The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

As Richard has already mentioned (see here and here) there is, as we had hoped, an afterlife for the short-lived but much appreciated DFC comic which he and his daughter Molly (our Cub Reporter) adored, in the form of graphic novel collections, with the first three in the DFC Library range announced for next spring: Dave Shelton’s Good Dog, Bad Dog, Ben Haggerty and Adam Brockbank’s Mezolith and Kate Brown’s Spider Moon. Or perhaps I should say ‘albums’ rather than graphic novels since they are being published in that album format common in France and the rest of the Continent.

(Ben Haggarty and Adam Brockbank’s Mezolith, to be published by David Fickling Books in Spring 2010)

When the subscription-only DFC comic proved unsustainable it was a blow; we’d all become so excited over a major new British comic after years of decline in the number of titles published. The subscription model did bypass huge expenses of distribution and newsagents returns, but sadly it also meant that many of the target audience of kids simply didn’t know about the comic; given more time perhaps it could have developed more awareness and increased the readership, but with the current economic climate that simply wasn’t going to happen. Still, it was a bold endeavour and we’ve all been speculating that with the comics material and experience they had accumulated (not all of which saw print before the end) surely there would be some sort of new life for a number of the strips as collected publications? Especially given the increasing acceptance of the comics medium in mainstream culture, be it in the pages of the Guardian or on mainstream bookstore shelves and not just in specialist comics stores.

(Good Dog, Bad Dog Book 1 by David Shelton, published by  David Fickling Books in spring 2010)

Sarah McIntyre, who’s Vern and Lettuce was a particular favourite of Molly’s in the DFC, reports from a meeting at David Fickling Books recently to discuss the new range of titles. Fickling acknowledged that in UK, even with an increased acceptance of the medium, many book retailers hadn’t embraced the graphic novel to any great extent, certainly nothing like the extent it is represented in Europe and that would be a problem because they had to make that market where regular readers (he says ‘no real comics market yet exists in the UK’, but I’m assuming he means the more regular book reading public in bookstores and not those who already buy regularly in comics shops already) were aware of and wanted to buy these graphic albums and that publication of the next titles planned in the DFC Library range – including Sarah’s own Vern and Lettuce – would, of necessity, be dependant on strong sales of the first three titles to grow the rest of the library.

However Fickling seems to be in a pretty optimistic mood, as Sarah notes: “David Fickling was hugely excited at the meeting, saying he was gearing up to become the lead comic book publisher in the UK, and wants David Fickling Books to take on the huge comics industry in France and elsewhere.” Now that’s a pretty big statement; obviously we’d love to see a such a big push in the UK comics reading and publishing market, but, despite the aforementioned increasing interest in graphic novels, the general culture here among both readers and retailers, outside of specialist comics shops that is, is, for the most part, mostly quite different from France when it comes to selling and reading graphic novels. It is certainly better than it was, but trying to sell out the first print run of new graphic novels aimed at a mainstream book readership will be more of a struggle than trying to do the same with a good new children’s picture book, say (and there’s never any guarantee with those either). And as we know even in France the traditional, popular form of albums is increasingly having to compete with Japanese-style manga (imported and home-grown) which increasingly appeals to the younger BD readers.

(Spider Moon by Kate Brown, to be published by David Fickling Books in spring 2010)

Are they perhaps being too optimistic, especially given their reinvention of the Great British Comic didn’t make it? Well, perhaps, but obviously we’d want to see the DFC titles do well, not just because we like them and the artists involved but because its refreshing to hear a British book publisher talking about taking on the Continent and pushing good comics collections as strongly with UK readers as they do in France. Whether that will actually happen or not is another matter, of course – you can have terrific books, get great reviews and still not make the sale numbers you need, especially when pushing a medium many in the mainstream market (where they have to find new readers) don’t normally dabble. And as I said the comics album reading culture just isn’t as common in the UK mainstream bookshops as it is in France, so its an uphill struggle. But they do seem to be aware of these daunting problems and its exciting to hear that Fickling still wants to push on and overcome that challenge; we wish them the very best of luck and no doubt we’ll be reporting more on this as publication time comes closer.