April Comics News

A weekly comic published by David Fickling Books and its parent group Random House it appeared with much publicity and high hopes for its success.

Its demise is officially said to be because Random house was hit early by the recession and needs to focus on its traditional range of titles. However, The DFC's subscription-only availability meant secondary promotion for the title was hard to come by to keep attracting a readership and build on initial sales, plus the varying quality of some of the strips have also been noted by focus groups.

The writers and artists had a shared copyright arrangement with their publisher. Random House has expressed an interest in selling The DFC as a title to another publisher, but this seems unlikely. The contents themselves are likely to be another matter, and I'm sure we can expect the best of the works to appear in one format or another sometime in the future.

The DFC was a brave experiment, don't be surprised if other publishers take up some of its ideas and we see more anthologies suitable for kids published before too long.

ROY OF the Rovers, Battle, Misty and Buster are making a comeback thanks to an exclusive arrangement courtesy of the comics' copyright holders Egmont UK and WH Smith.

Previously published weekly by Fleetway, the comics are being put out as quarterly specials in a Best Of reprint format. They demonstrate Fleetway's penchant for marketing in that while they were all anthology comics the also focused on special interests, ie. sport, boys, girls and humour.

These join the Classic Collections being licensed to, and published by, Titan Books; the recent reappearance of Werewilf in Toxic's Crazy Comics! and speculation concerning other old characters that may make a comeback.

"We're delighted to be bringing this fantastic portfolio of comics back to the newsstand for the fans to enjoy and indulge in their nostalgic reading," Tim Jones of Egmont UK has been quoted as saying.

He also added that they are: "A great example of the huge portfolio of evergreen character comics, books and magazines Egmont publish."

Since film adaptations of superhero comics have translated to big business in the USA, and well-known cartoon characters have been afforded the same kind of public reception in Europe, it would be remiss of Egmont UK not to show what we Brits have been capable of in the past, and to continue to exploit, in the best possible sense, those properties to both a new readership and possible franchising and licensing deals.

GAREN EWING'S The Rainbow Orchid proves that Egmont is not relying on its laurels and is actively publishing new material.

The Rainbow Orchid is an Indiana Jones meets H Rider Haggard-flavoured adventure with intrigue and humour by way of Tintin styled artwork.

To be releases in a series of graphic novels, The Rainbow Orchid is proof of a major talent coming into his own. We duly present the front courtesy of its creator Garen Ewing.

Garen contacted me yesterday, saying: "I fully intend to have a table at this year's BICS, selling copies of The Rainbow Orchid," but there will be many who can't wait that long and they will be able to purchase copies at bookstores this summer when it goes on sale from 4th August, following an official launch party in London.

BORDERS' BOOKSTORES now has a graphic novel section specifically for children's titles.

Publishers likely to benefit over the coming months include Walker Books, Penguin, Classical Comics, and Cinebook. The latter specialise in bringing best-selling European comic books to an English-speaking readership and reviews of some of their titles will be appearing at Speech Balloons soon.

UNICO COMICS have three new titles planned to be on sale at the forthcoming Bristol Comics Expo.

The Legend Known As... is a four issue mini-series. Describing it, Unico's Michael Burness said that is was: "Set in the year is 2027 and 13 years after the Kato environmental disaster. The world has changed, Governments have fallen, and society is holed up in the ruins of whatever cities are left. In a small city in New England an 8-year-old Thomas, his mother and his sister Katie reside like everyone else with their lives in fear of the gangs that roam what is left of the cities until an unnamed hero enters their lives. This is a superhero comic with a twist. It's from the complete perspective of the citizens within the settlement instead of the hero. It shows how people react to an unknown person saving their lives and not knowing anything about him."

It's a 22-page full colour title, with #2 already planned for August release. Burness himself writes this title with art by Steven Howard.

Of Borderliners Burness tells us to think: "Spooks meets Philip K Dick with television influences including The Avengers, The Professionals, The Champions and The Prisoner and you're close to the feel and direction of this comic. This 20-page photo realistic black and white comic was created By Brian Gorman and Chris Harvey. The artwork was all Brian's work and has won many excellent comments from the UK's more prolific comic makers."

One of those commentators includes former Marvel UK Editor John Freeman who said: "With its beautifully realised British setting and characters, its offering a complex but intriguing plot that is sure to appeal to fans"

Unico's final title is the horror Uncle Tickle. Burness said: "Uncle Tickle has come to Unico through its Unico Publishing programme. This is a 22 page black and white comic created by the team of Ken L. Jones & Kevin L. Jones (writers) and Jag Lall (Pencils, Inks and Story).

For more information visit: www.unicocomics.co.uk

The Sisterhood: Morningstar is a full colour one-shot written by Steve Tanner with art by Dan Barritt.

Tanner describes the Sisterhood's point of view thus: "Sinners are everywhere, blinded by Satan's lure. The Sisterhood recruits women of faith, from all the known worlds, to help bring salvation to the lost souls of the galaxy. The Sisterhood offers comfort and friendship in these difficult times.

"With cloisters right across the rim, we provide you with food, warmth, prayer, high density combat training and the satisfaction of doing the Lord's work as our unique holy ghost development programme ensures your recommended dose of the Holy Spirit - each and every day!"

Tanner explained the company's basic philosophy:

"Time Bomb Comics has always had an open submissions policy, but we're now looking for more talent and the SPExpo seems an ideal way to achieve that. We'd therefore like to invite any comics creators who may be interested in working with Time Bomb Comics to make themselves known to us at the show, and share with us their samples and ideas.

"This is an opportunity for exposure, not riches," stresses Tanner. "Time Bomb Comics is a labour of love so we don't offer page rates, but we do offer a professional platform to showcase a creator's work along with a percentage of profit, and of course all creators receive full credit and ownersip on what they produce."

For more information visit: www.timebombcomics.com