The Panharmonion Chronicles Volume 2 Ghosts Of Sound Review
Reading time: 3 minutes
How about a return to the soundtracked, period-set sci-fi adventure steeped in history? A book that gives beautiful messaging on fear, life and death in light-saturated art festooned with period-accurate elements? Get the party restarted with The Panharmonion Chronicles Volume 2: Ghosts Of Sound by Henry Chebaane and Stephen Baskerville.
Henry Chebaane is an experienced storyteller and world-builder known for his branding and design work across the globe. He is an artist, filmmaker and music producer under the name LX8. He wrote the previous volume of The Panharmonion Chronicles (reviewed here). He is also the author of the graphic novel series Kingdom United (reviewed here).
Stephen Baskerville is a comic book artist with over four decades of experience. His previous works include Spider-Man, Judge Dredd, 2000AD, GI Joe, The Beano and Transformers. Outside of comics, he has over ten years of experience as a video game concept artist. That work includes Reservoir Dogs and Doctor Who. Creators re-credited, let's continue with a review.
So, let's start with the art. Stephen Baskerville continues handling every corner and aspect of the art for the Panharmonion Chronicles with an unmistakable style. The digitally assisted art handles a saturation of highlighting and skilled light work with well-constructed characters. There's an interesting collage effect throughout, thanks to carefully curated, accurate set dressing in landscapes, backgrounds, tools and weaponry. While not exactly seamless and occasionally jarring in its distraction, the integration of these elements is interesting for their accuracy. The Panharmonion Chronicles Volume 2 is quite a violent affair, with quite a few particularly strong horror moments, unflinchingly presented.
Again, the highlights on offer here are in the work with light and reflection being the most consistently delivered. Special mention for the double splash page "Life! Earth! Death!" which really stands out for psychedelic elements and all-round mystical wizardry. The lettering is solid, and the colour work again stands out as particularly strong. With the art suitably addressed, how about the story?
The Panharmonion Chronicles Volume 2: Ghosts of Sound continues Alex's story. A time-travelling musician with mysterious unharnessed powers. This volume is firmly set in 1881. Alex continues to battle the forces of Varangia and the mystical order of the Immaculate Oblati. While facing these foes, she continues to try to embrace her identity and newfound setting. Alongside that sits her connection to the owl spirit and those in need. As Alex's myth grows, so does the resistance, or resist-dance as it so wonderfully develops to be. So does the revelation of horrors Varangia perpetrates. Alongside this rich plot, the wealth of historic references makes for interesting reading and a good juxtaposition to the sci-fi concepts. Invisible Tartan, anyone? Once again the bigger themes really stand out here.
When the story delves into the mystical and philosophical, Henry Chebaane's skills as a writer really shine. Take the section around the nature of fear and the will to conquer it. The flair for the horrific punctuates other moments, getting unexpectedly dark. One scene involving a bucket, I won't spoil here, was particularly shocking. Henry's attention to detail is feverish throughout. The ideas are what's truly beautiful here, even if occasionally the execution falls short.
For fans of sci-fi, steampunk, horror, Canadian history, First Nations history, the battle against fear in the human condition as manifested with an owl spirit granting reality-bending powers, violence, shocking experimentation, Bridging Ellipsis, a suspiciously familiar-looking Mr Mach and the power of music with art that's carefully curated and steeped and saturated with skill. Move your body to The Panharmonion Chronicles: Ghosts Of Sound.
To get your copy of The Panharmonion Chronicles Volume 2: Ghosts Of Sound, head to the Etsy shop here while stocks last, pending wider release.
Review: 4.5/5
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