David Fickling told delegates at the Federation of Children’s Book Groups conference that he is determined to bring the comic back.Now, at this stage it seems like more of a wish than a definite plan. And, like Kenny comments over at the FPI blog, the numbers are a little shaky at this point. Steve Holland, over at Bear Alley, has the same story from a different tack talking about the prospect of Graphic Novels being a way back for the DFC. As much as I'd love to see a collection of many of the strips in the DFC, especially Vern & Lettuce, Crab Lane Crew and Sausage & Carrots, surely they'd be published by Random House through the David Fickling Books imprint to generate some much needed income for Random House? I just can't see Random House allowing them to be published outside the company as an independent thing. But I could be wrong; it depends on the ownership status of the strips - do the DFC creators own their work or is it somehow tied into Random House with a first look deal for publication?
“As far as I was concerned, it was maddening to close it so quickly,” he said.
“But this is not good night for DFC. We are coming back. We are going to come back next year independently.”
Still, we all keep our fingers crossed.
I thought it was brilliant of Borders to start up a dedicated graphic novel section. I was in the Comic Exchange in Notting Hill a couple of years ago, and a bunch of school kids ran in eagerly seizing upon and discussing the classic Inhumans issues of Fantastic Four. These lads were into the exact same Kirby-Lee stories that I read at their age. So I never doubted there could be a massive market for comic books in the UK if publishers and booksellers would be willing to take a leap of faith. (And also to offer something between the extremes of Maus and the Beano.)
ReplyDeleteThe 800% sales hike that The Bookseller reported does seem to be in the YA market, though. Alex Rider, Artemis Fowl, Clone Wars... I'm not sure that reflects a large proportion of DFC readers.