I’ve been looking forward to this one for weeks. Pop music is magic - at least, I’ve always thought so. This one did not disappoint, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. Of course, I mostly speak American indie, so a lot of the references send me rushing off to practice my google-fu (even with the glossary), but I’m so enamoured of the concept that I’ll forgive almost any obscurity. Plus, the story’s working for me, so I don’t mind a bit of my own ignorance.

Very intriguing. Since Moore and Delano I’ve appreciated British sensibilities about magic and music. Good to see that tradition is still going. I plan on showing this book to my good friend Andrew Goodwin, a birt like you lot, but also a professor of cultural studies at University of San Francisco. Keep it going. Keep it black and White, and keep it Image or some other independent for as long as possible. Your hard work came through on this book gentleman. Boat drinks!

Seraphimcharm: I figure that anyone who’s ever loved a band gets what’s happening between Kohl and the girl. You don’t need to know who precicely Kenickie were. Or so I hoped anyway. And we have a sneaky hope that rather than being a barrier, it’ll be an entranceway. We’d like to get people into stuff. And vica versa. Glad you dug it.

Jahpuba: Thanks. That’s certainly a tradition we don’t mind being placed in. They’re such towering figures, it’s more than a little intimidating to even be close to their terrain. We’ll be careful not to disturb the towering critical standing of Moore and have him accidentally crush weak and tiny us.

Also, I hope never to move from Image. Anyone more mainstream would never let us get away with half the stuff Image do. We salute them.

KG

Just finished reading the book, and had to drop a note saying “Fantastic”! Even though I didn’t get all the references, the story and ideas held up really well. I love that you mentioned Morrison’s “Dead Beatles” in the letter column–I’ve always loved how he connects the dots between pop culture and the unseen world around us. You’re definately carrying the torch and creating something magical yourselves. The artwork is jaw-dropping, love the Black Grape cover tease at the end.

For my money, one of the most magical bands from the UK will always be Lush. Will they get a mention?

Keep up the great work!

Scott

Hmm. I’m not sure if there’s an explicit Lush reference. There was a rather downbeat one in an early draft of the script, but I’ve removed that. May try and work one in somewhere - there’s a sequence where such allusions are fairly easily inserted or removed - as their transformation from shoegazing dream-pop to straight ahead guitar-pop was *very* Britpop.

KG

Who’s your Philippine correspondent? I’ve been making the rounds and I can’t seem to find your comic. ~_~ Hopefully, you guy is from Manila. I’d love to get my hands on a copy… ~_~ Maybe you can email me the contact info? (If you don’t mind, of course.) ^_^

It’s my lunch hour and I just finished reading issue one. Firstly, congratulations. It’s fucking brilliant, in all senses of the word. Secondly, thankyou for making me pick up some Kenickie and Afghan Whigs CDs to play loud in the studio for the rest of the day. My co-workers are either going to love or hate me.

I heard about it yesterday, thought the description souded kinda lame, bought it today on seeing the cover - nice! - and just finished reading it. Fuck yeah! And when my wife gets home from work to read this her head is going to explode!

I bought it yesterday, and I must admit I absolutely adored it. The images were seared into my brain moreso than the Golden Arches and the Target bullseye combined. The writing was so fantastic I got chills. Music, pop, forced emotional connection, and everything that goes along with it, has been infecting my life a lot lately (in a good way thankfully.) This was exactly what I needed to read right now. Beautiful stuff guys.

Hey Koko,

Phonogram has been in Manila since last week. C.A.T.S. collectibles at Greenhills got some advance copies. Saw it myself last Saturday. It hit the stands at the other shops on Thursday (Wednesday in the U.S. since we’re a day ahead in the time zone). Pass by Comic Oddyssey at Robinson’s Malate next week and i’ll be sure to leave you a Phonogram postcard. I have a couple left over from the 110 or so we distributed in a number of shops around the metro a couple of months back.

After reading issue #1 in its entirety, including the glossary and Kieron’s late night prose, I’m still trying to absorb it all. With all the high falutin musicologese, it may be open to debate whether PHONOGRAM is resplendent in the finest cloth or is instead parading around with nothing on.

But there’s one thing that’s keeping me from dismissing PHONOGRAM as something akin to a stereotypical goateed art critic going on at length about the brilliant masterwork of a piece which is in fact the crayon scribblings of a three-year-old. And no, it’s not that all music praised therein is either music I love or music I have yet to hear. (Ha, well maybe it is.) It’s that though I may not always understand it, I’m enjoying the ride, damn you. I’m smiling and laughing along the way. And not just because of Jamie’s wonderful art, which brought me here in the first place.

BTW, a person would explode in a vacuum, not implode. David Kohl may know music and magic, but he doesn’t know science. Not that the arrogant bastard would ever admit it.

Reall? Thanks… I’ll get my copy posthaste and I’ll count on that postcard. hahaha ^_^

I finally got a copy of Phonogram. It wasn’t an easy task, mind you.

First, the girls at the store claimed that they have never recieved a comic by the name of Phonogram. Feeling disappointed, I decided to rummage through their back issues bin to look for past issues of Girls. Guess what I found? Yep, the last copy of Phonogram that they probably have. Excited, I just purchased it right off the bat.

Which brings me to the second disappointment…

It was a bit damaged. ~_~

But, hey, I have a copy… And that’s important. ^_^

p.s.

Wonderful. Truthful. Sly. Amazing. So far, these are the only words that can barely give you an idea on how good the first issue is. ^_^

Hurrah for a relatively happy end to your adventures, Koko. Glad you liked it.

And since the shop is being “funny”, I’d suggest having a chat and making sure they’ll order a second one for you.

KG

Hey Koko,

Passed by Comic Oddyssey last night. Left an envelope containing the postcards and one of the three badges KG sent for you. Ask Mimi, the girl at the counter, for it. Since this comic shop has only one girl, i’d doubt they’d be as “funny” as your other one. Enjoy.

One more thing, you can visit their website at komikshop.com and ask them to preorder phonogram no. 2 (or the entire series for that matter) for you or even re-order the first issue. In terms of currency conversion, i’m sure you’ll find their prices to be the most reasonable in these parts.

Wow… Thanks… And it’s my birthday as well. Nice. I’ll look into that website you’re directing me to. ^_^ Thanks bigtime.