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.

We haven’t updated for a while, I know. Some interesting stuff to talk about, but important things first.

We’re doing a signing at Forbidden Planet London next week, on Thursday 20th. It is here. We’ll be signing between 6 and 7. PM, as is you were in any doubt, and had some deluded faith in our ability to move beyond our beds before noon.

See you there? They’ll be some kind of awesome party afterwards, somewhere or another, probably.

McKelvie has been busy working on Suburban Glamour, and an interview has just appeared on Newsarama. Go see, if only to watch Kitten and I fight in the thread. I’ve been busy doing… oh, is that the time!

If you want more regular nonsense for us, I highly recommend hanging around our forum over at Image where we will be excellent to each other.

Firstly, a reminder that Kieron is doing a signing for Phonogram tomorrow at Bristol Travelling Man, starting at about 1 or so. He’ll be there for (oooh) a couple of hours? Maybe more. He needs to buy a shirt so I don’t look like a tramp at San Diego Comic Con. A comic tramp, sitting behind the desk, looking jealously at people with action figures. Why isn’t there a Kid-With-Knife action figure, eh?

It’s a solo gig, as McKitten is off to San Diego earlier. Because he is very lazy. In terms of other good news, it seems we’ll have some more T-shirts to sell. S, M, L, XL and (for the very first time) XXL. This isn’t because we presume American reads may be chubbier. We presume they may be taller. We’ll also have the trade, McKelvie’s art and if you come anywhere near us, I’m sure Frazer will try and sell you something related to Gutsville.

A couple more reviews of the trade…
Humphrey Lee, Aint it Cool News: “Reason one why you should buy this? Well, because it’s good AND unique. More than half the time you’ll be hard pressed to find a comic on the stands that is either one of those, let alone both.”
Greg Oleksiuk, Popmatters: “Whether you are a fan of Britpop, stories’ involving magic, or a tale of re-living one’s youth, Phonogram: Rue Britannia is for you.”

Finally, for fans of discount comics online retailers, we notice that Khepri are now stocking the Phonogram trade. They ship to outside the US too, but only if you order more than twenty dollars worth of stuff.