DFC Relaunch news - a statement of intent rather than a plan?

News is coming through of first signs of a DFC relaunch via Jayne Howarth.

David Fickling told delegates at the Federation of Children’s Book Groups conference that he is determined to bring the comic back.
“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.”

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?

Still, we all keep our fingers crossed.

The DFC spirit continues: Super Comics Adventure Squad

A little good DFC news in amongst all the gloom with the final issue coming out earlier. A group of the writers and artists who worked on the comic have put together a blog:

This from Garen Ewing, one of a number of creators who've got work done that was meant to appear, but sadly won't be seen in the pages of the DFC:

The DFC is dead... long live The DFC!

Actually, no... The DFC isn't dead. David Fickling and his inspiring team brought into this world something new and exciting, something that is just too good to disappear back into the ether. So until it finds its place again, the creators who found a home under the covers of The DFC (both published and nearly published) have come together under the guise of the Super Comics Adventure Squad!

Despite the Economic Woe, it is still an exciting time for the medium of comics and this blog will act as a hub for some of the best in British graphic storytelling talent, a place where you can keep up with what they're doing, all in one place, and where they will post
news, events, sketches and comics, with links back to their own websites where you can see and learn more.

There is already a small archive of posts to view, written over the past week as we got ready to go live, including, for instance, some of theconcepts that nearly became DFC strips (and may yet find an outlet somewhere else).

In the meantime, thank you for visiting, and please spread the word and drop in as often as you like - who knows what other exciting stuff will emerge from this little collective?

So there you go: Super Comics Adventure Squad. No substitute for the comic perhaps, but it may soften the loss a little.

On a related note, the DFC website has gone, but it has been replaced with a page with links to the concluding parts of several stories from the comic. (But, much to Molly’s disappointment, no mention of Crab Lane Crew. Jim? Jim? What do you plan Jim?)

Final DFC. Sad day.

(Click on the pics for bigger Flickr versions)

It came through the door a few minutes ago. Lovely, bittersweet cover.

I haven't read it yet, only flicked through it. To be honest I've cheated somewhat and opened it before Molly. Have to glue down the envelope again when I'm finished here so Molly can open it herself when she's home from school.


(Click on the pics for bigger Flickr versions)

There's a lot of very sweet moments throughout the entire comic, with many of the creators saying their goodbyes and thank-yous. And best of all, Molly gets a name check from Jim Medway at the back! (Unless it's another Molly that is. Doubt it though. And we'll certainly tell Molly it's her!)



(Thanks to Jim Medway for the mention. And thanks to all of the creators who've emailed to say thanks to Molly for her work on promoting the DFC)

Friday just wont be the same anymore. Sad, sad day.

Thoughts On The DFC

Well, it's finished. DFC Issue 43 arrives today.

I've put some thoughts together about it over at the FPI blog here and here. But thought it might be nice to have the text here as well:

Today is the final day that we, and many other households (although sadly, not enough) will see the last DFC from Random House dropping through the letter box.

Molly and I have been subscribers from the start and we’ve written about it here on the FPI blog previously. (Here, Molly’s interview here, here, here, here, here, here). We even did a big spot just a few months ago for the six month anniversary here on the FPI blog and I was already thinking about what we were going to put together to celebrate the first year of publication. But that’s not going to happen now. The DFC finishes today.

Molly and I are obviously really sad to see it go, since it’s introduced us to many, many great strips and many, many great writers and artists. It’s definitely succeded in making Molly a proper comics fan for which I thank it. Before the DFC she was, like many children I’d imagine, rather more interested in what piece of plastic crap was attached to the front of the comic or magazine, but the DFC changed that. With it’s unique marketing point of being a proper comic for children, concentrating on story and art and entertainment and fun, no ads, no toys, just great comics, it was a valiant attempt to do something different, something better.

I’d struggled for many years to find something Molly could read, something she’d look forward to getting every week. We’d tried the Beano and the Simpsons, but neither of them lasted. Sure, she knows that she can get graphic novels when she wants and she certainly enjoyed her experiences of reading Owly, Simpsons, Calvin & Hobbes and the rest, but I still wanted her to experience the thrill of a weekly comic.

