Sat, 18 May 2013 05:35:13 -0700 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/ Lussumo Vanilla 1.1.4 & Feed Publisher http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69064#Comment_69064 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69064#Comment_69064 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:50:01 -0700 Paul Duffield DFC, and see if anyone's heard of it/read it? :)
It's in The Beano weekly format, but with a bigger range of story types, from funnies to fantasy epics and dramas, with a sort of 'episodic' structure (think of a kid's TV channel, but in comic form) and ongoing stories.
The big pull is a strip written by Phillip Pullman, but there's lots of other cool stuff... my partner and fellow comic artist/writer, Kate Brown has a strip in there called 'The Spider Moon', Emsie (who's been pretty silent on the forum!) has an upcoming strip too... anyone who has been to a British con will also recognise The Etherington Brothers.
It's been a bit of a quiet launch, because it's only being distributed via subscription to start off with, but it's got major backing (David Fickling Books - Random House), and a good feel: it's comic from cover to cover, there's no advertising, good production on heavy matt paper, it's 100% syndicated-character free, no segregation of story type or style, and the publishers are planning on collecting the stories as full graphic novels as they go.
I have a feeling that if this continues apace, it's going to do more than a little remodelling of the comic book industry over here - in a good way. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69078#Comment_69078 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69078#Comment_69078 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:43:32 -0700 Greg SBB! it's only being distributed via subscription to start off with

Seems a little bizarre, what's their reasoning? ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69079#Comment_69079 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69079#Comment_69079 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:44:56 -0700 struthersneil
Just hope it makes it into enough young hands to get itself a following and make a difference. Are the Beano and Dandy still around? I grew up with the Beano and Dandy (and Whizzer/Buster, too). Last time I saw the Dandy I think they'd done away with Desperate Dan, or at least relegated him from the front page, the crazed bastards. Keeping it advertising-free is a good move, too. Last Beano I saw was one big fluorescent ad for refined sugar.

Can't be a bad thing if it gets kids into reading comics, and reading in general. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69081#Comment_69081 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69081#Comment_69081 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:49:45 -0700 struthersneil for kids by people who are into their comics. That has to happen, right? Comic readers are bound to have children occasionally. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69083#Comment_69083 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69083#Comment_69083 Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:54:04 -0700 struthersneil bit of additional effort earns them big points if you ask me. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69467#Comment_69467 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69467#Comment_69467 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 04:53:30 -0700 Paul Duffield Basically, when you're doing a weekly like this, you make such a loss just getting things into stores for no guaranteed return, that the marketing team didn't think it was worth it. I know they offer very generous creator contracts, and they're putting the fair treatment and good pay of their creators (who all own their projects) above aggressive marketing.

So basically, they're aiming for the sleeper-hit effect, with subscriptions slowly rising in the low thousands (I know they're already in the thousands), people passing the comic round, schools ordering copies, and demand slowly rising until they can't keep it out of the shops because the shops are asking instead of the other way round. I think the first few requests have started coming in from shops, so after only 7 issues the tactic seems to be working as planned... but a bit like Freakangels, anything that doesn't rely on the standard 'stick it on the shelves and hope' model takes a big risk. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69502#Comment_69502 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69502#Comment_69502 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:53:19 -0700 Greg SBB!
Cheers for that, I'm genuinely interested. I can see the wisdom in that approach, I guess it just initially seemed a little backward when you have someone like Pullman involved (as well as some genuinely top comics talent). I guessed they might want to avoid the WH Smith model but was surprised they weren't attempting to place displays directly in children's bookshops to catch Pullman's audience. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69516#Comment_69516 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69516#Comment_69516 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:20:57 -0700 StefanJ http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69626#Comment_69626 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69626#Comment_69626 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:25:06 -0700 Paul Duffield Haha! XD That's one thing about the DFC actually, they never reveal what the acronym stands for, and readers can send in ideas that get illustrated at the beginning of each comic. I've clarified the topic title a bit.

@GregSBB
Yeah, I think that's the only weak link so far. I seem to remember stuff like that being planned, but perhaps they're waiting for a particular moment. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69627#Comment_69627 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69627#Comment_69627 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:39:36 -0700 Kosmopolit
Presumably part of the reason for the subscription-only model is that the main focus is on the eventual graphic novel releases. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69629#Comment_69629 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69629#Comment_69629 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 01:51:54 -0700 Kradlum
I heard DFC stood for David Fickling's Comic (the publisher).

