The DFC Comic - What Does Everyone Think?

[John Freeman]

Just posted my review of the new DFC comic on the downthetubes blog, but here it is for your views...

The first issue of The DFC - Britain's first, subscription-only weekly comic, combining humour and adventure strips in one smashing package, has just arrived in the post -- and it's a terrific start for the new title.

While an anthology title is always going to engender favourites and not-so-favourites, I'm mightily impressed with the comic as a whole -- and when I say comic, I don't mean the kind of thing you generally find on the UK news stand masquerading as such, with three comic strips and the rest of the title full of cheap features and puzzle pages. The DFC is the kind of comic I grew up with -- pretty much cover to cover comic strip action, combining some great looking adventure material with equally enjoyable humour pages. Where there are "puzzle pages", they're all geared to encouraging drawing, which is definitely a good thing.

The DFC never forgets its audience, either -- two of the initial strips, The Boss (by John Aggs & Son) and Mo-Bot High (Neill Cameron) are set in schools, while the adventure stories set up or feature young protagonists, including the eagerly-anticipated Philip Pullman story The Adventures of John Blake, which is a really stunning looking first chapter. Neither have the editors forgotten this is a weekly comic, even though it's inevitable many of these strips will be collected into books at a later date -- all important "cliffhanger boxes" are used to talk up next week's episode for example.

As a long time fan of James Turner's Beaver and Steve webcomic, I was delighted to discover he's one of the contributors, delivering a hilarious one page Super Animal Adventure Squad, who are starting out on a mission to prevent the "Teatime of Doom". David Shelton's Good Dog, Bad Dog is another lively gem.

Some of the strips are inevitably slower than others, such as Kate Brown's gorgeous looking Spider Moon -- but that said, it provides a "breather" sandwiched between strips that are positively frenetic in comparison.

The editorial also comes with a sense of fun, including a challenge to readers to come up with what DFC means (this issue it's Dracula's Favourite Cardigan). There's a frisson of excitement to the introduction that definitely reflects the excitement I'd hope readers will have on receiving their copy.

My criticisms are really, really minor as an editor: the designer isn't using the "I" in the comic font editorial pages correctly and I think the strips should perhaps have more of a border to them than they do at present as there's a danger the pages can merge into one.

For someone who grew up reading comics that combined humour and adventure strips it's great to see that format being given another try in The DFC. I'd say it is well worth while signing up for a subscription, especially when they're offering quite reasonably priced "starting points".

Oh, and the web site is one of the best complements to a print comic so far, and titles like The Beano and TOXIC have set that bar quite high.

With so much incredible British talent packed into its pages you'd be mad not to give The DFC a go -- so subscribe now!

• Visit The DFC web site
• Subscribe to The DFC Comic

[Ian M. Cullen]

I know that:) it just seems a much broader issue in some ways.

That said though as I said in the last para - it should not be in kids comics. Though Bloody is sort of mild - doesn't make it right.

[John Freeman]

Technically of course, "Bloody" is of course actually blasphemy, not swearing, like "F***". Some say is derived from "By Our Lady" as in Lady Mary, mother of Jesus. So Pullman is still upsetting Christians, even in 'John Blake'! :)

(The abbreviated form "By'r Lady" is common in Shakespeare's plays around the turn of the 17th century, and Jonathan Swift uses it about 100 years later in phrases such as "it grows by'r Lady cold")

[Garen Ewing]

I remember at school (age 11, rather a lot of years ago now) one of my more rowdy classmates saying 'bloody' to a teacher. When she told him off he retorted with "Bloody in the bible, bloody in the book, and if you don't believe me, then bloody have a look!"

I never have checked it out for myself, however...

[John Freeman]

If I'd done that at school I'd have been caned. I can still remember being really laid into for making a V sign in the playground once (a character had done it on Z Cars the night before!). And as for the "It was a f****** foul" debacle... the head master almost blew a gasket about that.

[Ian M. Cullen]

School sucked.

When I was a kid going through my early secondary school years - they'd alledgedly scrapped corporal punishment.

Apparently no one told the teacher we got in fourth year.

The word sadistic would be an understatement. Anyway not saying anything more about that - don't want to pull out the really strong language which is popping into my head. Fact is this guy would come after you for little or nothing.

[bambos georgiou]

I know this discussion seems to have run its course, but now that the editor has joined our ranks perhaps it's time to start it up again. If you're out there I'd like to raise a few points about British comics...

