The Phoenix Presents

The Phoenix have launched 'The Phoenix Presents', a series of books in which they will be publishing collected comic strips. The first two books have been announced, Jamie Smart's first six months of Bunny Vs. Monkey and the first year of Von Doogan, by Lawrence 'Lorenzo' Etherington.

The Bunny Vs. Monkey Book is 64-pages and the Von Doogan book is 48-pages, and they are both to be released in June this year. Pre-orders are available and if you pre-order you can get them for £5.99 each, £1 less than the full price. The Phoenix have announced that they will be producing nine books this year, and the third book will be Corpse Talk coming out in July. The other books will include Star Cat, Gary's Garden, Pirates of Pangaea and Long Gone Don, but I am unsure of the final two titles. The Phoenix will be having a proper announcement some time in the next week, which I'm sure will reveal more details.

The first two books can be pre-ordered from the Phoenix website, just click on the link below.

http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/product-category/comic-books/

Phoenix #109

I haven't posted a Phoenix preview for a while so let's do so with the latest issue - #109. The cover is spectacular and unlike anything seen on the Phoenix beofre, with Looshkin having apparently drawn everything besides himself, including the straplines and logo! Great stuff that actually comes from the pen of Jamie Smart.

Inside it feels as though Jamie Smart and Adam Murphy have taken over over the comic, illustrating 13 pages between them. In fact only one strip inside is drawn by a different artist, and that strip is Sky Drifters by Zak Simmonds-Hurn. It's not that Jamie and Adam are bad artists (they're brilliant) but it would be nice to have a bit more variety.

Fortunately we are also treated to a game on the centre spread which was produced by Kate Brown.

Phoenix #109 is out now at the usual price of £2.99.

Phoenix #100

Don't forget to grab a copy of the 100th issue of The Phoenix before the week is out! It's a great issue with loads of double length stories. Some of the highlights include an 8 page Pirates of Pangaea adventure by Neill Cameron and Daniel Hartwell, a four page Bunny Vs. Monkey by Jamie Smart and a four page Gary's Garden strip by Gary Northfield.

Personally I thought that the Phoenix green arrows mystery adventure had a particularly week ending, but that aside this is a top quality comic.

The issue has 50% more pages yet still costs £2.99, so there's no excuse for not buying a copy! Out now in all good stores (and a few bad ones).

Phoenix #100 Cover Released

The front cover for issue #100 of The Phoenix has been released, and here it is! It's shiny too; all the gold bits you see shine bright!

It also has 16 extra pages but remains at £2.99! You can get it tomorrow from various stores around the country!

You can also buy it from the Phoenix online store.

http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/product/the-phoenix-issue-100/

Don't miss out!

Phoenix Issue #100 Out This Saturday!

It only feels like yesterday when the free preview issue (or #0) of The Phoenix arrived through my letterbox but time flies and the comic's 100th issue will go on sale this weekend! The special celebratory issue will be a bumper issues, not quite double but it will have 48 pages - 50% larger so hopefully that's 50% more comic fun! Even if you're not a regular reader of The Phoenix I'm sure this will be an issue you won't want to miss!

There’s no word on the price yet but hopefully it will still be £2.99. I shouldn’t imagine it will be any more than £4.50 (if we add on another 50%), but that price seems unlikely.

ON SALE NOW: The Beano and The Phoenix

I've been very busy later doing some writing and drawing. Although I shan't say what just yet, I will say it is comics related! Anyway, I've taken a very quick break from it to write a short post about The Beano and The Phoenix.

I'm still getting used to The Beano's dramatic changes. I was really enjoying the revamp it went through last year and these changes are all too sudden! Alexander Matthew's new look Ball Boy is a treat, and the latest issue also features Wallace and Gromit, who I believed moved over from the BeanoMAX.

In The Phoenix, things continue as normal. Zara from Zara's Crown continues in a new adventure serial called Zara's Masterpiece, and an excellent new Haggis and Quail story also features.