As a kid my nan got me Buster each week and my brother got Whizzer and Chips. I'm not sure why neither of us were Beano or Dandy fans, although I seem to remember that the Dandy was still in broadsheet format back then (I might be misremembering). From there I moved on to Battle and then 2000AD. American comics were a mystery to me until I came to London, where fortunately I was at uni with a couple of guys who worked at Comic Showcase and they pointed me in the right direction. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69634#Comment_69634 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69634#Comment_69634 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 02:51:08 -0700 Kradlum http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69690#Comment_69690 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69690#Comment_69690 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 09:50:50 -0700 Paul Duffield Ah Yeah, I was going to mention they've started selling back issues, but it seems you've found out! :) Technically it does stand for David Fickling's Comic, but they don't make a point of it.
@Kosmopolit
That may be part of the reason, but if so I haven't heard it mentioned. There's been the prospect of a version for older readers (probably teens) dangled around as well, but I don't know how far in the future (or at all) all this is, since for the most part it's second hand knowledge. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69706#Comment_69706 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=69706#Comment_69706 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:20:25 -0700 Kradlum much any commercial kids TV so they could have been advertising it 10 times an hour and it would have passed me by. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=71613#Comment_71613 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=71613#Comment_71613 Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:31:45 -0700 Tony Lee The Prince Of Baghdad in The DFC, a 14 week, 4 page strip that takes a 13 year old boy from Harrow into the magic of the Arabian Nights.

Written and lettered by me and drawn, inked and coloured by Dan Boultwood. For those not familiar with our work together, we did the Eagle award nominated Hope Falls last year for Markosia, and The Gloom is currently weekly on web-comic The Chemistry Set....

It's much fun. We've already finished book 1 and we're blocking out the next two of the trilogy.

And at some point soon I'll be announcing my other tale with The DFC, St Spooky's School For Girls, art by Rob Guillory - where Mallory Towers meets Harry Potter... ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73126#Comment_73126 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73126#Comment_73126 Tue, 05 Aug 2008 03:27:59 -0700 Kradlum
[edit]Guess what was waiting on the doormat when I got home? ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73188#Comment_73188 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73188#Comment_73188 Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:44:40 -0700 curb 2000AD, but there's stuff in there that I'm not sure her parents would approve of. Phillistines. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73207#Comment_73207 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73207#Comment_73207 Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:59:05 -0700 Cat Vincent But isn't that exactly what uncles are for? ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73393#Comment_73393 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73393#Comment_73393 Wed, 06 Aug 2008 03:14:15 -0700 Kradlum
First of all I took each comic out of its bright yellow envelope (all 9 back issues were mailed individually). The comic is 36 pages, all colour, matte, with high quality print. The cover is slightly stiffer paper. The first cover was a bit strange, it just didn't look right for a comic cover. I flicked through each one, and I have to say that the stand-out story graphically is The Spider Moon, great use of colour and layout.

I've read the first 3 issues and I'm enjoying the main stories. John Blake is the Philip Pullman story (with John Aggs illustrating)- across the years a mysterious sail-boatschooner, The Mary Alice is spotted in fog all over the Pacific. Serena, an Australian girl on a round the world sailing trip with her family is swept overboard and rescued by John Blake a boy member of the crew of The Mary Alice. Nice pacing and use of colour, but I wonder if the use of panels is a bit advanced for a kids comic, I had to re-read a section as I had skipped an important panel.

The Boss (Patrice and John Aggs) is a story of a crimebusting school class, in the fine tradition of Enid Blyton and British comics. The class are going on a field trip to a castle when they overhear 2 men plotting to steal something. I keep expecting to see a sausage on a fork popping out of the frame. Kind of what I'd expect from a serious story in The Beano.

Monkey Nuts (The Etherington Brothers) is insane. An evil dragon in his base in the Bermuda Triangle is trying to find a diamond egg, but in a vision he saw a robot and a monkey would stop him so he has caused all the mad bad guys to descend on their country to destroy them. The influences here seem to be from classic Britsh comic artists (as opposed to most of the other artwork which is heavily manga influenced) - Rivet the robot reminds me of Ian Gibson's Stogie from Robohunter (or indeed any of his robots) while other parts remind me of Brendan McCarthy's work (Rogan Josh), and of course the monkeys bring to mind Jamie Hewlett.

In The Spider Moon (Kate Brown), we are introduced to Bekka who lives on a doomed planet where the stars are falling. Bekka has to pass her diving exam so she can help her people, just as it looks like she is about to fail she encounters a whale. As I said before, this is the stand-out story in the comic for me (although there is one panel where the placing of the speech bubbles jars. I'm a traditionalist).

Mo-Bot High (Neil Cameron) - Asha is starting at a new school and discovers a pair of giant robots fighting behind the bikesheds. A Modern manga style school story.

I nearly forgot Good Dog, Bad Dog (Dave Shelton), a noir story about 2 dog detectives.

There are various 1 page stories and 3 panel strips, a centrefold doodling page and 2 or 3 puzzle pages. These puzzle me as they seem to be aimed at younger children than the rest of the comic. In fact, I'm not sure what age the comic is aimed at. There's whiskey drinking and use of the word "bloody" in the Philip Pullman story and I noticed one of the later doodle pages is based around a trip to an art gallery with reproductions of Botticelli's Venus Rising and at least one Rubens nude.