(DFC Issue 1, 30th May 2008)

So when the DFC came along it seemed as near perfect as it could be. We soon settled into a pattern. Friday afternoons she’d come in from school, release the comic from it’s distinctive yellow and red envelope and settle down to read. Once she’d finished it, I’;d get chance to read it as well. We’d talk about what we liked and what didn’t do it for us. Over the weeks Molly decided that she far preferred the shorter comedy strips and developed three great favourites; Sarah McIntyre’s Vern And lettuce (review), Simone Lia’s Sausage & Carrots (review) and Jim Medway’s Crab Lane Crew (review). I could see what she saw in Vern And Lettuce; a gorgeously drawn, sumptuously coloured gentle adventure comedy strip. I could see the fun in the three panel Sausage & Carrots. But I didn’t get Crab Lane Crew at first. Not until she sat me down and explained that it was great because it was just a group of kids doing kid’s stuff together. Then I got it, and it became one of my faves as well.

(Crab Lane Crew by Jim Medway, a Bruton family favourite.)

Of course, like any comic with a number of different strips there were bound to be hits and misses, but overall the ratio of stuff we liked to stuff we didn’t was impressively high.

Personally I think that the DFC just suffered from incredibly bad timing. It’s business model of selling to subscribers only was either clever, a matter of necessity or completely foolhardy, depending on who you ask. I thought it was a good idea, although of course I had my reservations and fears about how sustainable the model was. Sadly for David Fickling and his team, it seems that they picked a really bad time to try this grand experiment in children’s comics. As far as I know the subscriber base has been building steadily since the launch. Numbers were going up, but they were rising very, very slowly. This was always going to be the problem with the subscriber only model. There’s no opportunity for children to get hold of the comic, as very few of them actually have the required credit card to make the subscription. The pester power factor was missing. In return though they did have a fighting chance. With no expensive, even crippling, distributor cut, no sale or return problem and the backing of a major publisher they seemed to be doing very well indeed. And then the financial world imploded and everything changed.

(Vern & Lettuce by Sarah McIntyre, another Bruton family fave)

When Random House pulled the plug on the comic there were quite a few voices of complaint, looking to blame the big company for the demise of the DFC. But I don’t go along with that. The amount of money that Random House has put into this product is astronomical, maybe 1/2 million quid or so. I’d like to be optimistic about it and think that, but for the immediate necessity to trim back the company to survive the current terrible financial climate, Random House would have played the DFC as a long game, building it slowly, confident that the comic and it’s subsequent spin-off graphic novels and collections would make money.

But it’s not to be. The DFC, a marvellous comic, a grand experiment, a great introduction to some fine comics and best of all; a lovely experience for parents and children to share in a love of reading, is gone. I’d like to say thank you from Molly and me for all of the enjoyment it’s given us. I’d like to wish the creators all the best in the future. It’s been a wonderful 43 issues.

Save The DFC

This is interesting - a new blog has surfaced that's talking about saving the DFC with a subscriber buyout. Could it work?

From the Save The DFC blog:

Random House are looking to sell the title, and whilst the idea of a single wealthy benefactor coming to the rescue sounds great, it also sounds improbable in the current climate.... although with interest rates close to zero and the stock market tanking, you never know...

In any case, it seems unlikely that Random House is actively seeking a buyer.

A great alternative might be to galvanise the subscriber base of the DFC to get as many people as possible to know about it and, if they are interested, get them to pledge a small sum towards an eventual 'subscriber buy-out'.

More on this as it develops no doubt.

DFC - The second to last issue

Another week, another lovely DFC through the door. Sadly, this is the second to last issue. And although they said they'd have some news about where to go for more information on the DFC characters and possible places they're going to finish, there's nothing this week, but there is a message on the inside back cover saying we'll have news next week.

The cover this week is absolutely lovely; Woodrow Phoenix gives us the front and the back of Donny Digits and his brother. The strip is a big hit here, with Phoenix's artwork just so lovely and fresh.

Gary Northfield's Little Cutie is a cracking tale of duck revenge. Julian Hanshaw's Chicken Caesar Jnr is funny again. And of course, there's Jim Medway's Crab Lane Crew; the very first thing Molly looked for and read. We're going to miss them all.

DFC 41 - This is the beginning of the end .....

Underneath this great Lil' Cutie cover by Gary Northfield comes this....

