The last page done for the first series of Phonogram and, appropriately, it’s chronologically earliest.

I show it to comrade Jim Rossignol who says “Are 99ers anachronistic?” which makes me panic for a few seconds until google reveals they’re not. PHEW.

As always, distribute as widely as you can be bothered.

The Calgary University Alt-magazine The Gauntlet does its comics supplement. Interviews people like Brian Michael Bendis, Brian K Vaughn and Kieron “Who?” gillen.
PDF download here.

(Title was the first Canadian name-checking lyric which came to mind. Just not terribly appropriate.)

“David Kohl is a dickhead of the highest order.”

And from restating his assumptions, T. Martin of Comixfan digs deep into Phonogram 4 and 5. To say the least, some good stuff here.

A little more media on Phonogram. Jeff Lester, over at Savage Critic, wonders about the merits of autodeconstruction (Don’t we all), Chris Murman at Silver Bullet reviews issue 5, and David McNamee flicks through the Phonograms I sent him and finds himself pleased. Bless ‘im.

Lester prompted me to start thinking about some related issues, in a thread over at Ellis’ The Engine. If you’re interested in seeing what we want to do with Phonogram series 2 sort of evolve, it may be worth reading.

“We’d like to draw your attention to a comic. And before you run off screaming, we should point out that it’s not the kind of comic where Batman now takes psychotropic drugs to fight ‘mind crimes’ and Robin is a radioactive bipolar spaniel in a tuxedo. This is a comic about music; specifically that fast-becoming-the-subject-of-nostalgia genre, Britpop.”

The lovely Tim Chipping writes about Phonogram for Channel 4’s Music Blog.

Quick update post to gather together some of the reviews of Issue 5.

Brandon Schatz, ComixExtreme: “If you haven’t been reading this book up until now, give it a shot when the trade comes around. You’ll love yourself for it, I know you will.”
Graig Ken, RackRaids: “To reiterate (analogy free), read the trade, by all means, and if you love it (which you likely will), then seek out the individual issues, and immerse yourself deeper into Kohl’s world”
Andrea Speed, ComixExtreme: “This is another great example of the diversity in the comic medium, and the kinds of stories that you can tell here that you probably couldn’t tell in any other way. We need more comics like this.”
Chris’ Invincible Super Blog: ” It’s another excellent issue of the best mini-series going, and if you haven’t already jumped on, you’re going to want the trade.”
Scott Cederlund, Popsyndicate: “It’s easy to understand the passion that’s driving Kohl’s journey even if you don’t relate to the specifics.”
Bart Croonenborghs, Broken Frontier: “The excellent story progression in conjunction with the outstanding stylings of Jamie McKelvie makes this a stellar issue.”

Now, let’s not blow it with the final issue, eh?

(Actually, Kitten lobbed me one of the key images of the series, and it’s a thing of scary beauty. So fingers crossed.)

And Phonogram #5 hits the shelves today in the US, tomorrow in the UK. Do tell us what you make of it.

It is Autumnal.

If you’re reading Phonogram, I suspect this essay by David McNamee may be of interest to you. It’s about part of the diaspora around Britpop, specifically the bit which was the middle of a Venn Diagram of Teen-C, Bratpop and The Glitter Scene. It’s stuff which all feeds into Phonogram, but more on a cultural level than anything that’s referenced openly.

(The exception being the long bit about Kenickie, which is pure post-Glitter Scenedom, ableit not openly named)

Anyway - Americans almost certainly won’t be aware of anything in this microscene. Even some British people may not know the details. Follow David as he walks you through the strange year of 1997. Take your glitter-immunisation jabs before setting forth.

Have a nice five page preview of issue 5, due out next week (7/3/07).