So one of the comics stores in town was selling grab-bags: a bundle of five random comics for £1. Flipped through the box and noticed one where the front comic's cover art grabbed my brain and screamed BUY ME. Did just that.

Said comic was issue 4 of 6 of Phonogram, which appears to be a comic following around a magician specialising in Britpop magic. No, seriously. Except his patron goddess is missing, and everyone's memories of the period are shifting, and hence his own power and existence are threatened.

This issue is basically his spirit quest seeking the goddess. To me it's a game of spot-the-reference. The pseudo-mythology is fun... the Necromancer and his Golem who overthrew the King have got to be Noel and Liam, the King is obviously Damon which makes the Queen Justine, there's a girl on a bridge waiting for Richey... and at that point I realised exactly why the cover had forced me to buy it. Amazed I didn't realise it on sight - it's plainly based off Modern Life Is Rubbish. And the next issue preview has artwork from Suede. Apparently that's the theme with the covers. Title of issue 5 is 'Kissing With Dry Lips'... when we say goodnight, end of a century... And the series website opens with a nice take on This Is Hardcore.

Of course since it's (a) a weird damn trip going on and (b) halfway through the story already, I haven't a damn clue what's actually going on - is that guy someone our hero knows in-story, or somebody I wasn't cool enough twelve years ago to know about and so don't recognise? So... either I wait for a paperback collection, or I start hunting back issues.

edit: Oh, nice. This issue came out in January, and the collection is out already... Right, time to buy :-)