Dear DFC Reader.... We really don't want to spoil your enjoyment of this brilliant new issue, but we have some important and very sad news to share with you...... The DFC is going to have to close in two weeks time - so your issue 43 will be the final DFC in print. We're really sorry to have to stop so suddenly and that your stories will be interrupted. But we haven't been able to find the funding to cover the costs of creating more comics. We will be making sure that you get to find out what happens next in all the stories - look out for more information about that next week.....

That's the way the message starts on the inside front cover of this weeks DFC. All the subscribe buttons have gone from the website. This seems to mean that no buyer has been found and this wonderful attempt at something great has failed.

I'm betting that they'll keep the website going for the time being and maybe use that and the DFC previews site to publish the rest of the material they have on file that was ready to be published.

Such a terrible shame really. A wonderful comic. I do mean to write something about it, but will do that nearer the end.

DFC Friday. Only three to go now....

Issue 40 dropped through the door today. But it was a bitter sweet moment after the news earlier this week that Random House have put the DFC up for sale and if a buyer isn't found issue 43 will be the last one.

So every strip I enjoyed, every strip Molly loved in this issue was met with great fun but also some sadness. It's the very last (in the DFC at least) Vern & Lettuce by Sarah McIntyre, something she talks about here. At least she's one of the lucky ones in a way, having wrapped up Vern & Lettuce this issue for a break before coming back in issue 52. Sadly that wont be happening now. And it's a gorgeous double page spread from Sarah as well:



Jim Medway's Crab Lane Crew returns this issue, but it won't be finishing in the DFC. Hopefully Jim will find some way to get his proposed 12 issues out - someone fancy publishing the whole lot as a graphic novel? Go on, it's fab.

But the artistic highlight here is the new strip; Donny Digits, 3 pages of beautifully drawn wackiness by Woodrow Phoenix. Previously serialised in the Guardian (read some online starting with episode 1 here).



Super Animal Adventure Squad by James Turner is excellent as ever, Sausage & Carrots by Simone Lia was as funny as ever and Julian Hanshaw's Chicken Caesar Jnr gets funnier each week.

But sadly there wont be that many weeks left.

DFC closure announced

“The DFC, a weekly comic (launched May 2008) for boys and girls is up for sale, following a decision by The Random House Group to cease publication.

Philippa Dickinson, MD RHCB, said: “We are very proud of the DFC and the reaction it received from families, schools and especially the children who have enjoyed reading it. It is an innovative concept which we have been very happy to back. There can be no successes without taking risks, after all. Unfortunately, in the current economic climate, we have decided that the DFC is not commercially viable within our organisation.

“David Fickling, the staff at the DFC, and all the comic’s contributors have worked tirelessly to produce what is an amazing weekly publication and we would be delighted if a buyer could be found who would like to take the DFC on as a going concern”

If no buyer is found, the title will close on March 27th.”

Sad, sad news.
More on this as I get chance.




FPI blog, Down The Tubes, Sarah McIntyre, Jim Medway, James Turner,

Crab Lane Crew returns to the DFC this week.....

Crab Lane Crew Season 2 by Jim Medway: Coming in the DFC comic, issue 40, on sale 6th March.

DFC Friday- Issue 39

Latest issue of the DFC dropped through the letter box yesterday: yellow and red envelope promising great things as always. However, I've had very little time to look through it so far today, as things have been busy, busy, busy today.

However I did get chance to flick through and read our favourites, which luckily happen to be the quickies. As usual they're all looking great; Lil' Cutie, Bodkin and the Bear, Sausage and Carrots all excellent. Julian Hanshaw's Chicken Caesar Jnr begins to get really interesting, not going for the immediate gag, not going for cute, but trying something far harder; somewhere in-between. So the entire page, of the clumsy chef's son trying to help dad by putting the cherry on the top of the world's biggest trifle, is all about the final panel which doesn't go for the obvious gag but bravely cuts away to a reaction shot after the fact. It's very well done indeed.

Finally a mention about Sarah McIntyre's Vern and Lettuce. Still a favourite for many reasons. But one of the reasons is because it looks nothing like anything else in the comic, with those lush yet muted colours always looking so lovely. And this episode you really notice it with the device of putting a newspaper behind the strip yet having it poke through;



And to think this was meant to be a quick post between getting some stuff sorted.

