The weekly British comic, the DFC, launched less than a year ago is facing closure by the end of the month.  In some ways it was a throwback to the british comics of old, mixing humour with adventure strips including the first comic-strip scripted by Philip Pullman.  In other ways it was something very new.  Sold by subscription-only, it managed to avoid some of the costs of usual comic launches but at the cost of depending on word of mouth to gain new readers and featured material that was reminiscent of both Manga and european style comics often mixing the art styles with more traditional British comic scripts.

If I have one monor complaint, I dod have to say that it was published in a colour register that could, at times, burn the back of your eyes out, resulting in some strips (the Etherington Brothers' "Monkey Nuts" springs to mind) being almost painful to read.  Or perhaps I'm just getting old and am more comfortable with art that is more subtle and european in style.  I've included a panel from Mezolith by Adam Brockbank in the post  as a wee example.




Mezolith Written by Ben Haggarty and illustrated by Adam Brockbank.


DFC began with much fanfare and a preview was given away with the Saturday Guardian the week before it was first published.  The owners are looking for a buyer, but with the final issue scheduled for the end of March there isn't much time for anyone to appear. 

It'll be missed in our house, as it was something that my daughter (now eleven) and I read together.   She recently told me that DFC was much better than the Beano, except when the Beano featured Derek the Sheep.  


DFC gave an outlet for for some very talened British comics writers and artists, producing material that looked different to anything else out there at the moment.  A noble experiment and one I hope can continue at some stage in the future.

It might be worth keeping an eye on the web page for back issues, I'm sure there will be some sort of sale.


http://www.thedfc.co.uk/