He and Kieron Gillen create layers of subtext as Laura balances being both critical and jealous. This methodical, yet erotically charged stream of consciousness is just how Laura views the world, and Jamie McKelvie does an excellent job of matching facial expression to whatever she’s thinking at the time. (Laura gives off total frustrated bisexual vibes, especially around Penny B.)
Almost like a screenplay, she talks about how she’s a symbol of overall coolness thanks to her tattoo sleeve and piercing, and how she wants to be and be with her.
However, Laura creates an entire backstory for the bartender based on one panel of her disdainfully serving Marc a drink. It’s just something you do at a club night, everyone has their go-to libation, no harm, no foul. For example, in previous issues, there’s been zero lingering on the simple act of getting drinks at the bar. You could even call her a parasite, and her interactions with Lloyd along with the black eyes McKelvie draws her with seem to back this up. This because it’s her entire personality, and she can’t come up with anything original. In Phonogram: The Singles Club #5, Laura Heaven has to critique and commentate on everyone and everything, and of course, there’s footnotes. It’s also why Phonogram: The Singles Club #5 comes across as the wordiest of the series so far even though I haven’t done any actual analysis on it. Nearly every line of dialogue or narrative caption for her is a reference to something else whether that’s a lyric by her obsession du jour the 2000s English indie rock band The Long Blondes or a really hacked out quote from Airplane that causes the equally referential Lloyd (Never Logos) to go Arthur fist in the next panel. To quickly sum her up, she is the female equivalent of that Harvard grad student that gets spit roasted by Matt Damon’s character in Good Will Hunting, but with pop music instead of colonial American history. Laura Heaven is terribly pretentious and a terrible person, and after dropping hints about her throughout Phonogram: The Singles Club, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, and Matthew Wilson give her center stage in issue five. I wanna be her.”- “Boys Wanna Be Her” by Peaches
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