diff --git a/src/components/app.js b/src/components/app.js
index 1fc5764b..09b5b3d9 100644
--- a/src/components/app.js
+++ b/src/components/app.js
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ class App extends React.Component {
 
     /*
       first request includes query straight off the url bar for now,
-      
+
     */
     this.props.dispatch(actions.requestCells(window.location.search))
 
diff --git a/src/components/continuous/continuous.js b/src/components/continuous/continuous.js
index 909d4967..05158cc6 100644
--- a/src/components/continuous/continuous.js
+++ b/src/components/continuous/continuous.js
@@ -35,8 +35,10 @@ import {
     metadata,
     initializeRanges,
     initializeMetadata,
-    color: state.controls.color,
-    continuousSelection: state.controls.continuousSelection
+    colorAccessor: state.controls.colorAccessor,
+    graphBrushSelection: state.controls.graphBrushSelection,
+    continuousSelection: state.controls.continuousSelection,
+    axesHaveBeenDrawn: state.controls.axesHaveBeenDrawn,
   }
 })
 class Continuous extends React.Component {
@@ -49,7 +51,6 @@ class Continuous extends React.Component {
       dimensions: null,
     };
   }
-
   componentDidMount() {
     const {svg, ctx} = setupParallelCoordinates(
       width,
@@ -58,12 +59,10 @@ class Continuous extends React.Component {
     );
     this.setState({svg, ctx})
   }
-
   componentWillReceiveProps(nextProps) {
-    this.maybeDrawLines(nextProps);
     this.maybeDrawAxes(nextProps);
+    this.maybeDrawLines(nextProps);
   }
-
   maybeDrawAxes(nextProps) {
     if (
       !this.state.axes &&
@@ -126,8 +125,7 @@ class Continuous extends React.Component {
         this.state.processedDimensions,
         this.state.xscale,
         this.state.ctx,
-        width,
-        height
+        this.props.colorAccessor,
       );
 
       this.setState({
diff --git a/src/components/continuous/drawLinesCanvas.js b/src/components/continuous/drawLinesCanvas.js
index ed90a73e..19d63030 100644
--- a/src/components/continuous/drawLinesCanvas.js
+++ b/src/components/continuous/drawLinesCanvas.js
@@ -10,7 +10,12 @@ import renderQueue from "./renderQueue";
 ******************************************
 ******************************************/
 
-const drawLinesCanvas = (ctx, dimensions, xscale) => {
+const drawLinesCanvas = (
+  ctx,
+  dimensions,
+  xscale,
+  color,
+) => {
   return (d) => {
 
     // ctx.strokeStyle = d["Sample.name.color"];
@@ -54,14 +59,18 @@ const drawCellLinesUsingRenderQueue = (
   dimensions,
   xscale,
   ctx,
-  width,
-  height
+  color,
 ) => {
 
   const _renderLinesWithQueue = renderQueue(
-    drawLinesCanvas(ctx, dimensions, xscale)
+    drawLinesCanvas(
+      ctx,
+      dimensions,
+      xscale,
+      color
+    )
   ).rate(50);
-  
+
   _renderLinesWithQueue(metadata);
 
   return _renderLinesWithQueue;
diff --git a/src/components/controls/color.js b/src/components/controls/color.js
index 09c38b41..b7e40062 100644
--- a/src/components/controls/color.js
+++ b/src/components/controls/color.js
@@ -22,10 +22,11 @@ const Option = ({name, selected, handleClick}) => {
 
 @connect((state) => {
   const ranges = state.cells.cells && state.cells.cells.data.ranges ? state.cells.cells.data.ranges : null;
-
+  const initializeRanges = state.initialize.data && state.initialize.data.data.ranges ? state.initialize.data.data.ranges : null;
   return {
     ranges,
-    color: state.controls.color,
+    initializeRanges,
+    colorAccessor: state.controls.colorAccessor,
   }
 })
 class ColorOptions extends React.Component {
@@ -37,17 +38,18 @@ class ColorOptions extends React.Component {
     };
   }
 
