OXFORD, England, February 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The May 2008 launch of an entirely new weekly comic for boys and girls is
announced today by David Fickling, publisher of the eponymous and highly
successful imprint (1) at Random House.
Entitled the 'DFC', its content will be created by world-class
contributors, including Philip Pullman. He is currently working on a weekly
strip entitled The Adventures of John Blake (illustrated by John Aggs). The
details of Philip's work are a closely guarded secret - only to be revealed
when the first comic is delivered into homes by the Royal Mail on Friday 30th
May.
"I still remember the heart pounding excitement of receiving my very own
comic on the doormat every week and now the DFC can bring that to every child
in the land. But this isn't a revival. For today's children it is almost a
brand new form of entertainment. Only completely original material will be
published in the DFC. No advertising, just 100% storytelling delight. Joy in
an envelope," David Fickling comments.
"I have always loved comics, and when I first heard about the DFC, I leapt
at the chance of being involved," said Philip Pullman. "The chance to work in
this wonderfully fluid and exciting form was too good to miss. I have had a lot
of fun with the story of John Blake, and I hope readers will enjoy it as well
as all the other great things in the DFC."
The full colour DFC will be supported by the innovative DFC website
http://www.thedfc.co.uk. Currently a holding page, the website will open to
reveal an exciting world of interactivity (including a creative comic maker),
fascinating background material and new editorial content.
David Fickling goes on to say, "I'm a book editor but I reckon a lot of
my story sensibility came from reading comics. They are great story carriers.
And you want to read, you don't even think of it as reading, it's far too
much fun. I have always wanted to publish comics, or at least books like Tintin
or Asterix. This is a truly international product, anyone wherever they are
in the world can receive the DFC, with just a simple click on the website."
Notes to Editors
- David Fickling Books is an imprint of The Random House Group
Ltd and Random House Inc. Together with DFB, the DFC will be managed by
David Fickling as a story imprint. The Random House Group Ltd. and Random
House Inc. are subsidiaries of the Bertelsmann Group.
- David Fickling is a children's book editor and publisher.
David formed his own imprint in Oxford, David Fickling Books, in 1999.
The imprint is now based with Random House and publishes about a dozen
titles per year in the US, Australia and New Zealand as well as the UK.
Recent titles include Philip Pullman's Lyra's Oxford, Mark Haddon's The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, John Boyne's The Boy in
the Striped Pyjamas and Linda Newbery's 2007 Costa Award-winning Set in
Stone. In 2004, David received the British Book Award for Editor of the
Year. He lives with his wife and three older children in Oxford.
- Philip Pullman is best known for the trilogy His Dark
Materials: Northern Lights (The Golden Compass in the U.S.)1995; The
Subtle Knife, 1997, and The Amber Spyglass, 2000. These books have been
honoured by the Carnegie Medal, the Guardian Children's Book Award, and
(for The Amber Spyglass) the Whitbread Book of the Year Award. Philip was
also the first English writer to receive the Astrid Lindgren Memorial
Award (2005). The Golden Compass was released as a movie in December
2007.
- Launch season strips in the DFC include:
The Adventures of John Blake by Philip Pullman & John Aggs
Charlie Jefferson and the Tomb of Nazaleod by Garen Ewing
Mobot High by Neill Cameron
The Boss by Patrice Aggs
Good Dog, Bad Dog and Monkey Nuts by The Etherington Brothers - both
featured in the Saturday Guardian
- The DFC is available to buy on subscription from
http://www.thedfc.co.uk.
(1) David Fickling Books
David Fickling Books
