Spectrum
Creative Team
writer: RICK QUINN
illustrator: DAVE CHISHOLM
letterer: DAVE CHISHOLM
publisher: MAD CAVE STUDIOS
Spectrum written by Rick Quinn and art, by Dave Chisholm, is a comic book that rewards readers who stop to give it time to experience the art and detailed story line.
Dave Chisholm’s artwork by itself keeps you on your toes, detailed, thoughtful with a psychedelic spin, and well worth picking up the comic just for that. The story line leads us out of the safe place within our own comfort zone. A comic book to add to your must-read list.
The story starts in Seattle 1999 when the grassroots Occupy Movement was at its height, hyper-globalization, the internet, the dictates of corporations and the World Trade Organisation’s new trade agreements were setting the stage for the emergence of a different world order. The Occupy movement was underpinned by an optimism that an alternative was possible; a better world could be possible if built from the grassroots. Into this world of possibilities, and dramatic change steps our protagonist Melody Parker. She thinks she is losing her mind; change is happening too fast.
We then go back into the earlier world of the civil rights movement of the 20th Century to find some sense and purpose in the protest politics over time. The stories of activists, musicians weave a new fabric throughout the comic book.
But nothing is quite as it seems and the characters are often portrayed as alternative versions of themselves. Musical references flood every page, and give focal points to help Melody, and of course, us the reader, to find some coherence in it all.
Melody discovers that a song can resonate its truth over the decades, but it also connects us as a people. “You listen to a song in Seattle and someone else listens in…Utah…. now you’re connected. The song creates a shared landscape of time, place, history and memory”
Spectrum is both a homage to musicians and artists who create a soundtrack to our lives and a reminder that art and music can and does survive oppressive cultures and has the potential to make positive change.
The comic industry is a hard one to survive in, always underrated and underfunded at every level, despite being such a creative industry. So, it’s to be welcomed when Indie publishers like Mad Cave Studios push the boundaries and publish comic books that defy genres, traditional panes, and standard narratives.
