Comicsphere: Phonogram

I meant to write something about Phonogram after reading Rue Brittania but sometimes these things just do not happen, no matter how hard you try to pull them off … you get distracted and, uh, whatever, right? Well, no, this comic needs to get some heavy recognition from people … needs to make it through many volumes. Why? Because for someone who loves comics and loves music this comic represents the perfect fusion.

I am not sure where that ill-fated original piece ended up that I was writing but it had something about wanting Kieron Gillen\’s children. Barring that, due obviously to lack of the necessary physical equipment, gender, etc, and of course being married, I will have to make do with reading Phonogram. Make do – ha! Jamie McKelvie\’s art is fucking exquisite – a flawless vehicle for carrying around the huge fucking motoring engine of culturedom that is Gillen\’s distillation of all that is great, nay magical, about music.

I remember having a similar experience reading High Fidelity by Nick Hornby – that moment when the whole universe suddenly seems to click into place and start moving with you; you wonder whether you need to start wearing that tinfoil hat again, because some bastard has been sitting in a tree pointing microwaves at your head and listening to your thoughts.

Before I even read the stories I was hooked by the idea of it, then I saw the art and wanted to read it, then I read it and knew I needed to have it – all of it. I mean, I get into stuff, get obsessive about it – I am an inveterate hoarder, collector, and fanboy by nature, but it is not often that I read something and know that it is going to be with me for the rest of my life as something that I am going to keep coming back to. Gillen and McKelvie rank alongside Ellis, Ennis, Templesmith, Morrison and Brian Wood in my mind as people pushing that edge with what can be done in a comic while still turning out a fucking great story.

When the innovative nature of something runs so smoothly that you almost don\’t notice it, when you are totally immersed in something – then you know you have something truly special on your hands. Phonogram is the genuine article.