SOUNDTRACK: hiatus
[READ: January 15, 2021] The Prox Transmissions
I had recently seen Starset live and decided to check out lead singer Dustin Bates’ books (which I had gotten for my son for his birthday and I think he hasn’t read).
All of the CDs have a theme and the story of the Prox Transmissions is meant to tie into the album called Transmission.
My understanding was that the graphic novel was an adaptation of the novel. I couldn’t find the novel in his room, but I did see the graphic novel, so I started with that (even though I’m sure it would have ben smarter to read the novel first).
The most impressive thing about this to me was that it was published by Marvel. Not because I’m a Marvel fan boy but because I just assumed it was self published. That being said, I think a thing or two was lost in the abridgement.
There are double crosses and possibly triple crosses and seemingly minor characters come to have major roles without a very satisfying explanation. Basically it feels like a story that has has a lot removed (which it is).
The actual story line is pretty cool though.
Dr. Stephen Browning wakes up and has serious gaps in his memory. He pieces things together enough to go to a safe deposit box. In the box is a letter that says he should be tuning the SETI telescope to certain coordinates in Barnard’s Star at a certain time.
He does so (he has security clearance for that sort of thing) and he gets an encrypted message, with just enough revealed for him to want to pursue things further. He tracks down Aston Wise, a millionaire genius who has some ideas on how to decrypt the message.
Meanwhile, some members of USCOO Green Energy Corporation have been tracking them. They are apparently members of a rich and powerful consortium who want the information too. And they will stop at nothing to get it.
So what does this message say? Well, it is sent from the future.
It says that in 2035, a machine was unveiled called The Everything Machines–volumetric printers having the ability to copy and print any three-dimensional object. It was meant to turn society into a utopia, but instead a small group of billionaires and U.S. Senators gained control of the research and launched a campaign of exploitation. It ended up creating a jobless society and war was inevitable.
The people from the future want whoever gets the message to stop all of this from happening now–to save the future.
Bates is a scientist (before he was a musician) and I believe there’s a lot of decent science in this story. But I think it might be too complicated to wrap it up in such a quick version. There’s also a very brief love interest subplot (okay, one panel), but it’s totally unnecessary.
The one bad thing about Marvel publishing the book is that it has a very Marvel look to it. I don’t know if Peter David is a Marvel artist in general, but it feels like it. And I never really like the look of Marvel books–they’re way too samey. And while some of the characters are nicely distinctive, since they’re pretty much all white middle aged guys, it’s hard to tell some of them apart at pretty crucial moments.
Others have said this would have been more enjoyable to read after the novel just for a visualization of the story. I hope it doesn’t spoil the novel for me when I finally find it in my son’s room.
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