I spend a lot of time listening to and thinking about music. Yeah, that’s a pretty generic statement; let me clarify that a bit. I’m the kind of person that doesn’t just listen to their music, I put day-to-day events in the context of a song. Major periods of my life are very distinctly associated with certain bands, songs, and genres of music. The idea of a world where magical power is drawn from song lyrics and musical movements exist as goddesses is definitely something I can get into.

Kieron Gillen took this simple premise and weaved one of the most fascinating graphic novels of the past decade.

David Kohl, the phonomancer at the heart of Phonogram, is an asshole. He’s a selfish, self-loathing remnant of a long-lost era. In other words, he’s a byproduct of the period where he established his identity, the era of britpop. While everyone else has moved on, he is still firmly rooted in a dead movement. This makes him uniquely qualified to save Britannia, the deceased goddess of Britpop, when she is disturbed. David has to find the source of this disruption and stop it before his very identity is destroyed.

The world of Phonogram is a place where the power of song isn’t just an existential idea; it is a tangible force. Mages, called phonomancers, draw power from musical movements. Their spells permeate the airwaves and capture the attention of thousands. Musical genres take the form of goddesses and bands are their priests.

Some level of familiarity with the Britpop movement is helpful when diving into the miniseries. Nary a page goes by without a reference to a song or band from the genre. The storyline and to an extent, David himself, are very much reflections on the ideology of Britpop. David is an asshole, but he is an asshole because Britpop is all about being an asshole. Britpop is about being selfish and existing only for yourself. It is about using others to grab that little piece of happiness. It was about Britain establishing an identity for itself outside of the influences of the US grunge scene. While the rest of Britain has moved on, David remains rooted in the past.

Phonogram is a story about identity, about finding it, reaffirming it, and becoming comfortable with it. As the story opens, Kohl is trying to blend in to the modern scene. He is firmly rooted in Britpop, but he has changed. Like the rest of Britain, he no longer cares about the ideology of Britpop, he hasn’t even thought of the goddess Britannia in nearly a decade. Yet, he falls apart when the roots of his identity are shaken. Even when others suggest that David leave Britannia alone, that he move on and find a new root for his identity, he refuses. Somehow, he can’t just grow up and move on. He can’t just find a new movement. In other words, he is Britpop. When it seems that Britannia is about to be ripped out of reality, he tries to pull together the ritual to realign himself in another movement. He fails, and in doing so, finds that he is still the byproduct of the movement. As the story reaches its conclusion, David is finally able to accept that, while Britpop is dead, he is still Britpop.

As someone who is fascinated by the meaning of music, Phonogram drew me in from the first page. Kieron is clearly someone who knows his material, an innate knowledge, if not love, of Britpop is soaked into every chapter of the graphic novel. Even more crucially, he is someone who can tell a good story. He does a great job of establishing the fantasy setting and creating characters that you can both love and hate. The dialog is snappy, but is still realistic. Even the musical references feel natural, only a couple of them are forced down your throat. Jamie McKelvie’s artwork does a solid job of bringing the story to life. McKelvie is another person who knows his musical movements. At a glance, you can tell what background each character descends from. His covers are brilliant, each referencing a major single or record from the Britpop era. My only complaint is that it is a little too cartoony. Everything is a little too sparkly, a little too clean. It is thematically appropriate, given the musical movement that the story reflects, but it still bugged me at times.

Phonogram is the comic for anyone who has ever taken long walks just to listen to a certain mix. It is for those people who think about the past and have a set soundtrack for each and every event. It is for those people who were part of a scene, who became part of the background at a club. Even if you have no particular attachment to Britpop (I don’t), Phonogram will leave its mark in your mind. Kudos to Kieron and Jamie for turning something I grabbed out of a bargain bin into something I will read over and over again.

Extra bonus for the gamers:

Does the author, Kieron Gillen, sound familiar? He should, Kieron has been a gaming journalist for decades. You may have seen his work in Edge, PC Gamer, The Escapist, and countless other magazines. His review of Fahrenheit for The Guardian was the first long-form review to appear in a major newspaper. He is probably best known as the creator of “New Games Journalism.”