I haven't read kids comics for a very long time, and I haven't read 2000AD for about 10 years. The stories in DFC are aimed at kids but the maturity of the artwork and layout is quite high (i.e. it's not just a series of boxes running left to right and down the page like a "traditional" British kid's comic), maybe kids comics have matured in the time I haven't been reading them. I'm currently not a parent so I can't say what one might allow their children to read. If you don't mind your 8yr old reading mild swearing (some people might not even count "bloody" as swearing nowadays) or seeing historic, artistic nudes, and can afford the £3 (£4 outside the UK) a week cost (I think it's more like £2 with a 6 month subscription) then I'd heartily recommend it.

I've subscribed, but my subscription can only start with issue 12, so I've ordered issue 11 but issue 10 is sold out :( (Paul, can your contacts find out if issue 10 is going to be reprinted?). ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73466#Comment_73466 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73466#Comment_73466 Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:40:50 -0700 curb
You're absolutley right. Here's the plan: I slip the 2000ad inside the DFC, and mum and dad remain none the wiser. For like, a second or so. But that's enough time for the niece to soak in some formative, ultra violent thrill power... ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73486#Comment_73486 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73486#Comment_73486 Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:47:14 -0700 Paul Duffield
:) Kate'll be happy to hear you enjoyed Spider Moon! I'll ask her about it and see if I can get word from any of the editors or staff. I think they'll almost certainly reprint though, since the more sales the better.

EDIT: Kate just told me that the current week's comic is always unavailable until the next issue is out, but is confusingly labelled as 'sold out'. The reality is that the comic is printed on demand not in print runs, so it can never actually sell out. Issue 10 will be available on backorder when Issue 11 is the latest release. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73990#Comment_73990 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=73990#Comment_73990 Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:10:23 -0700 emsie
I'm loving it so far....the new lineup that started today has freshened the whole thing up - though I miss some of the standards....but that's the beauty of an anthology...constant change and evolution. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=77306#Comment_77306 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=77306#Comment_77306 Tue, 19 Aug 2008 08:30:28 -0700 Kradlum
Anyone have any idea how the circulation is going? I noted that my subscription was around number 6100, I bought in at issue 9. A proportion (possibly high) of those would be 12 issue subscriptions at just under £3 an issue and others will be 6 month subscriptions at just under £2 an issue. Let's say it's half and half, they're bringing in £15,000 an issue before costs. I hope that makes it sustainable. I noticed when I flicked through issue 12 that they are offering a DFC badge to kids who get their friends to sign up to a subscription, so maybe £15K is not sustainable. I also noticed that the area given over to trailing the next issue is gradually increasing. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=116097#Comment_116097 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=116097#Comment_116097 Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:10:27 -0800 Kradlum There seem to have been a plethora of good new stories starting recently, but we've been left hanging for the stories that debuted when the comic was released. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=116098#Comment_116098 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=116098#Comment_116098 Sat, 10 Jan 2009 11:17:36 -0800 Paul Duffield There were minor problems with the schedule, and it'll be coming back in issue 37 ^_^ I know everything that's going to happen, mwahaha!
I'm looking forward to Spectrum Black too. I love Robert Deas' stuff :) ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=116117#Comment_116117 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=116117#Comment_116117 Sat, 10 Jan 2009 13:32:02 -0800 Oxbrow http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=116128#Comment_116128 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=116128#Comment_116128 Sat, 10 Jan 2009 14:49:32 -0800 Kradlum http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=117539#Comment_117539 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=117539#Comment_117539 Wed, 14 Jan 2009 11:48:07 -0800 Lucifal http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=117587#Comment_117587 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=117587#Comment_117587 Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:02:33 -0800 Paul Duffield You can get subscriptions from thedfc.co.uk or monthly mini-subscriptions from amazon.co.uk :)
@Lucifal
You rock! :D ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=121643#Comment_121643 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=121643#Comment_121643 Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:36:18 -0800 Lucifal http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=134000#Comment_134000 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=134000#Comment_134000 Wed, 04 Mar 2009 01:26:12 -0800 Kradlum
This is a real shame as there are so many good strips and ongoing stories that are just going to disappear. I'd felt that after a weak period (weak to me as a 40yr old reader, perhaps not so weak for the intended audience) it had come back strong with the ongoing stories - The Spider Moon, Mirabilis, Frontier, Spectrum Black, Mezolith, John Blake to name just a few.

I hope everyone finds a new publisher soon, but I fear even if they do they won't get the same print quality that The DFC has. ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=312208#Comment_312208 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=312208#Comment_312208 Wed, 12 Oct 2011 04:01:08 -0700 Kradlum The Phoenix. FreakAngel's colourist Kate Brown has a new story in there The Lost Boy.

Paul - Does The Spider Moon still have a publisher with the DFC Library? Can we expect more books? ]]> http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=314071#Comment_314071 http://freakangels.com/whitechapel/comments.php?DiscussionID=3041&Focus=314071#Comment_314071 Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:20:22 -0700 Kradlum