Though I have eclectic musical tastes, I'm not the sort of person who's drawn to different and unusual new albums or artists. I don't have an extensive CD collection, and I generally listen to whatever's on the radio or one of a select few discs I have in the car (over and over again). Live concerts are not my bag. The only time I really enjoy live music is in a small, intimate setting, and I don't care for loud, chaotic shows at that. And despite all that, despite the fact I'm not a "music" guy, I dig Phonogram. It's a meticulously crafted comic book that defies definition and expectations. Creators Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie offer up something truly unique in the world of comics and pop culture: something new and fresh. If I had to use other characters and concepts to describe it, I'd have to say it's Hellblazer meets Love Monkey. But then I was only one of about 32 people who watched that short-lived CBS show, so that high concept will probably do nothing for you.
David Kohl is cool. David Kohl is slick. David Kohl knows music better than you or me or any critic at Rolling Stone. David Kohl is sexy. And he's an utter bastard. He's all of those things, but most importantly, he's a phonomancer, someone who sees the magic in music and can manipulate it. He's used his skills selfishly over the years (see previous "utter bastard" comment), and his sins are coming back to bite him in the ass. Upheaval is about to hit the upper echelons of the phonomancer community, and he's tasked by an old enemy with a common interest in helping to preserve the status quo.
There's something familiar about McKelvie's work. I don't mean that I think I've seen it before and don't know where -- I have seen it before and know where. I mean the qualities in his style strike me as familiar. His smooth linework and soft figures put me in mind of Steve (Preacher) Dillon's style as well as Tim (The Copybook Tales) Levins's. It's also easy to see the influence of such artists as Joseph Michael (Dawn) Linser and Colleen (A Distant Soil) in his work as well. The backgrounds are simply but convincing, but one of my favorite panels is one in which the backgrounds are eliminated altogether so as to emphasize the conflict between Kohl and a more powerful phonomancer. That moment packs a real visual punch.
When I first started reading this comic book, I was expecting something of a slice-of-life book. I hadn't read the advance solicitation copy so I didn't see the supernatural side of the story coming. So at first, this read like an Oni Press book, a journey into the hip and young side of urban life, the sort of thing that publisher does well (among other genres, of course). The magic aspect surprised me, but as I flipped back through the book a second time, it's clear that Kieron Gillen didn't just blindside his readership. The seeds for that supernatural side of the book are planted in the first page, hell, even on the cover (check out the second figure with the black eyes).
Phonogram isn't an easy comic book. It's immersed in pop culture with which I am not personally familiar, and there are bound to be many readers who don't appreciate it either. But Gillen's script isn't about leaving people out of the loop. He challenges his audience with the culture and craft of pop music. Lines between memory and the present blur a bit, and there's a slightly surreal tinge that permeates every panel. Phonogram is one of the most unusual and strongest comics Image has published in a long time, and I expect it will foster a cult following. 9/10