DFC as usual is available from the website

DFC Friday; Issue 38

It's Friday and the red and yellow bundle dropped through the letterbox earlier. This means it's DFC day. For those of you not up to speed on this, the DFC is a subscription only UK children's comic featuring 36 ad free pages of fantastic comics. Comedy, adventure, single gag strips, continuing series. The DFC has the lot.

Issue 38 sees the start of new sci-fi adventure Spectrum Black. Which looks rather like a Ben 10 cartoon but does so in a good way - not appealing to me, but Molly thought it looked good (and that's the point of a children's comic - to actually appeal to children). There's a preview page here to give you a flavour of the thing.

Elsewhere there's another new series starting without the fanfare of Spectrum Black: Chicken Caesar Junior by Julian Hanshaw. A nice enough comedy about the son of the greatest chef in the world. The only Julian Hanshaw I can find online is the winner of the 2008 Observer/Cape Graphic Short Story prize with Sand Dunes and Sonic Booms but I don't think it's him:


(left: Chicken Caesar Jnr by Julian Hanshaw in the DFC. Right: Sand Dunes and Sonic Booms by Julian Hanshaw, winner of the Observer/Cape 2008 prize.)

Update, merely a couple of hours later: It is the same Julian Hanshaw. Just working in a different style. Thanks to Julian for getting in touch with the info. He also writes that he's:
"currently finishing of a Graphic Novel called 'The Art Of Pho' which is set in Ho Chi Minh City and revolves around the food of Vietnam. To be published by Jonathan Cape"
Sounds very good after the incredible promise of Sonic Booms and Sand Dunes.

As for the rest of the comic, by now you should know what we like! Gary Northfield's Lil' Cutie, Sarah McIntyre's Vern & Lettuce, Simone Lia's Sausage & Carrots, James Turner's Super Animal Adventure Squad, Wilbur Dawbarn's Bodkin and the Bear all got big smiles and chuckles from both of us.

No Mirabilis or Mezolith this issue though, hopefully they'll be back soon. But the best news of the week, one that elicited huge cheers from Molly is the return of Jim Medway's Crab Lane Crew in 2 issues time. A very happy girl indeed.

So, that's this week's DFC. Well worth going and getting a subscription don't you think?

DFC Friday - Issue 37

It's Friday, so it's DFC day. The red and yellow envelope was waiting for us as we got back from school. Well, neither Molly or I may not really like the strip, but that's one impressive cover featuring Spider Moon (keep wanting to write Sailor Moon!) which starts it's second run in the comic this week.

The other notable newbie / returnee is Gary Northfield's really great Lil' Cutie. (And have you all picked up your copies of his ace Derek The Sheep?) Molly very happy to see it back. Molly had a quick look at it before rushing out of the door for a snowball fight (as great as the DFC may be - there's no way it's going to win over the prospect of a snowball fight - quite right as well). She thought Vern & Lettuce looked "pretty" again with the gorgeous salmon pink colours and that was about it.

I've read it though while she's been outside and it's business as usual, which is no bad thing where business as usual is excellence through most of the pages. Elsewhere in the comic we have more Frontier (which is still suffering from the problem of too little per page - but still entertaining despite that) and another 5 pages of Mirabilis, which appears to be slowing slightly and as it does the art looks a little less polished, a little more rushed. Still keen to see the collection to read it in one go, but hope the quality holds up to the end. Vern & Lettuce, Sausage & Carrots, Bodkin & The Bear, Super Animal Detective Squad all highly enjoyable.

And there's a little preview of a new strip beginning next week: Spectrum Black. Looks lovely and has the required "lots of stuff on each page" factor that seems to be essential for the serious adventure strips to really work. More on that next week.

But in the meantime - get off and subscribe!

It's DFC Friday: issue 36

This week's DFC, done at speed....

Nice Peach de Punch cover and a good two page strip by Misako Rocks. And all of the usual stuff really. This really is the problem with doing a weekly mini review of the same comic: everything you like is still liked, everything you don't, you still don't. Needless to say Vern & Lettuce and Sausage & Carrots were great. Sarah McIntyre has suddenly decided to veer off into a much longer story with Vern & Lettuce. Luckily the strip still has enough gags and of course, looks lovely. One of the strengths of it is how warm and cosy and comfortable it looks. The colours and stylings make it look nothing like anything else in the comic. Next thing you know she'll be telling us she has this idea for 300 strips and this early funny stuff was just her finding her feet a la Dave Dim with Cerebus. Or maybe not.

