what it's worth I got this for my son on the occasion of his recent bday (his brother also got him a comic, "The Pedestrian" - with both of us trying to come up with something neither the gifted giftee nor we grifting gifters have read.

And as an important side story, we were both trying to support independent comic presses.

Along those lines happy to see that Mad Cave is licensed to offer Gatchaman, which is one I know the gift-receiving son has loved in the past. Long may that Studio, my son and psychedelic overlooked artists survive and thrive!

[Joana Flauzino · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is beautiful, full of pages with expressive and amazing drawings. I think the style reflect the story well, and sometimes demonstrate the chaos.
In addition, it all shows a great understanding of music and an even greater passion, which is conveyed in millions of details throughout the book.
Despite all this, I had some difficulty following the story, because it develops right from the first page, and fluctuates from moments in the present to the past. But with this, it manages to talk about art and show its resilience, and how it speaks to us. I believe it is something on the line of surreal, that not all of us can always understand, but that we appreciate the story anyway.

A huge thank you for the ARC of the book to
the authors Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm
the publisher Mad Cave Studios
and to Netgalley

[Brittany · Rating 3 out of 5]

*Thanks to NetGalley and Mad Cave Studios for early copy for review*

The art is fantastic in this comic. The bright colors and the mix between a cartoon and realistic arty style made the genre bending story come to life. The story itself throws the reader into the chaos of the world and it does not stop. This comic is a lot more wordy than a lot of modern graphic novels which is something I did not enjoy. I truly believe this media should limit it's words and tell the story more with the visual medium. The story takes turns that are unexpected, but not always enjoyable. In the end I just found this okay, but I am sure there are plenty of people who will love it.

2.5 rounded up for art

[Duncs Comics · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an alternative history story that values its temporal divergences on the significance of music. It honestly seems like something I would really appreciate, but I found my first read of #1 actually pretty confounding, I wasn't able to latch on quite the way I wanted to in order to decode what this book is saying...

That being said, I want to give it a re-read and see where this one goes. Kind of giving me RASL by Jeff Smith or Kabuki by David Mack vibes so far. It seems to have a creative vision that will reward effort. Every so often I like I challenge in what I read, Clarice Lispector is one of my favourite authors after all... Looks like Spectrum may present one such challenge.

[Opal Edgar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spectrum is an urban, gritty fantasy comic steeped in a superhero heritage, wrapped in a strong American music core, and illustrated in psychedelic lines.
I feel like I could have liked this comic more, but I found the narration a little too heavy and a slow read.
There are some interesting ideas that reminded me of the Sandman, Legion and Laila Star. But I didn't really adhere to the voice. It just felt like it took itself too seriously and was trying too hard to fit in an intellectual sphere. Which is often how I feel about the 3 comics I cited, so many will probably not mind at all and love it.

[Katharine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This graphic novel just was NOT for me. The overall concept I was interested in, but the horribly clunky storytelling put me off. The characters themselves were interesting, but the way the plot is written hides that so much. This comic also did one of the big cardinal sins of comics. Where a lot of pages were just illustrations with paragraphs of text. I'm reading a comic, I don't want to read a literal wall of text. The art was gorgeous, and honestly why I'm giving this 3 stars instead of 2. Oddly, I think with a little smoothing of the plot, this could work as a television series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

[Lila Danisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no idea what I just read. About music, absolutely, but I didn't know the base idea with this graphic novel. Music dystopia-ish kind of theme? Based on real-life events or 100% made-up events? I still couldn't grasp what this book was talking about. Definitely need to continue reading the rest of the chapters.

I got the ARC for this series from NetGalley in one whole book. But Goodreads (and other book tracking apps) don't have the input for the book yet. Hence, I would review per chapter.

[Rob Vitagliano · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a story about a fictional alternate universe where the lives of some musical stars took a different turn, and a butterfly effect of sorts took place, changing music and therefore the world as we know it. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what it's about. I'm sure a lot of the references went over my head, and it's definitely one of the most "out there" comics I've read, but it was a pretty neat journey to take, to be honest, so I think I'll stick with the title for now.

[Kaitlyn (ktxx22) Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork in this is phenomenal but the storytelling format was CLUNKY. I would get interested in the main plot and then it would flip on its head into an interlude which were fine, but jarred me out of the main story and then I struggled to get back into it. I appreciate the ARC from NetGalley but this was not a win for me.

[Francisco Becerra · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's so sad that such interesting ideas needed to be shortened in a market that can't allow characters and events to grom in a more nuanced pace. So far such big ideas and flasbacks related to music are amazing, and this first entry left me wanting to know more.

[Ushnav Shroff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly don't know what to make of this - awesome-to-Earth illustrations but its vision felt confusing (to me). However, I am quite invested - and will continue to get the upcoming issues!

[Mat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super intriguing!!! Beautiful art and written like a fairy tale or children's story. Very curious to see where this goes

[Jon Westhoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Total package! Amazing and identifiable art and colors- a unique and surreal story. I loved every page and didn’t want it to end- YOU CAN HEAR THE MUSIC ON THE PAGE!

[dromoman · Rating 3 out of 5]

weird colorful graphic novel

[Adri Holt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Music is transcendental. It transcends time and space. It brings everyone and everything closer together. That is the best summarization I can give of this psychedelic rollercoaster.

#ThxNetGalley #RickQuinn #DaveChisholm #Spectrum

Merged review:

Music is transcendental. It transcends time and space. It brings everyone and everything closer together. That is the best summarization I can give of this psychedelic graphic novel.

#ThxNetGalley #RickQuinn #DaveChisholm #Spectrum

[Relena_reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel really frustrated to be leaving this review because this was such an interesting concept and the art was gorgeous, but this is a graphic novel that just isn’t embracing the format.

There's so much telling.

On the pages where the writing shows restraint and trusts the art, everything works so well, but the info dumps just didn’t stop.

Even as the climactic moments approached, there was more lore. I have no idea how this is the beginning of a series instead of a completed book, given the ending, but maybe the exposition will pay off in the next book? I just don’t trust it and I don’t feel like the creative team trusts me.

ARC provided by NetGalley.