The Beano costs £2.50 and comes with another set of Turbo Battlerz. The Phoenix is still at the usual price of £2.99

Normal service will resume soon.

The Phoenix Soars Higher

What a fantastic cover!

The Phoenix has really improved lately, and each issue is getting better and better, and I personally find the latest issue the best one... ever!

Every page is a joy to behold, from the thrilling edge-of-your-seat Pirates of Pangaea cliffhanger to the gross humour of Bunny Vs. Monkey there's something in the comic for everybody.

The centre spread of the latest issue (#80) displays a fantastic Von Doogan poster by Lorenzo Etherington, Mike Cavallaro illustrates a fantastic and funny four page Nico Bravo strip and James Turner concludes the latest Star Cat serial.

If you haven't read the Phoenix in a while or have never read an issue now is a brilliant time to start, as the comic is currently at its prime! Each issue costs £2.99 and a new issue comes out every Saturday, but you'd better get to the stores early because they sell out fast!

Alternatively, if you're not a morning person why not subscribe and get each issue delivered straight to your door! Subscriptions start from one month (four issues) at just £8.99 and you used to be able to get a one year subscription for £99, but I can't see that on their website. Plus - if you subscribe you're paying less than you would do in the stores!

You can also buy back issues, right back to issue #1!

All this is available from the shop on their website.

http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/shop/

The Pirates Of Pangaea Return - In Phoenix #79

Don't miss this week's Phoenix as it brings with it the first episode of the latest series of Pirates of Pangaea - an adventure strip that has had several stories since the first issue, and is probably one of the most popular strips in the comic. The strip is written by Daniel Hartwell and illustrated by Neill Cameron.

There's a whole lot of other stuff in there too, and all for a reasonable price of £2.99 - so go grab yourself a copy now!

The Phoenix Website Revamps

The new-look Phoenix website has launched, and it's bigger, brighter and better than ever!

Now with a 'Blog Of Awesome' and heaps of free downloads, if you've got a few minutes to spare you've no excuse for not visiting the website!

http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk

This Week's Phoenix - Issue 68

This week's Phoenix brings with it the return of one of its greatest strips - Star Cat, illustrated by James Turner. If I remember correctly, this is the comic's second most popular strip, closely following Jamie Smart's Bunny Vs. Monkey. Here is a one-panel preview!

This strip also introduces Haggis and Quail, which has clearly been inspired by Indiana Jones. Heres another one panel preview!

That's all I'm going to be showing you from this issue, to read any more you'll have to grab yourself a copy as soon as possible!

Phoenix issue #68, available from selected stores for £2.99.

This Week In The Phoenix - Issue 67

I haven't posted a review of The Phoenix for a while now, but I received the latest issue, number 67, on time and early, so why not? This weeks issue, shown above, has a fantastic eye catching cover by Adam Murphy, featuring Adam with his "scariest guest ever" - Vlad The Impaler, in the Corpse Talk strip!

Adam also illustrated a second strip this week, entitled The Emerald Slippers. It looks like the strip has been painted by hand, but with the many amazing things Photoshop can do I just can't be sure.

This issue also heralds the return of Blimpville, illustrated by Patrice Aggs. If you have been reading The Phoenix since it's launch back at the beginning of 2012 you might remember this strip from the very first issues. If not, what happens is each week you have to find certain things (a bit of a 'Where's Wally?' is you like), and also spot what has changed since last week. It's all a good bit of fun!

That's all I'm going to reveal from the latest issue, so if you want to find out more you'll have to grab yourself a copy from your nearest store, for £2.99.

The Phoenix App Is Launched!

Whereas I can't actually afford my own iPad, I managed to persuade my brother to lend me his so that I could take a look at the digital version of The Phoenix that was launched today. The app downloads from the App store snd into your newstand for free, and a special offer from The Phoenix is a six month subscription for just £9.99! A bargain considering that buying it normally costs you £2.99 an issue (although the paper version will always be better).

