Crikey. I think I’ve got this wrestled down.

TEAM PHONOGRAM SAN DIEGO SCHEDULE

Basically, Jamie and I are going to be at the Image booth (#2729) for the whole four-and-a-half days. Come along, get stuff off us. We’ll have all our trades and a few (mainly girl-sized) T-shirts. We’ll see if we can dig out some single issues to take with us, but they’re short in supply.

At other times during the day, we will be on these panels and/or proper signings at assorted other places we detail below. During the evenings, we will be drinking, as is our wont.

WEDNESDAY

7pm-8pm: CBGB Signing with beautiful Sam Humphries and Kieron Gillen. BOOM! Studios Booth #2743

THURSDAY:

4pm-5pm: Marvel Signing (Booth #2329) for Gillen.

5pm-6pm: SFX Best of British Panel. Let me quote from the information online…

SFX presents The British Invasion— Five top UK writers from the worlds of TV, comics, books, and movies discuss what makes modern British SF unique. Dan Abnett (Ultramarines), China Miéville (Perdido Street Station), Paul Cornell (Doctor Who), Kieron Gillen (Thor), Pat Mills (2000 AD), and Toby Whithouse (BBC’s Being Human creator) talk to SFX magazine’s Dave Bradley in this panel and Q&A session. Room 5AB

Some more details here.

FRIDAY

10-11pm:
Kieron’s going to be on the X-men panel. Let’s quote from the information that’s been released…

10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Following SECOND COMING, Marvel’s merry mutants are unable to catch a quick breather. As CURSE OF THE MUTANTS begins, there’s no telling what the vampires have in store for the X-Men…or is there? You’ve got questions & these people have answers! Vice President, Executive Editor Axel Alonso is joined by a host of creators to lay out what’s going on with the X-Men. Panelists include Matt Fraction (UNCANNY X-MEN), Victor Gischler (X-MEN), Marjorie Liu (DARK WOLVERINE), Daniel Way (DEADPOOL), Editor Nick Lowe and more for this all-new, all-DEADLY panel! Room 6DE

1pm-2pm: Jamie will be signing at the Ifanboy/Graphic.ly booth (#2229). Handy location info here.

SATURDAY

4pm-5pm: Kieron will be signing at the Ifanboy/Graphic.ly booth (#2229). Handy location info here.

SUNDAY

1pm-2pm: Marvel Signing (Booth #2329) for Gillen.

MONDAY

12-1pm: Too late, you fools. We’ve gone home.

******

They’ll be a few other times when either one or the other will be off having a meeting (which is slang for or “passing urine”. Or, alternatively, actually having a meeting.) And Kieron apologises in advance if he’s met you before, as he will inevitably not remember your name because he’s got the world’s worst memory for faces. And names. Jamie will though. Jamie’s good like that.

Will this be a funtime! This will be a funtime.

We may have mentioned we’re attending the Emerald City Comic Con this weekend (March 13th/14th). This is still partially true. Not mostly true, but 50% true. The Kieron-we half of us is going. The Jamie-we half of us is having to stay home and work.

Sniff!

Anyway, come and say Hi to Kieron, as he’ll have the first copies of the Singles Club trade for sale.

Also, the following week, if you’re in London, you’re welcome to the Phonogram Launch party. Well, we say “Launch party”. It’s more we’re piling into the corner of the ever-splendid Black Plastic club night at Barden’s Boudior.

It will be fun. Come and so goodbye to this most misbegotten son.

The release date, I’m told, is the 10th of February.

Sorry for the delay. It will almost certainly be worth it.

Image have the April solicits up…

OFFERED AGAIN
PHONOGRAM 2: THE SINGLES CLUB #1 (NEW PRINTING)

Doesn’t that sound lovely?

We’ll be taking a skip month next, to give us a bit of space to get back on track. Also, don’t expect Phonogram 2.2 soon - it turns up on lists, but it really isn’t going to appear imminently. We’ll give a warning here when it’s reasonable to start expecting it. It’s going to be early/mid February at the earliest. Sorry again. It’s frustrating for us too.

Hello

We’ve had a few people asking about where the second issue of the Singles Club is. Well, herein lies a tale.

We get the pre-order figures before the comic comes out. That lets us know how many we’ve sold to retailers in an initial shipment. That number basically tells us what sized cheque we can expect in three months times. From our pre-orders, we realised the size of cheque we could expect was no-size. In other words, come February, there would be no money to feed McKelvie.

