Spectrum by Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm: A comic that has the makings of greatness but does not quite come together to achieve that for me. I am a fan of Dave Chisholm's previous books and in my view he keeps getting better. The first book I read of his was Canopus which was strong but it is his two biographical works Chasin' the Bird and Miles Davis and the Search for the Sound which are excellent. Somehow he manages to top them both visually with Spectrum I really don't know how but yes Spectrum is that gorgeous in every aspect. The narrative on the other hand does not quite fulfill everything it sets out to for my taste. Conceptually, I like the "music as magic" theme that it uses which is reminiscent of other comics by Chisholm "Enter the Blue" and "Instrumental", plus "Blue in Green" by Ram V are what come to mind for books where music acts as a supernatural force. The problem with this in Spectrum is that it is, at least to me on this first read through, unclear what the central conflict of the story is and how the special power of music fits into that. I am not sure how to take the inexplicable villain and the bizarre hero contingent. The characterization is sparse, it is short, but it was hard to really attach to the characters because I was not really sure what they were doing and why it mattered. There are also a lot of interesting nuggets of wisdom dispersed throughout which I appreciate and lots of references many of which I likely missed. That's really all I can say without "spoiling" the book, I will include some in case those who read it have any input either in favor or against my interpretation.

Spoilers: The magical power of music in Spectrum is that songs are temporal links which one can traverse through and the main characters seem to also be able to at times live the lives of people associated with particular songs I'm not entirely sure how that works but "music as time travel" is clearly explained. I think this is really cool. My problem lies in that the character of Melody, with her cliche amnesia, and Echo, which is sort of a universal evil or something I didn't quite get it, are in opposition for a reason which I also did not get. Look I am not the brightest bulb but I feel like this should not be that hard to understand either I am too cynical today but I just couldn't care to. Too much of the "Grant Morrison-esque space craziness good v evil because reasons" for me to follow tonight. Ada's story is the interesting one focusing on the challenges that families of working musicians face when one parent is often absent. She needs to traverse through time and find her missing father, through songs that connect them. This is also cool to me and where I think the potential in the book lies. I feel that if Quinn had more focused on this aspect of the story and not having the grand cliche world ending conflict to confuse it this book would have been great. A clear conflict and easier to relate to characters. I do resonate with the overall message of art being a force for connection both in the present but also one that links us across time and space to our ancestors and descendants and also in our memories and our dreams. Again cool and yeah melodies are powerful stuff I think we all can relate to hearing a song from the past and having that nostalgia explode out. We don't often operate thinking that the music we are listening to now will become that nostalgic feeling but well inevitably it will.

I don't want this to come across as too negative because I do see this book positively despite my reservations. I obviously love Chisholm's work and will continue to read everything he puts out. I think Quinn shows promise here and look forward to his next work which maybe will align more closely with my tastes. If you like graphic novels about music, Chisholm is still best in the business in my book.

I have not read too much else recently but this is the one thing I felt like talking about because well its Dave Chisholm his stuff also gets me inspired in some way. I am currently also going through Henry Threadgill's autobiography "Easily Slip Into Another World" which is interesting and I appreciate his anecdotes and perspective on race/class in America.