By Thea Srinivasan
For the first time in my life, I listened to Led Zeppelin. While I will never fall in love with them, I now understand why the authors of this piece chose to showcase their lyrics. But are the lyrics what readers want to read? Or are they just another menagerie of long-held desires by the author?
Söngr is a piece that was created by Dworken and Chelette. While I don’t have their first names at this time, I can say these two created a unique premise that revolves around hopes and views of the creators. The story revolves around a mythical goddess name Müsik, the goddess of song. She has felt music altogether has gone to garbage with the way music has been formulated in today’s society. She had created an alternative world called Söngr and had once flourished due to stability and “pureness” that came from those gifted with music. But over time, music had become worthless, and it began to effect Müsik, but her world of Söngr as well. In order to restore balance, she sends top-selling pop artist, Sophie Quick, and cynical critic, Evan Rosen, to Söngr to redeem their misguided musical ways to save Söngr and the fate of current music as we know it.
I’m pretty stupid when it comes to reading between the lines on symbolism or Easter eggs. But to the author, thank you for making very clear to me! It makes me appreciate the story, even more, when I can actually get the context the author wants me to get.
Unfortunately, the basic premise is clichéd and just shows the dreamer that exists within the author. I’m sorry, but I find the idea of a goddess named “Müsik” and a world called “Söngr” just pathetic. I honestly think the creators could have done much more when it came to the creation of the goddess, her tastes, her beliefs in music and the world of Söngr itself. I wouldn’t put it past me if the creators just created the goddess to represent themselves and their personal beliefs on how music should be. I just really wish the creators took more time to figure out the schematics of the goddess and the world of Söngr in terms the evolution of all music around the world and her development as a goddess. No offense, there is no way a goddess would dressed like David Bowie without some sort reasoning as to how she was before he was even born.
But what makes up for this loss is through Sophie and Evan. Sophie is a representation of Taylor Swift and provides a good vent for the creator on how he believes Swift currently is and how Swift could still change. Sophie is a vain bitch, and I find her entrance into Müsik’s world quite hilarious as she ends being saved by a masked hero and gets drenched in brain guts. However, I can’t help but feel that Evan has more depth to him. But I realize that Sophie’s character was quite obvious from the start, and I believe with more issues of the comic, both characters’ personalities will balance out.
I liked the overall message the author was trying to give for this piece of work. For many music lovers, the world has hit a wall where a lot of best-sellers are just filled with empty words about love or sex. While I don’t necessarily believe in this message, I have to mention how easily the author wants both characters to change and audience to realize the impact it has on the way we live in society. I think that the vanity of Sophie is the representation of several artists who have made it big today. While Evan is the force of nature, who has given up on rooting for music and instead has begun to view all music as something bad, which is definitely not the case.
I wish I could say more about this piece, but 24 pages leave me running out of thoughts. The art reminds me of the cartoon Doug from the eyes all the way to the background. I think the creators honestly want to show so much nostalgia that it causes our brains to churn and consider how we use our past to move forward.
I’d say this comic is an insightful read into the creator’s beliefs and thoughts on how they see society, music, etc. I’m pleased that I get to splurge on a philosophical adventure that reflects what I see in my world today. But I honestly believe that the creators need to work more on the characters and setting of the story and give more logic rather than sentimental meaning to it. This story is for the whimsical thinker who wants someone opinionated to wake them up and smell a new foreign coffee.
Score: 2/5
Söngr #1
Self- Published