So, Jamie had to take on some other work to do alongside Phonogram, which has pushed back the release date. It’s not that we’re not working: Jamie did over 30 pages in December. Problem being, it’s not all Phonogram. When will it be out? We don’t know. Hopefully by the end of the month, and on a better schedule from then on. We’ll keep you updated, and sorry for disappointing anyone who’s disappointed. We’re disappointed too.

Some people may note that we’ve sold out our print run – so sold more copies than were originally ordered. Surely that means the cheque we’ll be getting will be bigger than no-size. Yes, indeed it does. The problem is that we didn’t know that until too late, and to make sure there was some money for Jamie-eatings, he has to plan in advance for money to arrive. Just waiting until the last minute isn’t a way to live. In fact, it’s a way to starve.

Does it make us bitter? Yeah, a little. There’s a bit of a kick when Jamie – say – realises that by drawing a single page of Cable he’s going to earn more money than all of a Phonogram issue or that when you realise that despite everything Kieron did with the second series to make the singles attractive and unique, you just get the same pre-orders of the first series. Which also sold out instantly, before going on to shift 10K in trades. And when you realise that just having another thousand pre-orders would literally make it financially viable … yeah, it’s frustrating.

But educational. Our readers aren’t the sort to pre-order (Which is understandable – pre-ordering is a strange thing). Retailers, on average, don’t particularly want to support the book (Which, in the financial climate, we also understand). And we haven’t the status or leverage to do anything about either (Which we knew all along). If there’s a next time we’ll rethink it and do it a different way.

And before anyone gets stressy – this isn’t a prompt to do a “Save Phonogram” sort of thing. Phonogram’s fine, supports its printing costs, and we’ll get it done. A little slower than we’d like, but we’ll get them done. It remains worth pre-ordering later issues from your shop, if you want ‘em though.

Oh – and before we go, we’d like to thank everyone who’s bought the comic, written lovely things about it and those retailers who showed some faith in ordering. You’re splendid. If we ever meet, we’d probably be so sycophantic towards you that you’d wish you hadn’t been so nice.

And, to close, a song:

Issue 4’s cover. Will be tweaked a fair bit before launch, we suspect. But until then: Seth Bingo and the Silent girl take the stage.

The time comes again. Here’s the first five pages from the first issues of PHONOGRAM: THE SINGLES CLUB. Not only that, but we include seven sample B-side pages, plus a little introduction about what they’re all about, like.

So. Stare at them and if they meet your favour, stroll down a local comic shop and order them. And then - and only then - will you know true happiness.

Quick mention that we’re at the Dublin City Comic Con tomorrow and Sunday. It is here.

And McKelvie is over there, while I’m still running around packing. PANIC.

“Phonogram really, really works. It analyses the music and the movement with a passion only available to those who really loved it. It also takes the whole thing apart with the venom of those who’ve come out the other side. It’s a cheap shot perhaps, but it is true that Ocean Colour Scene were shit and Kulashaker should never have been allowed a single note in music’s history. But that is something we learn in time. The whole point of Phonogram is to celebrate the insanity of music, of the way it can make you feel and the glorious magic it can bring into your life. It envelops you, takes you deeper than any lover could and blinds you to its faults.”

Haven’t done a review link for a while, so here’s Richard Bruton’s review of Phonogram over at Forbidden Planet. Also, Richard wrote a 30 years retrospective about Nostalgia & Comics, Birmingham’s Comic Mecca. Which links neatly to the next thing.

Basically, we haven’t mentioned we’re going to be at the International Comics Show in Birmingham this weekend. We’ll be there Saturday and Sunday, with our usual little stall. Come, admire our beard and buy whatever we have to sell (Including a few issue 1 of Kitten’s Suburban Glamour!). We’ll also be on the Kryptonite Factor panel on 4:30 on Sunday. Which will be (er) something or another, I’m sure.

(Awesome, that is.)

More Phonotravel news.

We’ll be at the Thought Bubble arts festival in Leeds, which is between the 9th and the 11th of November. We’ll mainly be there on the Saturday - which is the main day for events - but will be around on Friday night and some of Sunday too. We’ll be (er) doing something, I’m sure. More details as we decide what it is.

Other guests include Duncan Fegredo, Adi Granov, Antony Johnston, Peter Doherty, Staz Johnson, Sean Phillips, Leah Moore, John Reppion and Bryan Talbot. It looks like it’ll be pretty cool, actually. Everyone will have a lovely time.

It’s Peter Doherty 2000AD artist, by the way, not famous druggie. Just have to say these things, because - well - I know what Phonogram readers are like (i.e. You’re like me).

Bonus marks for anyone who recognises the lyric which starts this one.