The recent Comics Britannia tv show and the release of Crikey! have shown us that the British comic market is littered with short-lived comics. Most UK comics failed in the past, and this was when they were published by people steeped in UK comic tradition. In the past comic publishers just bought out another comic and tried again, until they came up with a hit. Doesn't a modern publisher need a plan "B" to give their comic a fighting chance?

UK comics have also been in decline since parents and distributors got in between the publishers and their readers. For many years now distributors seem to dictate format to publishers, while parents seem to dictate content. Creators seem to have a pretty good idea what kids might actually like but distributors and parents don't approve of such content (Oink for instance).

As a business model how does DFC feel about its audience being unable to actually purchase their product. Most 12 year olds don't have a credit card, which I assume you need to buy DFC (or am I wrong?).

The above are just some observations on the UK comic scene which I think any publisher should take on board. Hope DFC is doing well. Hope this is more useful than just saying good luck and gizza job...

[John Freeman]

Hi Bambos, The DFC have begun to spread their wings with a tryout issue in Tescos, and in the interview David gave us he indicated he was looking at distribution for The DFC via comic shops etc. Also, there are plans for other titles and projects -- collections of the strips must be on the cards.

There's some great stuff in The DFC -- as the previews site (www.thedfcpreviews.co.uk) illustrates.

I'm in agreement with David, the web offers unbridled opportunities to promote and distribute a comics title. The DFC is available worldwide (as is 2000AD and The Megazine), something no British comic ever really was before. Even now, most publishers prefer to seek publishing partners and let them market a localised version of their material (which has its own strengths, of course, but it also means royalties for creators tend to go out the window...)

[David Fickling]

Hello everybody. Just to say that all of these comments and the discussion of the DFC are great and v useful to hear. In fact the world of comics has been wonderfully supportive all round.

Eventually we want to see the DFC on sale absolutely everywhere, and so to answer your question Bambos, I loathe it if most kids can't buy it. That has got to change. We will do everything in our power to make that happen. We are just starting to get a huge amount of LOVE (the right word) back from the readers and our main task is to tell everybody about this brand new comic.

The problem is what to do first, not what to do. But do send all your good suggestions and I'll definitely read them even if can't always answer. All your help is much appreciated. Every single new sub we get makes it more likely that it will be on sale in the shops soon.

David

[andrew wildman]

Just uploaded an image of the cover art for issue 34. 34??!!!! Wow. Have there been that many. FRONTIER finally made the fornt which is totally cool for Jason and myself. Its an absolute privilege to be involved in TheDFC and for me you cant really knock it. Some will like the content and some will not but the dedication that has been put into this by David Fickling and all at the DFC is amazing. It really is forging ahead in a country that offers little to younger readers other than licensed material. Nothing wrong with licensed material, I have worked on much of it, but it is nice to think that comics can stand on their own two feet as a creative medium. We all remember those days when comics contained original material and it was OURS. That sense of ownership as a reader is something that has been rekindled by The DFC and long may it continue I say.
The thing here is that if it has the support and the exposure it will have set a new model for imitators, and that is a good thing. There is an amazing future possible for original UK comics material but it would be all too easy to let this flower wither. Lets support our own creative futures and spread the word.
Cheers :-)
W!LDMAN

[azurechan]

I certainly think The DFC is a very positive thing. Comics have often been seen as a form of merchandise,rather than a story telling medium in their own right, so it's nice to see them standing on their own.

I do hope that the DFC is able to get out into shops, I think there's something about 'discovering' a new comic or book yourself, and I think a tangible comic is very appealing. My little brother tells me quite plainly that he doesn't like reading, yet I discovered a number of my teen manga disappearing and magically being discovered in my brother's room...

[bambos georgiou]

I think it's great news that DFC is going to try to get into comic shops. I think Comic shops should cater to all ages. Imagine my suprise when I asked a comic shop owner if they were able to order the Beano, and he said they could but he didn't like the discount rate. If I was a comic shop owner I'd make sure I always had the Beano, even if it was a loss leader. Get young kids, and their parents used to coming in to a comic shop and buying something. That same comic shop owner is perfectly willing to order copies of some arty Fantagraphic book which costs £13 and takes 5 minutes to read because he's "doing his bit for comics".

I hope that an established audience via internet subscriptions will allow the DFC to keep any supermarket distributors on a tight leash. Their tactics seem to be to get you to rely on them for sales then they start applying pressure to increase your discount.

I look forward to the DFC albums as I feel that's probably where you'll first start showing a profit, and that will only help the DFC get onto newstands, due to the increase in visibility. Good luck, as ever.