The loading page.

The first thing I noticed was the ability to add pages from the comic to your "favourites" list, by simply clicking the little star at the bottom. The favourites list collects all the pages you've 'starred' and keeps them all in one place for easy access.

If you are short sighted, there's no problem there either, as the comic comes with a panel zoom. Basically, if you double tap on any panel it will enter full-screen mode, for easier reading! To get out of it, simply double tap again!

Part of Corpse Talk in "Panel View".

Another cool feature is the 'notifications'. Basically, whenever a new issue of The Pheonix comes out, the app will send you a notification so that you never forget!

The second page of a Gary's Garden strip in "page view".

The only negative I've found about the app is that if you are already subscribed there doesn't seem to be a way to use your subscription to the paper comic as a digital subscription too, wheras with The Beano you can (although I daren't click the subscribe button as it might charge my brother's account, so I could be wrong).

If you're not sure about the app and want to give it a try before you buy, it comes with a free sample issue so you can test out all the cool stuff it does!

I've found the app to be a lot less 'jumpy' than The Beano and Dandy apps, and all of the hard work Panel Nine have put into it has really paid off, making it run very smoothly and easy to use. Remember, you can get a six month subscription to the digital Phoenix for just £9.99, but that's for one week only, so jump to it!

The Phoenix Goes Digital

Sneak preview of the app.

Over on Facebook and Twitter The Phoenix have announced that as of January 4th both a paper version and a digital version of the comic will be avaliable. This is a fantastic breakthrough for the comic, and hopefully it will help the title become more widespread, rather than appearing in a handful of shops nationwide (and now one in America too).

Here is their Facebook announcement:

"Happy New Year!

You may have noticed that we have added something rather special to our Facebook page - a count down clock! Rather odd we will admit, as most of you will have done your counting down last night ... well this is counting down to something even more EXCITING!
You know that you can already get the great paper edition of The Phoenix every week ... well soon you will also be able to get it on the iPad!
And when we say soon we mean THIS WEEK!
That's right, The Phoenix will be avaliable from iTunes and the app store from January 4th 2013!! So now you can choose how you want to read it!
To celebrate The Phoenix going digital we have got a SUPER RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING OFFER for you - so make sure you keep checking this page so that you don't miss out! Or follow us on twitter!"

I don't yet know what the "SUPER RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING" offer is but what I do know is that the app will only be avaliable on the iPad for now, but they have said that they "have future plans for other devices too". Hopefully it will spread to cheaper devices too such as iPod's and mobile phones etc., both Apple and Android (and anything else I don't know about).

I asked about the price of the digital edition, wether it'll be the usual £2.99 or if they'll be reducing printing costs etc, and they replied:

"We will be confirming that soon. But for the first week of it's life the app will be avaliable for a RIDICULOUSLY SUPER AWESOME price!"

There is going to be a print copy AND a digital copy, so don't worry it's not going the same way as The Dandy!

I'm definatly looking forwards to this bold new move into another dimension, and wish the team at The Phoenix all the very best of luck! If you have an iPad, make sure you search for The Phoenix in the app store this Friday!

The Good and The Bad of 2012

It's almost the end of another year, and what a fantastic year it has been, comic-wise anyway! Why is it so fantastic? Read on...

1. The Phoenix

The Phoenix was launched in the very first week of 2012! Now, over fifty issues later and it is still going strong, selling out almost as soon as the stores open! Next week celebrates it's first birthday, let's hope they have a good one!

2. Comic History Books

Several fantastic books were released this year, the most noteable is The Art and History Of The Dandy, but let's not forget about The Sloperian (a fantastic look at early comics) or One Eyed Jack and The Death Of Valiant! We also had Alf Tupper, which collected some fantastic 'Tough Of The Track' comic strips all in one book!

