KieronGillen

Yeah, I like Bat for Lashes, but don't believe there's anything of her in it. That said, Indie Dave being in Brighton now would give a bloody good excuse.

KG

Hello Phonofolk!

It's very much the Kitten and Gillen week, as the first issue of my new Marvel S.W.O.R.D. launches this week. It's Steve Sanders (FIVE FISTS OF SCIENCE) and myself as the lead story, but the first issue has a back up story by McKelvie and Me (The first story we've done together for Marvel, for the record). And Phonocolourist Matt Wilson provides hues throughout. If you like Phonogram and are interested in a pop-action comic, I suspect you'll enjoy SWORD.

The IFanboy page!

The 6 page preview.

Hurrah for comics!

KG

I missed this question. In case he comes back...

Anson17:"Do you ever get old friends calling you up asking whether a character or story was based on them?"

Not really, at least yet. The people who it are based on generally clock themselves immediately.

KG

Mac: I don't think my presence matters that much. I was around last time, and it didn't stop when it was pick of the week turning into a cheery bloodbath. It's also worth stressing that I'm only discussing Robyn here. I wouldn't try and get into a debate about Phonogram itself, because that'll be totally counter-productive. People's responses are people's responses. Getting in the way would be rude.

 (Which is why, apart from the fact I'm at SD, I haven't responded again to you Edward - you turned the conversation into a debate on PG rather than Robyn. As such, it's for other people to respond)

 And thanks for the Darkfall praise. It was an odd 'un.

AngryDad: I love 'em too. 

Ed: Didn't realise Handle Me was actually a hit in the US dance charts. Only place it went Top 10, oddly enough 

(Her hits make interesting reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robyn_discography)

Still: neither now, nor 2006 is that Robyn's story. And we're getting closer to PG again, so I'm shutting up.

KG

Er... this is probably not the place to do this, being a comic thread and all. And the thread about my comic, making it even worse. Drop us a line if you want to yabber some more?

So - anyone dig it

KG

You said she was exactly the same as Princess Superstar. Princess Superstar's public profile as a performer is the aforementioned ironic slut due to her singles about being an ironic slut. Robyn, being primarily known for melancholic electronic pop songs, isn't exactly the same as Princess Superstar.

Oh - and I forgot to say: Jack U Off is a Prince Cover.

KG

Are they her singles?

KG

She doesn't. Princess Superstar was ironic slut, bless her, and little else. Robyn isn't. None of her serious hits - Bitches not being a hit - worked on that axis*.

Of course, that's overlooking the larger issue implicit in your question, man. You imply that some kind of career means anything in pop music. Deelite's Groove Is In The Heart versus every Coldplay record ever. The only people who give a damn about careers are Publisher accountants.

If you do pick up the issue, do read McNamee's piece on Robyn. If not, read it in the shop. The story around Robyn's success is an interesting one, in terms of genuine DIY-indie-pop culture.

I didn't write much about Robyn in my own essay stuff, so I'm totally making up for it here.

KG

*Be Mine, Who's That Girl, With Every Heartbeat all wear their heart firmly on their sleeves.

Who's That Girl is a phenonemal pop record.

KG

Hi.

I don't normally actually get involved with debates around the book. The point of something like Phonogram is at least partly about the debate around it, and people's own responses are holy. It's a book about people's reaction to art, after all. Trying to dictate what people's response to it should be is against its nature. However, since I've watched a lot of debates around the series, I think I may have some things which may help the two sides understand each other.

There's lots of reasons why people won't like Phonogram, but there's one initial step that everyone goes through and each reader either goes one way or another.

1) They see the references and that's all they see. They turn off.

2) They see the references and it doesn't faze them at all.

Worth noting that this doesn't say anything about whether they like the references or not. People who like the music are just as apt to turn off when they see the name-dropping. People who literally don't know any of the bands, if they fall into the second category, are entirely able to engage. I've got enough people who aren't music fans - or have even liked music at all - say how much they like the comic for me to know that's true.

The debate like this arrives when the two groups don't really understand the other side. Because the first group turned off at the music references, they don't believe there's anything else there. Because the second group aren't really - at their core - there for the references, they refuse to understand why anyone doesn't get that.

Can one side become the other? That, I dunno. But understanding the other side isn't actually being openly decietful about their response may be a step towards it. Of course, there's a load of different reasons to like or dislike Phonogram once people get past the references, but it's gateway everyone passes through towards either love or hate.

Clearly, Jamie and I are in the second group. That's why we did the comic. Phonogram's largest theme is about human's relationship with their art - both positively and negatively, internally and socially. It applies to more than just music. In fact, even when hating Phonogram, Nostalgia&Comics'* UsagiNunn totally gets this. When he describes Phonogram as "Comics with a small c, for NME reading hipster scum" he's doing what Seth Bingo does a lot - connecting a work of art to a group of people he doesnt like, simultaneously insulting the art and the people who he identifies with it - and in the same action defining himself *against* them, thus shoring up his own sense of identity. UsagiNunn may not like Phonogram, but he's absolutely the sort of person we write about.

(We take extreme identies to explore this stuff, because pathologies almost always tell us more about an underlying mechanism than mild cases. Emily Aster is an extreme case of someone who art helped transform from someone else, so is interesting as a study.)

While never saying that some of the banter can be fun and a reason some people like PG, it's not what drives the series. What's unsaid is always what matters. A conversation that's about what a conversation appears to be is the definition of shit writing.

Glad most people are digging it. We're very proud of it.

KG

*The first real comic shop I walked into, I think. Kind of a mecca when you're from a hole like Stafford. Hope all is keeping up well there.