-  handleClick (data) {
+  handleClick (name) {
     return () => {
       this.props.dispatch({
         type: "color changed",
-        data
+        colorAccessor: name,
+        rangeMaxForColorAccessor: this.props.initializeRanges[name].range.max
       });
     }
   }
 
   render() {
-    if (!this.props.ranges) { return null }
+    if (!this.props.ranges || !this.props.initializeRanges) { return null }
     return (
       <div>
         Color:
@@ -61,7 +63,7 @@ class ColorOptions extends React.Component {
             return <Option
               key={key}
               handleClick={this.handleClick.bind(this)}
-              selected={this.props.color === key}
+              selected={this.props.colorAccessor === key}
               name={key}
               />
             }
diff --git a/src/components/graph/drawGraph.js b/src/components/graph/drawGraph.js
index 442477b9..f8991926 100644
--- a/src/components/graph/drawGraph.js
+++ b/src/components/graph/drawGraph.js
@@ -63,27 +63,18 @@ export const drawGraph = (
   data,
   context,
   expressionsCountsMap,
-  color,
+  colorAccessor,
   ranges,
   metadata,
   continuousSelection,
   graphBrushSelection,
+  colorScale,
 ) => {
 
   /* clear canvas */
   context.clearRect(0, 0, width, height);
 
-  let colorScale = null; /* it could be 'by expression' and that's a special case */
-
-  if (
-    color &&
-    ranges[color].range /* set up a continuous scale */
-  ) {
-    /* this scale should live in redux since it will be consumed by cotinuous as well */
-    colorScale = d3.scaleLinear()
-      .domain([0, ranges[color].range.max])
-      .range([1,0])
-  }
+  // let colorScale = null; /* it could be 'by expression' and that's a special case */
 
   /* ! create a scale to map between expression values and colors, remove to somewhere else */
   // const expressionToColorScale = d3.scaleLinear()
@@ -133,9 +124,9 @@ export const drawGraph = (
 
     context.globalAlpha = !graphBrushSelection || pointIsInsideBrushBounds ? 1 : .2;
 
-    if (color) {
+    if (colorAccessor && colorScale) {
       context.fillStyle = d3.interpolateViridis(colorScale(
-        _metadata[p[0]][color]
+        _metadata[p[0]][colorAccessor]
         // _.find(metadata, {CellName: p[0]})[color] /* this.state.cells.metadata["23452345325"]["ERCC_reads"] = 20000 would be much faster as key value lookup */
       ));
     }
diff --git a/src/components/graph/graph.js b/src/components/graph/graph.js
index 2dd92d80..a1345219 100644
--- a/src/components/graph/graph.js
+++ b/src/components/graph/graph.js
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ import ColorControl from "../controls/color";
     ranges,
     vertices,
     metadata,
-    color: state.controls.color,
+    colorAccessor: state.controls.colorAccessor,
+    colorScale: state.controls.colorScale,
     continuousSelection: state.controls.continuousSelection,
     graphBrushSelection: state.controls.graphBrushSelection
   }
@@ -81,11 +82,12 @@ class Graph extends React.Component {
         nextProps.vertices,
         this.state.ctx,
         nextProps.expressionsCountsMap,
-        nextProps.color,
+        nextProps.colorAccessor,
         nextProps.ranges, /* assumption that this exists if vertices does both are on cells */
         nextProps.metadata,
         nextProps.continuousSelection, /* continuousSelected should probably inform a global 'is active' array rather than be consumed so specifically here */
         nextProps.graphBrushSelection,
+        nextProps.colorScale,
       )
     }
   }
diff --git a/src/reducers/controls.js b/src/reducers/controls.js
index df05dea4..7490adaf 100644
--- a/src/reducers/controls.js
+++ b/src/reducers/controls.js
@@ -1,18 +1,38 @@
 const Controls = (state = {
-  color: null,
+  colorAccessor: null,
+  colorScale: null,
   continuousSelection: null,
-  graphBrushSelection: null
+  graphBrushSelection: null,
+  axesHaveBeenDrawn: false,
 }, action) => {
   switch (action.type) {
   case "color changed":
     return Object.assign({}, state, {
-      color: action.data,
+      colorAccessor: action.colorAccessor,
+      colorScale: d3.scaleLinear()
+        .domain([0, action.rangeMaxForColorAccessor])
+        .range([1,0])
     });
   case "continuous selection using parallel coords brushing": {
     return Object.assign({}, state, {
       continuousSelection: action.data,
     });
   }
+  /* on load, set the selection to 'all', if reactive is true */
+  case "initialize success":
+    let allCellNames = null;
+    if (action.data.data.reactive) { /* we have metadata, get all cell names */
+      allCellNames = action.data.data.metadata.map((cell) => {
+        return cell.CellName
+      })
+    }
+    return Object.assign({}, state, {
+      continuousSelection: allCellNames
+    });
+  case "parallel coordinates axes have been drawn":
+    return Object.assign({}, state, {
+      axesHaveBeenDrawn: true
+    });
   case "graph brush selection change":
     return Object.assign({}, state, {
       graphBrushSelection: action.brushCoords