3. The Beano Revamped

The Beano revamp in October was fantastic! We saw the comic get funnier, better drawn and the whole comic improved in general! With new looks to old strips such as Rasher (by Lew Stringer), Billy Whizz (by Will Dawbarn) and Dennis the Menace (by Nigel Parkinson), the comic is now bigger, brighter and better than ever!


So 2012 has been the best year in comics for a long time, and lets hope it continues to improve in 2013. Only two things have ruined this fantastic year, the first been the death of The Dandy. However, the comic lives on in digital form, and if you haven't yet read it I highly recommend you do, it sure is fantastic! Hopefully it will return in paper form, if the digital version is popular enough.

Secondly, Lew Stringer has decided to end Blimey, the greatest blog on British comics I've ever read. I've been reading his site almost daily since early 2009 and in the past six years since he started he has covered some truly fantastic stuff. I was truly honoured when he added this site to the side of his, and even more so when I saw him include a link to here on his final post! I'm sorry to see it go, as it was the inspirtation for Wacky Comics, but I can understand Lew's reasons. 

www.lewstringer.blogspot.com

Onwards To 2013

The final price will hopefully be lower than £3.99.

What can we expect to see in 2013? First thing for me is to get Atomic Comic, a comic fanzine Harry Rickard and I started back in March, published, and I'm hoping the first issue will be avaliable in late January! 

I've read a lot of blog posts arguing that the British Comics Industry will be picking up again, and certainly after all the media intrest, but wether it will happen in the upcoming year, I can't say. Fingers crossed though!

That's just two things to look forwards to, there should be loads more!

See you in the new year!

The First Christmas Phoenix

Issue 51 of The Phoenix is a special one because it is the title's very first Christmas issue! Like this years Christmas Beano, the logo could do with some snow (but at least it's wearing a Santa hat!), and the comic is filled with heaps of Christmassy goodness, including a four page Bunny Vs. Monkey, the title's most popular characters (according to a recent poll) by the fantastic Jamie Smart!

There are other highlights too, such as a festive Gary's Garden (by Gary Northfield, of course), part two of Cogg and Sprokit by Jamie Littler, and a fantastic centre spread giving us a rare inside look at Santa's Grotto, by the brilliant Chris Riddell!

All this and more is bundled up in a fantastic package, yours for just £2.99! But be quick - The Phoenix sells out fast!

New and Reviews!

Several things to cover today on just one blog post! 

The Phoenix

First up, why should you buy the latest Phoenix comic? 

The answer - just look at that Jamie Smart cover - amazing! (Intrestingly, this is also the first Phoenix cover to feature a comic strip, which is just another reason as to why you should grab a copy!)

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More Phoenix!

Also Phoenix related, editor David Fickling talks about the title and that children are still intrested in reading comics! You can read the article at The Telegraph's website here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/9720917/Why-comics-arent-dead.html

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The Last Dandy!

The last copy of The Dandy is proving incredibly hard to find, with stores selling out within minutes after opening (if only sales had always been like this)! Fortunately you won't have to resort to eBay where copies are, on average, £10 each, as a Scottish newsagent has set up a website where you can buy one for just £3.99 a copy plus postage!

http://www.lasteverdandy.com

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Laika

Does the name Laika sound familiar to you? It should, as it belonged to the first ever dog, and living animal, in space!

I recently bought the graphic novel Laika from Amazon, which was written and drawn by Nick Abadzis at the end of 2007. It's a great read and gets very emotional, the book is a genuine masterpiece.

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Aces Weekly

Volume 2 of Aces Weekly has just been released, featuring some excellent new strips by some incredibly talented creators. If you haven't yet subscribed, be sure of visiting the website by clicking on the Aces Weekly logo on the right hand side of this page!

Also, Aces Weekly has a regulary updated blog which includes news and images about the comic and its creators. You can visit the blog here:

http://acesweeklyblog.com

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The Amazing Mr X Ready to Order

The Amazing Mr X was recently the spotlight of a competition and the entries have been collected into a book, ready to order by emailing: 

universecomic@gmail.com 

(I'm not sure of the price as I haven't ordered a copy yet.)

