Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm’s hallucinatory graphic novel Spectrum offers a mystical alternative history of American popular music and the social conflict around it—as well as a mind-bending tribute to the transcendent power of song over us all. Centered on Melody Parker, a mysterious young woman on a kaleidoscopic journey through time and space, the book leapfrogs across an eye-popping series of historical scenarios cleverly recast with a succession of vaguely familiar artists, activists, and musical prodigies. In this 11-page excerpt, Melody encounters Ada Latimer, owner of an eccentric record store and daughter of an influential musician who disappeared mysteriously years ago. Spectrum by Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm is out now from Mad Cave Studios.