NPR has a summer reading list for former “recess rebels” (i.e. kids who stayed inside and read during recess, back in the old days when you were allowed to have unstructured random playtime at school). The list includes several graphic novels, including Scott Pilgrim, The Plain Janes, Mouse Guard and Phonogram:
If a piece of music has ever left you dumbstruck, pick up the six-issue comic-book mini-series Phonogram when it’s released as a trade paperback in early June. This dark, ruthless fantasy posits a world where pop music is dangerously potent magic with the power to reshape a person’s very soul. (Which is to say: a world very like our own.)
It’s a richly textured read, teeming with references — you’ll be grateful for the glossary of ’90s Britpop bands — but the astonishing thing is how little those specific references matter in the end. Phonogram is first and foremost a deeply personal story about music and identity; anyone who’s ever overidentified with a band will recognize themselves in its lovingly illustrated pages.
June 6th, 2007 at 8:04 am
I think the industry is getting spoiled. We have now come to expect that mainstream coverage like this is the norm. I sure as heck hope it is, but I still have to appreciate an era where PLAIN Janes gets CNN.com coverage and an Image series (among others) gets plugged by NPR.
June 6th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Trust me, we’re still very grateful for coverage like this.