Chisholm & Quinn’s SPECTRUM limited series takes us back to the ’90s

Mad Cave Studios has announced a new, supernatural limited series from writer Rick Quinn and artist Dave Chisholm. Spectrum follows protagonist Melody Parker through the WTO protests in Seattle in 1999 as she navigates what she believes to be hallucinations of otherworldly beings in a sci-fi exploration of late ’90s music and music fandom.

Melody sees aliens, androids, even pigs in high fashion. But perhaps most distressing of her hallucinations is Echo, an elemental being known as a Sustained who can alter reality through music. Echo invites Melody to help her end the world, and as Melody tries to escape, she encounters dozens of suppressed memories that make her question everything.

The Beat can reveal an exclusive first look at Spectrum #1, seen below.

“You know that part in ’99 Problems’ where Jay-Z says ‘You crazy for this one, Rick’? That’s how I feel about Mad Cave agreeing to publish Spectrum,” said Quinn in the series announcement. “This is not an ordinary comic book. It’s a story about art and madness, told in a kaleidoscopic style that spans the whole of the 20th century. Dave and I pushed ourselves to the absolute limits of our creativity, wanting to make something idiosyncratic and unconventional in every way that readers could get truly lost in.” 

Chisholm added, “When Rick sent me the script for the first issue, I was floored! I had to draw this book. It was like he read my mind. As a lifelong musician, comic creator, sci-fi fanatic, and obsessor of everything weird, strange, and uncanny, Spectrum had everything I would want in a book. It manages to be simultaneously heartfelt, experimental, cosmic, and personal. I wanted the visuals to follow suit, and so I pushed myself in every way.

“Each issue will surprise and wow readers. Needless to say: I’m really, really happy with how it turned out. We were both elated when Mad Cave Studios picked it up for publication!” he continued.

Spectrum #1 will feature main cover art by Chisholm, seen above, as well as a variant cover by Reiko Murakami. The series will run for six issues beginning in November.

Quinn and Chisholm will be at Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina from June 14 to June 16. For events updates and more, be sure to subscribe to The Daily Beat.