From the ashes rises a burnished new bird

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.

Dreaming spires

Here's another fake Marvel-style cover to ease the long, long wait until we can finally unveil this 190-page epic we've created. This cover is dedicated to Tom Burton, who I just heard has been accepted at Brasenose to read Economics and Management - thus following, incidentally, in the footsteps of another very dear friend of mine, Tim Harford. Well done, Tom; a paradise of punting, Pimms and parties awaits you!

Coming attractions

Leo and I don’t get out nearly enough in a job like ours. So it was nice to have a bit of an outing yesterday, converging from our respective homes in Somerset and London for a meeting at our publisher's offices in Oxford.

As plans for the DFC Library proceed apace it’s all getting very exciting. David showed us cover mock-ups of the first titles due out in spring next year. The series is kicking off with three great DFC strips: Mezolith, Spider Moon and Good Dog Bad Dog. If you subscribed to the DFC you will have seen this material already, but the high quality printing and prestige hardcover editions will make them worth having even so. I loved the Mezolith cover in particular – a dramatic and at the same time contemplative image that expresses the whole central concept of a father passing traditions on to his son.

Think of all the great titles to come: Monkey Nuts, Robot Girl, Frontier, Spectrum Black, Mo-Bot High, Bodkin and the Bear… Oh, too many to mention. And then there are the strips that are on file but didn’t get the chance to appear before the DFC was closed, like Garen Ewing’s eagerly-awaited Tomb of Nazaleod, for example. Where would a UK publisher get an incredible graphic novel list like that? These books are going to prove the real value of the DFC as an incubator of top comics IPs.

And what about Mirabilis? Bless your ‘eart for asking, guv’nor. The first book, Winter, is almost complete. It’s over 200 pages so a fair old stocking-filler, and one that could keep a chap quiet most of Christmas Day. But Christmas of which year? At this stage we cannot say.

After the meeting we had nine hours to kill (the problem of pre-booking to get affordable tickets) but there’s plenty to do in Oxford. We strolled around the Pitt Rivers Museum, took in Bruce Willis’s new movie Surrogates at the Odeon in Magdalen Street, and had a fine meal at the Bangkok House in Hythe Bridge Street – an acceptable substitute for the sadly defunct Opium Den that used to stand nearby. Then back home to work on the last few pages of the Winter book.

Pizza resistance

Here's Martin, me and Leo having lunch at the Gourmet Pizza Company in Oxford just before popping over the road to David Fickling's offices.

That was back in 2003 - our Halloween meeting (see earlier post) before The DFC was even thought of. The Gourmet Pizza Company isn't there now. Which is a shame.