Poporama 1: Rage Against The Machine Vs X Factor's Joe McElderry

By Lauren Kreisler

The Official Charts Company launches new comic strip POPORAMA with renowned graphic artist JaKe.

The Official Charts Company has teamed up with renowned graphic artist JaKe to launch a brand new comic strip celebrating 60 Years of the Official Singles Chart.

As the UK prepares for the reveal later today of the Official Christmas Number 1 winner 2012, comic strip Poporama makes its debut this morning with a strip telling the story (albeit with a little artistic licence…) of one of the greatest chart battles of recent years – the thrilling 2009 Christmas Number 1 race between X Factor’s Joe McElderry and Rage Against The Machine.

The strips have been created for the Official Charts Company by graphic artist JaKe who has been chronicling music, film and TV in comic art for almost 20 years, including NME, The Mighty Boosh, The Prodigy, Star Wars/LucasFilm, Vox and Esquire. The strip launches to round off 2012, and the 60 Years of the Official Singles Chart celebrations.

The story is the first of six initial strips which will be released by the Official Charts Company over the coming months, providing a glimpse back through the history of pop music – a story which has been chronicled week by week through those six decades by the Official Singles Chart.

The Official Charts Company’s Managing Director, Martin Talbot says:

“The Official Singles Chart has been chronicling the music tastes of the great British public since 1952 – and Poporama will provide a sideways glance on the history of pop music throughout those six decades.

“Rather than being a straight history of the Official Singles Chart, it will provide a unique, irreverent and, at times, hyper-real look at the music and pop stars which we have all lived through and loved in the past 60 years.

"Like all comic strips, it will also occasionally take liberties with reality, with tongue firmly in cheek. But, across all of the forthcoming strips, we're sure that Poporama's subjects will enjoy the joke too and the spirit in which they are published."