Last night I finished Phonogram: Rue Britannia, a comic by Kieron Gillen (writer) and Jamie McKelvie (artist) that approaches the idea that music is magic and it defines who we are. I passed on the series when it came out in monthly, single issue form but after hearing so many positive things about it, I couldn’t pass up the trade paperback collection of the series. And I am glad I didn’t.
To get an idea for what the book is about - Kieron Gillen’s pitch for the series was thus:
“Music is Magic.
You know this already. You’ve known this from the first time a record sent a divine shiver down your spine or when a band changed the way you dressed forever. How does something that’s just noises arranged in sequence do that? No-one knows. It’s just… magic.
Everyone knows that. It’s just that some realise that it’s more than metaphor.“
The story follows a character named David Kohl, a British man in his early thirties who was big into the Brit Pop music scene of the mid-90s. (Brit Pop was music from bands like Oasis, Blur, Radiohead and The Boo Radleys.) Kohl is a phonomancer, a magician of sorts who use magic to control their lives. It's a modern fantasy.
I was a fan of Brit Pop myself and while I do not get all the references in the story, I do see what Gillen is trying to do. He is saying that music defines who we are as people and, even though our tastes may change on what kind of music we like, it is important to see the importance of our musical histories.
I never liked Kula Shaker either.
Phonogram: Rue Britannia is published by Image Comics. It is 150 pages for $14.99 but you can get it for cheaper on Amazon or InStockTrades.
Recommended For: People who Love Music, Modern Fantasy Fans, Anglophiles
No comments:
Post a Comment