My continuing love for Mirabilis just grows and grows. I'm really looking forward to the collection that is definitely coming out at some point in the future.

Which makes me wonder yet again - when do we get to see some more collections? Everyone start emailing the DFC and suggesting it: info@thedfc.co.uk

Sadly, this issue also sees the end of Mezolith after it's short reprise of the last few weeks. It's making way for Spider Moon and Lil' Cutie from Gary Northfield. Yea for Lil' Cutie, but neither Molly or I enjoyed Spider Moon too much first time round.

DFC Day - Friday? Saturday?

Oh well, late but still here. Yesterday (Friday) was DFC day at Bruton mansions where the red and yellow envelope drops through the door and I have to wait until Molly gets home and rips it open, then reads it before I get my hands on it.

Issue 35. No time to break the whole thing down. But another, as always, good issue.

Cover by Wilbur Dawburn, really playing with the logo. The DFC has let it's covers be altered more and more as it goes on, a plus point for them not being on the local newsagent's shelves with the children's comics I suppose. Wilbur's strip Bodkin and the Bear is a genuinely funny one and has very quickly become a favourite as the tale of our stupid Minstrel and his all too cunning Bear moves forward.

Okay, out of time, but the othe laugh out loud moment? Fish Head Steve with this great mock ad leading into the strip, brilliant:

It's DFC Friday .... DFC Issue 34

Friday came and went I'm afraid in a bit of a blur, so DFC Friday becomes DFC Saturday.

But the The DFC issue 34 is out with Jason Cobley and Andrew Wildman's Frontier gracing the cover. Inside they're being menaced by a devious gang of werewolves in Weird Wild West. Getting better as it goes this one is, although it does suffer slightly from John Blake syndrome with each episode being not quite long enough to get enough story in. I'm beginning to think this may be down to the artist; Andrew Wildman likes big panels, which means we only get 21 panels across 4 pages. It looks nice, but maybe smaller panels to get more story in would serve it better?



New this issue is the slightly strange Wilbur Dawbarn's Bodkin and the Bear, a 2 page "funny one" that had Molly and I smiling when the inept medieval minstrel gets captured by the bear. It's only strange because the art looks different from the usual funny strip style. It's more rough and angular, but funny is funny, so it's passed the Molly test which is good enough for me.

Also this issue: Super Animal Adventure Squad by James Turner; Dave Shelton's Good Dog, Bad Dog; Simone Lia's ever funny Sausage and Carrots and more Lazarus Lemming. Sarah McIntyre's Vern & Lettuce is still the high point for Molly though and this week we get to see an Underground ghost station and meet Vern's ghostly Grandad leading Vern to utter the great lines: "Am I also doomed to spend an eternity chasing dead moles?"

As before, the two strips Molly doesn't read are the two highlights. Ben Haggarty and Adam Brockbank's Mezolith just looks gorgeous and reads as though Haggarty was in the room reading it to you. And then there's Mirabilis. This time round we get to see a devious old wizard's escape from Bethlehem Hospital for the Insane, our hero gets filled in on what's going on a little more; seems the green comet's trail across the sky happens every thousand years or so and always brings with it miraculous events. Camelot, the Arabian Nights, Hercules, Odysseus and the Mahabarata. What it has in store this time we shall wait impatiently for.

More next week. Maybe even on the Friday this time.

DFC Friday - issue 33 out now

Friday mercifully came around again after a nasty old week (more on that some point later on providing I don't collapse from exhaustion). Which means it's time for a DFC review thing.

Issue 33. Cover star is Lazerus Lemming, back for another series. Good news, but not as good as seeing Crab Lane Crew back again. Counting the weeks till Jim Medway gets back into the comic.

This issue was pretty much as good as usual, but most of the faves from last week: Mirabilis, Mezolith, Frontier having slightly off weeks. Not that they were bad or anything, just that all three had very low key episodes after some crackers recently.