A Brief History About The Future Of Comics

What exactly will be left after the remaining issues of The Dandy are sold and the title goes digital? Is it the beginning or end of an era?  Now I'm not going to "beat about the bush" and say unnecessary rumours, but the sales of comics are falling and have been for over two decades. 

Head all the way back to the 1880's and the world's first "comic" (even if it wasn't a full comic as such) was selling over 150,000 copies each week. I'm talking, of course, about Ally Sloper's Half Holiday, often recognised as the world's first comic character and back in his peak was famous throughout the globe!

Come forwards to the 1940's and the 1950's, and British comics were at their prime in sales, with the biggest titles such as The Beano and The Dandy selling over a million copies each week (The Dandy selling even more). Launched in 1950, Eagle was quickly selling over a million copies every week and Radio Fun, Film Fun and other celebrity based comics were still going strong!

In 1960, IPC joined in the fun and launched the first of its new giant comics empire - Buster. Soon other titles followed, more than often selling hundreds of thousands of copies a week!

And comics were still setting sales records in the 1980's, with the 1983 Beano annual becoming the highest selling Beano book of all time!

Looking at it that way then, it would be easy to point and laugh at the current British Comics Industry, but we need to look at the wider picture.

Not that type of wide picture!

The UK comics industry has always been filled with failures. Titles such as Jet, Chums, Jag, Shiver and Shake, Monster Fun, The Big One, School Fun and Buzz never lasted more than a few years, but that doesn't mean they weren't quality. For example - Ken Reid's Faceache began in Jet, which lasted for just 22 issues before folding into the much more popular Buster comic.  Maybe if the comics hadn't merged, Faceache would just be another long-lost and forgotten character.

So just because something is quality, doesn't mean it's going to last, and the new look Dandy is a prime example of this. 

After the relaunch from the Dandy Extreme in 2010, The Dandy lost its readers because the Xtreme version was more of a magazine than a comic, and the new version more of a comic than a magazine. The Dandy never gained back its comic readers it had had before the Xtreme revamp, and that accounts for the sudden loss of sales, right?

The very last Dandy Xtreme.

But why are the sales of comics declining in the long run? Why, even before the Dandy went Xtreme were sales no longer in the hundreds of thousands they had been just decades before?

Well, here is a list of 10 possible reasons:

1. Video Games

With more and more kids now playing Black Ops and Modern Warfare on Playstation and Xbox, comics can no longer be seen as intresting without the action, sound effects and fast moving images (Maybe a comic such as Battle would survive well in today's world?). And with portable game consoles also avaliable, why read when you are in the car?

2. The Internet

The Internet has become a huge distraction for millions of people, and if the could-be comic readers are watching movies, listening to music and reading about things for free online, why pay for something you'll only read once?

3. Avaliability

Walk into any WHSmith, newsagents or supermarket today and you might have a bit of trouble finding the latest Beano. Not only are they often displayed in the wrong place but also out of reach and sight for kids. Whereas they could easily be displayed in the window, why not place them on the counter or next to the sweets, where kids are guarenteed to go!

4. Free Gifts

A free gift attached to the front cover or inside the between two pages is guarenteed to get more readers, and often kids will buy the comic just for the attached toy! Take a look at a comics section in a shop and you'll notice that there are dozens of comics with bagged toys cluttering the shelves and blocking the view of other comics, such as The Beano and Dandy! I remember one day walking into Sainsburys with my pound at the ready to buy a Beano, but because it came with a few "free gifts" it was £2.50, and I was utterly dissapointed!

5. Laziness

This one, as stupid as it might sound, is true. I was talking with someone and the reason they no longer buy The Beano, which they used to buy every week, is because they can't be bothered to walk down to the shop and get a copy. With the introduction of The Beano and Dandy apps this might lift up the readership a bit, as they can buy it without leaving the house!

