Science fiction and rock music. It’s a match made in…outer space?

From the mind of Dustin Bates, lead singer and principal engineer of spacey hard-rock band Starset, in collaboration with Marvel Comics, comes The Prox Transmissions. A graphic novel based on an actual novel of the same name.

The Prox Transmissions follows Dr. Stephen Browning, a teacher and scientist who wakes up in a public restroom with no recollection of the events leading to his amnesia. With a strange tattoo on the side of his head and weeks missing from his memory, he must piece together the mystery unraveling before him whilst running for his life.

From the very beginning of the graphic novel, we’re thrown into the thick of things. We’re immediately on a wild goose chase with Dr. Browning to figure out why he has a tattoo on his head, what the tattoo means, and where the heck he’s been for the last few weeks. The story doesn’t waste much time getting into the action, which helps build an anxious desire to keep reading.

The graphic novel unfolds naturally right from the beginning. The reader is kept on the edge of their seat as Browning and his accomplices try to decode a strange message whilst keeping it from falling into the greedy hands of corporate businessmen trying to exploit the information for gain. Capitalism!

The graphic novel has little to no delineation from the novel, itself, save for various omissions in the backstory. While at first I didn’t believe this was going to be an issue, the details omitted provided substantial information that linked the first album to the story. Given that Starset is first and foremost a rock band, it seemed disappointing that they would remove references that connected the story to the music. Nonetheless, the graphic novel serves as a good introduction for current and new fans into the narrative that Starset is building.

READ NOW: Get your copy of The Prox Transmissions from Amazon

I absolutely loved this graphic novel. I’m a big fan of Starset and own both albums. I have read the book and was thrilled when I saw Marvel was going to be taking on this project. I love the narrative they’re building between the novels, albums, music videos, etc., and enjoyed being able to see the story in front of me. Starset have released a second album since the original Prox Transmissions novel was released, so I’m very excited to see how this most recent album ties into the narrative.

Final Score:

8.5/10

+ Incorporates music and other media into the growing narrative

+ Story gets off to a quick start

+ Plenty of cliffhangers

– Graphic novel leaves out small yet crucial details from actual novel

– Loses some of the ties to the accompanying album

Joshua Strate is a lover of music, science, fiction, and philosophy. He likes to spend his time pretending he’s smarter than he actually is.

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