Well this since is my official Multiversity debut I might as well introduce myself. My name is Josh. If you read or post to this site regularly I probably won’t like you for very long and will argue against points I agree with just to get a rise out of you.
Now that that’s out of the way…
My recommendation for you this Friday, August 7th 2009 is a trade that if you, like I, split your time between loving independent music and loving comics (doesn’t have to be an equal split either) then you’ll probably go as apesh*t for this thing as I did. The book is called Phonogram, the trade (which collects the first six issue run of the book) is called Rue Britannia. Words by Kieron Gillen, pretty pictures by Jamie McKelvie (both of whom are doing really random ass work for Marvel these days) and made possible by the letter “I” (and by that I mean Image.)
Now, the intersecting of comics and indie rock really is not as ghastly a phenomenon as some people may think. I’ve met plenty of indie rock aficionados and musicians who derive amusement and indeed, even lyrical inspiration from the comics they grew up with (the first line sang on the 1989 debut record from New York Hardcore legends Sick of It All? “It’s Clobberin’ Time!”) However, it’s rare for the influence to flip flop and for a comic to come forth that ultimately derives its entire premise from obscure and completely forgotten musical minutia…Hawkeye can get name dropped in a hip hop track but how often are The Libertines mentioned in a comic? Not bloody often…and when it does happen, it’s usually a garbage name-drop fest so that the writer can pander to their audience as if to say “Hey! I’m a music nerd too! Look at me!”
This is where Phonogram comes in.
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are name-drops galore in this motherf*cker…at least four or five per page, all the way through (to the point that a glossary is needed in the back to bring less nerdy members of audience up to speed.) However, unlike all attempts I’ve read prior, these drops are absolutely essential. After all, the premise of the book is that music is magic and vice versa, that indeed magic is music. Taking place in England around the first half of this decade, the book follows the ongoing adventure of Phonomancer (yes, you read that right) David Kohl as he seeks the whereabouts of his one true love, Britannia (the true identity of which I’ll leave for you to find out…but its bloody obvious) all the while dealing with the ongoing war against Retromancy and the very real world question of “what happens when your music scene dies?” Kohl’s weapon of choice is the long lost and much maligned (by myself included) tradition of Brit-Pop. Delving deep in the annals of Brit-Pop culture, Kohl weaves these minutia and decaying seven inches into, well, magic.
Or so we are lead to believe.
After reading the book completely, twice, I am unsure as to whether or not I witnessed (or was supposed to witness) anything supernatural happening. It’s entirely possible that all supernatural occurrences contained within the story happened within the drug addled minds of the protagonist and his rag tag supporting cast. However, I think that is much the point. How many times has a song completely changed your life? Now, how often, when you’ve tried to relay the awesomeness of said track to someone else, have they not gotten it? This book, in many ways, functions just like that. It can read as a magical or standard as you want it to be. It’s either a book about warlocks fighting for the honor of their long lost loves using honest to god magic, or an introspective culture book about British coke heads who swear a lot and spend too much time listening to old Kenickie records.
That’s that really. If you enjoy british slang, superbly drawn black and white pencil work, magic and indie rock of any type really…I f*cking hate Brit-Pop with a fiery passion, but I know just by reading this thing that this guy probably loves it just as much, if not more, than I love punk and hardcore…and that love makes for a great read.
Cheers.
(P.S. Big ups to my buddy Ryan for throwing this my way. Now if he could just be a sport and get me a copy of the first issue of Volume 2, we’ll be all set.)
