SPECTRUM

The fate of the cosmos hinges on a pop song in Quinn’s labyrinthine graphic novel.

The story begins in a Seattle besieged by anti-globalization protesters in 1999, where teen runaway Melody Parker meets Echo, an androgynous, glam vision in spiky blond hair, white pinstripe jumpsuit with red-orange accessories, and blue lipstick and nail polish. Echo explains that Melody is actually an eons-old, reincarnating demiurge destined to settle a celestial war by restoring the primordial music of the universe. Sensing that Echo and her space-suited minions are bent on destruction, Melody leaps off a radio tower, sprouts cicada wings, flies to Los Angeles, and meets record-shop owner Ada Latimer, whose long-lost father, Leon, a bassist in the band The Opticks, plays a murky role in the Melody-Echo conflict. Fleeing Echo, Melody and Ada travel to 1936 New Orleans, where the narrative follows a noirish subplot about a love affair between a photographer and a married woman. Melody and Ada then chug off on a magical train called Glory, which is steered by songs. Ada takes a turn as a punk-rock chanteuse while Melody confronts George Parker, a tweedy record producer who claims to have created her as an immortal weapon against the abyss. Melody and Ada reunite and find the dementia-stricken Leon on his deathbed—but so does Echo, now a 1,000-foot-tall colossus; she vows “to kill the infernal fridge buzz of existence” unless Ada can divine from Leon the song that will defeat her. Quinn’s kaleidoscopic narrative verges on incoherence, but the characters—especially the brassy Echo—are magnetic, and the dialogue is ardent and lyrical in its odes to the creative spirit. (“The only way to achieve transcendence is to risk madness.”) Chisholm’s artwork nicely balances throbbing color, psychedelic ambiance and off-kilter perspectives with kitchen-sink realism in quieter scenes depicting Ada’s childhood. The result is a compelling blend of tuneful mysticism and eye-popping visuals.

An imaginative fantasia that celebrates music’s power to connect—and to demolish supervillains.