Evoking fond memories of Eagle but pointing to the future, it's going to be called the Phoenix. That was the message from David Fickling, Ben Sharpe and their reassembled DFC team at Oxford today. The party was held, not at the old DFC offices but a few doors further along Beaumont Street, underscoring that this is not to be under the wing of Random House, as the DFC was, but an entirely independent venture.Phoenix will be weekly from January 2012 and is surely going to have a lot in common with the DFC of old, given the familiar faces toasting the glad tidings with glasses of champagne from the Jeroboam that David has been saving on his mantelpiece for just this occasion. Among the assembled terawattage of talent, Leo and I spoke to Garen Ewing, John Aggs, Ben Haggarty, Will Dawbarn, Neill Cameron, Jim Medway, Robert Deas and Philip Pullman (who dropped a remark about ebooks that left me stunned, but I don't think I can say any more about that here). There were a lot more creative folk besides those I've mentioned, but by that time we'd wedged ourselves in a comfortable corner by Caro Fickling's chocolate brownies and we didn't see any reason to move from there.
Most important of all, the funding for Phoenix is secure for three years, giving this new incarnation of the comic time to grow, develop and become self-sustaining. Even though everybody had pretty much guessed the news from the moment we first got the invitation (they didn't exactly try to hide it with all the DFC backronyms) I must say there was a very happy and warm glow in the room when Ben was actually able to climb up on the table and announce it, and I'm certain this goes for everyone there when I say that David Fickling's dedication, persistence and incredible energy are what brought the DFC back from the dead, and this time round it's going to be better than ever! More over on Andrew Wildman's blog.
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Wonderful!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is brilliant news - congrats to all involved! I am especially glad to hear about the three year financing. So many undertakings these days don't get the time they need to find their feet.
ReplyDeleteThat's so true, Sandy. Having secure funding from angels who have agreed to be hands-off is a considerable advantage, but still the challenges facing the new comic are considerable - as I'm sure David Fickling and co are well aware.
ReplyDeleteFor example, Britain already has The Dandy and that increasingly resembles the comic The DFC was becoming. And the YA and older MG readers of things like Mezolith and Mirabilis are probably looking elsewhere. So where should Phoenix position itself?
I don't think they're going to have any problem finding a potentially huge market though - there must be thousands of 8-10 year olds, starting to outgrow kiddie comics and looking for good, fun, story-driven strips in the vein of John Blake, Charlie Jefferson or Spectrum Black. The very kind of kids' fiction that David Fickling Books have had such success with in prose, in fact!
Does that mean stories like Charlie Jefferson will be appearing in Phoenix? Or are those still owned by RandomHouse?
ReplyDeleteAny reply I make to that, Sarn, can only be a guess. Probably those strips are currently controlled by Random House (as Mirabilis once was) but RH don't publish a comic and David Fickling does, so I expect a deal could be struck. For the sake of creators like Garen Ewing I hope so, as the very worst thing is for your work to be sitting in a drawer doing no good to anybody.
ReplyDeleteGreat news. I hope you contribe to Phoenix.
ReplyDeleteThe door's open, Hamza. Though Mirabilis may be aimed a bit older that the Phoenix's readership - again, I'm guessing based on the fact that it needs to be more tightly focused and clearly marketed than the DFC was. Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteWhoops, that should be contribute, not contribe. Anyway, is the mag only going to be sold in the UK?
ReplyDeleteI assume the principal distribution will be in the UK, but (if they stick with the policy of the DFC) subscriptions will be available in the rest of the world. And the digital edition, of course, ought to be available everywhere.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty similar to the hardcover volumes of Mirabilis that are coming out shortly. Those will only be sold in retail bookstores in UK and Eire, but you can still get them shipped via Amazon, or in e-comic formats from Comics+, Graphic.ly and our own "Mirabilis - Year of Wonders" iPad app. I'd expect The Phoenix to be distributed in the same way.