But Vern and Lettuce and Sausage & Carrots made up for it by being very good. Especially Simone Lia's Sausage & Carrots strip, which had Molly and I in fits of laughter after reading it:

DFC Friday - Issue 32

Issue 32 of the weekly comic of choice at Bruton mansions: the DFC



A little bit scary on the cover - Molly certainly thought so. The cover feature is the return of Mezolith; a strip which I'd venture appeals a lot more to the older readers of the DFC. By which I mean older readers like me and all the other parents reading the comic. Mezolith is a cracking story, beautifully illustrated by Adam Brockbank (so beautifully illustrated that at the time of writing this his website is showing that bandwidth exceeded message - a sure sign of sudden interest). But it's the storytelling that really impresses me. Ben Haggarty is a performance storyteller, going through his comics and literally acting them out beforehand to give his artists the feel of what he's trying to do. His stories (Mezolith and the great Will Scoggin's Skull) are stories withing stories. A set up invariably leads to some character sitting down and telling a tale about some aspect of the stone age life of Mezolith. It works very, very well. Pacing is slow, but unnoticeably so and each story builds nicely towards the climax.

Unlike (and here I go again) John Blake by Phillip Pullman. Another week, another three pages of nothing. At one point in this weeks three pages the heroine thinks "Oh, Boy! I'm only ever going to get this story in bits and pieces!" Exactly my thinking. Unfortunately Pullman just doesn't do enough to make me care one bit about what's going on here and the glacial story has become an annoyance, taking up three pages that could easily be filled by something better. I feel rather sorry for John Aggs, the very talented artist of the strip. It's a waste to see great art on a plodding story.

Okay, onto the rest of the comic. Molly loved her usual stuff; Sausage & Carrots by Simone Lia, Vern & Lettuce by Sarah McIntyre

Quick aside; Sarah was kind enough to do a best of year over at the FPI blog - go look for some fantastic illustrations of her choices of which Monkey Journey To The West was one - kindly posed by Vern & Lettuce:



Fish Head Steve made a welcome return, with the ninja story tickling Molly's funny bone nicely - boy with cow on his head dressed in full ninja gear - that's funny.

But overall this issue was more for me than Molly, with the weighting of older strips greater than it's been for some time: Mezolith, John Blake, the wonderful Luther Arkwright meets Hellblazer stylings of Mirabilis and Frontier all made the comic a far older affair this time round.

But that's one of the things about the DFC; variety. Marvellous, wonderful variety. You can't like everything in there. But you're not meant to. It's still a great thing to have land on the mat every Friday, so go ahead and subscribe already.

And Molly would love one of these.....

Made the mistake of showing Molly what Jim Medway was given for his Christmas present this year:



She wants one of her own now!

It's DFC Friday - issue 31 (okay, touch late)

The DFC # 31

Okay, so it arrived earlier this week due to the New Year's lack of postman, but I haven't managed to get around to posting it until now.

The cover: This is a weird side effect of making the comic subscription only. There is absolutely no way I can imagine this being the cover if it had to exist physically on shelves. It's a great cover, please don't misunderstand, but it's not a children's comic cover is it?

And whilst we're on it, the cover features Mirabilis. This is shaping up to be absolutely great. It goes a little wibbly wobbly jumping to and fro into fever dreams and flashbacks, but even with these, it still accomplishes more in the five pages this episode than the dire John Blake has done for weeks. Because with this issue I've completely given up on Pullman's John Blake. It's just too ponderous, too drawn out and too unbearably dull. It's the first strip that's completely failed for me. But given the number of strips in the DFC in these 31 issues, that's not a bad strike rate at all.

Other things: Molly as usual gravitated straight to Vern & Lettuce and Sausage & Carrots. But for the first time since I can't remember when there was no Crab Lane Crew for her. Come back soon Jim! However she has decided that Good Dog Bad Dog, Peach De Punch and Super Animal Adventure Squad are great replacements.



This issue also saw the first episode of Frontier, by Jason Cobley and Andrew Wildman. I used to know Jason when he popped into Nostalgia & Comics with his great Bulldog Adventure Comic. (FPI interview here) It's great to see him doing so well with the DFC and Classical Comics. But, after the double episode introduction of Mirabilis at Christmas, I can't help feeling that this could have done with the same. It's four pages are good and fun, but it's all over far too quickly to get anything more than a taste of the series. A double episode of any new adventure serial may be a good idea. Give the reader something substantial to start with. Just an idea.

Now, if you haven't already done so, toddle off to subscribe to the DFC. Make good children's comics one of your New Year resolutions.