The evolution of Dennis the Menace.

6. Nostalgists

"It ain't what it used to be" - a phrase I've read one too many times in magazines and on the internet. Nostalgists will walk into a newsagent intending to buy a Beano for their child, and then be amazed at how much its changed, and even hate it for evolving to fit in with the current generation! They then take their children home to show them some of their old Beanos! I read about something similar to this, and a man was dissapointed that his son prefered the modern Beano to the "proper stuff". Comics have to evolve to suit the current generation, and all current comics have done a mighty fine job!

7. To Be Continued...

Excitment and cliff-hangers will keep readers coming back to the comic week after week. The recent Winker Watson series in The Dandy kept me wanting to know what happened the following week, and more stories like that would mean a more loyal readership. The Phoenix is an excellent example of continued stories, with at least one cliff-hanger every week! (At the moment we are eagerly awaiting the conclusion of Zara's Crown!)

8. Promotion

If comics were promoted more on T.V, in magazines and newspapers etc. it could encourage more readers to buy the comics (I know there was a lot of promotion for comics in the 1960's and '70's). Instead, when newspapers rarely do cover comics they often (not always) say what is bad about the comic, instead of supporting and cheering on the industry!

Learning from comics!

9. Proper Reading

Comics have helped me personally to learn to read a lot over the years, but more often than not parents don't see tham as proper reading, and so will shove ABC books or short story books in front of their kids. Nursery comics help massively when children are very young, and then if they move on to older stuff they can continue learning! Comics are a great, and much, much more fun way to learn to read!

10. Paper Quality

I consider the quality of the paper an important factory in the sales of comics. When the Dandy was relaunched, the paper quality was very high, but was reduced more recently. If you pick up a copy of the latest Phoenix comic, and put it side by side by the latest Beano comic, the Beano feels floppier and cheaper, whereas the Phoenix feels more quality. If I could only buy one, I'd choose The Phoenix. Then compare the Beano to the Dandy, and the Dandy is even worse!

The Beano, Dandy and Phoenix.

I'll admit that the current British Comics Industry isn't as alive as it was 30 years ago. But the small-press comics are now bigger than ever! Comics such as The Clock Strikes, The Jungle Princess and Man From Space are just a few titles straight off the top of my head, but head into your local Forbidden Planet and you'll discover dozens more titles floating around!

But where will British comics be heading in the future? Will we see another boom such as in the 1970's, or will they slowly fade away forever? 

My guess is neither, but I think comics will continue to evolve, as they always have, and more and more will go digital, or never be printed on paper in the first place. (A great example of a digital comic is Aces Weekly.) But to be honest, a digital comic is no way near as great as a printed one, and I like to be actually holding a comic instead of reading one off the screen. And whats more, I know I'm not alone with that!

Comics have always evolved as one big group, learning from each others mistakes and choices. Comics all began to move away from newsprint in the late 1980's and shortly after, one by one changed to full colour. If the digital Dandy is a success, it won't suprise me if others follow it. 

Digital publishing is a much cheaper option than printing a publication and distributing it, and then buying shelf space in as many stores as possible, but it does have limits as to who it can reach. If a publication is launched digitally it will need good advertising, otherwise nobody will find out about it and it will fail quickly. Plus, with digital publishing you can't pick it up off the shelves and flick through, deciding if you like it. There are positives to digital publishing of course. You could include videos, games or interactive articles/stories in publications that would generate intrest and more pages could be added instead of spending money of distribution. However, despite the fact that digital publishing may benefit on costs in the short term, I'm guessing it will negatively effect the comic in the long run - mostly due to advertising and getting it noticed. 

But for now, even if The Dandy is going digital in a few weeks time (keep your eye on the counter), let's be happy that we have a strong healthy comics industry, and hopefully will for many years to come!