‘Dissonance Vol. 1’ TPB (review)

Designed by Melita Curphy
Written by Singgih Nugroho and Ryan Cady
Illustrated by Sami Basri
Published by Image Comics

Dissonance nearly lost me right up front with its overly-designed, hard to interpret logo. Thankfully, I let that slide and pressed on.

In the long run, Dissonance is reminiscent of the award-winning Saga in that it’s a complex, ongoing science fiction drama with some very clean, at times downright beautiful, artwork. That art comes courtesy of Sami Basri, perhaps best known—to me, anyway—for some art in recent years for DC.

Overall, the book seems to have been created by committee, with designer Melita Curphy credited as the actual creator and the four issues collected here credited to writers Singgih Nugroho and Ryan Cady. Seven more credits, including Sunny Gho as both Producer (?) and Colorist are also present.

I have to say it does all coalesce nicely, though.

And here’s the thing—if I’m understanding this correctly, apparently this all grew out of a set of collectible alien action figures. So basically, this is the modern-day equivalent of when Marvel made Transformers into a comic book way back when. Better results, though.

The story deals with a parallel Earth which long ago was contacted by an alien race. The two races reached what is called the Conscience Agreement, whereby the aliens would sometimes “synch” with humans, sharing their superior knowledge while learning the ways of humanity and being human.

By the time the story takes place, things have gotten pretty weird with the alien concepts having invaded every aspect of earth life. As usual in these types of situations, though, nothing is what it seems and we’re introduced to two siblings—brother and sister—whose takes on the aliens and the Conscience Agreement are very different indeed.

An excellent job of universe-creating is found in Dissonance and most of the character designs seem original and intriguing (if hard to draw! I pity the artist!) but in the end, as detailed as the plots and scripts are, the four issues collected here still seem prologue, ending on the promise that the real story is just about to begin.

I’m in.

Booksteve recommends!