Comics UK

It would be amazing if such a thing could appear again on the newstands in our lifetime. I guess it would take an absurdly wealthy eccentric for this to happen- or a hell of a lot of not-so wealthy ones pooling their resources. Or perhaps a 'unique selling point' that could generate not only massive publicity, but also sustained sales.

What do you think? (the 'S' stands for hope by the way )

Michael Anden wrote:It would be amazing if such a thing could appear again on the newstands in our lifetime. I guess it would take an absurdly wealthy eccentric for this to happen- or a hell of a lot of not-so wealthy ones pooling their resources. Or perhaps a 'unique selling point' that could generate not only massive publicity, but also sustained sales.

What do you think? (the 'S' stands for hope by the way )

Have you seen Aces Weekly? It's on the net, not the newsstand, but it's been going for nearly two years now:
http://www.acesweekly.co.uk/

Thanks Lew, I have indeed seen it- I'm a bit of an addict of Blimey and its recommendations. Some cracking stuff produced in Aces, but I haven't really been able to connect with digital format comics. Might be a childhood imprinting thing, pardon the pun.

Maybe I should say to hell with it and just support them, considering the quality.

Really hoped Strip was going to stick around in physical format though!

Thanks. There's also The Phoenix of course, which has serial stories but not drawn in the typical UK adventure style. That's mainly subscription only, unless you live near a Waitrose (I don't) or your nearest comic shop sells it (none of my local ones do).

Some of the Phoenix stories are closer to traditional British adventure style than others, though. But there's no black and white, big-captioned Victor-style stuff. Though there is text stories!
Also even if you do live near a Waitrose, a lot of them don't have it very reliably, they'll get a load of one issue then wait months for it to sell out, or else put out random old issues from the store room.

felneymike wrote:Some of the Phoenix stories are closer to traditional British adventure style than others, though. But there's no black and white, big-captioned Victor-style stuff. Though there is text stories!
Also even if you do live near a Waitrose, a lot of them don't have it very reliably, they'll get a load of one issue then wait months for it to sell out, or else put out random old issues from the store room.

Sounds like Waitrose treat it like any other stock such as washing powder rather than what it is.

With the stories I've heard of people finding it difficult to find copies I'm surprised it's still going. I'm pleased for the contributors of course, but amazed a comic can survive on subscriptions. And even the subs aren't always reliable for everyone (which is why I stopped renewing).

Lew Stringer wrote:

felneymike wrote:Some of the Phoenix stories are closer to traditional British adventure style than others, though. But there's no black and white, big-captioned Victor-style stuff. Though there is text stories!
Also even if you do live near a Waitrose, a lot of them don't have it very reliably, they'll get a load of one issue then wait months for it to sell out, or else put out random old issues from the store room.

Sounds like Waitrose treat it like any other stock such as washing powder rather than what it is.

With the stories I've heard of people finding it difficult to find copies I'm surprised it's still going. I'm pleased for the contributors of course, but amazed a comic can survive on subscriptions. And even the subs aren't always reliable for everyone (which is why I stopped renewing).

I don't particularly get the impression the Phoenix's publishers have much in the way of money worries, Lew...

Sure they do. Their previous offering the DFC ended up folding. I'm pretty sure financial problems were to blame. Lack of finances is probably also why they've made little effort to get decent high street distribution, instead only being stocked at Waitrose and specialist comic stores.

Having an unprofitable product isn't the same as having money worries.

Is Dave Fickling still the publisher? Be interesting to know if he has any plans for future comics, since whoever is putting Phoenix out there has a level of commitment I find pretty impressive in the current (but hopefully not terminal) downturn in comics sales.

Tim Lott wrote a piece in this weekend's Guardian along this issue - in particular he feels comics these days don't have the drama of the cliffhanger ending like the ones in his (our?) youth:

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle ... dren-today

I found his reasoning for why comics always come bagged with toys these days illuminating as well.

For my own part, I think an adventure comic aimed at 8-14 year-old boys COULD still work but it would need to be aimed at what they're interested in today's current climate: the strips would need to be more akin to Grand Theft Auto or 24 than Captain Hurricane. Features would need to be as close to Nuts magazine as they could get away with. Give it a hard or risque edge so there's a kudos to reading it, like Viz used to have. One of the things that infuriated me about Strip and Clint was that that they were mainly fantasy-based stories in them - fine for comic fans, perhaps not so good for everyone else.

I'm not advocating that we give the children endless gore and smut at all costs, just that the product would need to be in a vein akin to the other forms of entertainment they can get access to in order to survive. More like a modern-day "Action" than a "Hotspur".

plaster it with mounted free gifts in a sealed bag, it could stand a chance... but, seriously, could 2000 ad still happen without its subscriptions? I would love to see the comparison between its subscription list versus newsstand sales. I still actually buy it from a local newspaper shop, which is the only one that I can buy it from within a radius of at least two miles. As a young teenager, I could go to virtually any paper shop and guarantee a copy of 2000 ad without ordering. I could even buy it from WH Smiths... on a regular basis, I mean.

Never had a problem picking it up at WH Smiths in Ealing Broadway. Megazine too.

It occurs to me that to compete in the current 'market', where bagged 'gift'-vomiting nursery and branded titles rule with barely an actual strip to be found between them, a new adventure weekly probably has to have a visual appeal that will get potential readers to give it more than a cursory glance. There are all types of graphic design/art styles out there that I think have been overlooked in recent years- perhaps largely bacause their production might not be cost effective?

I think that CGI imagery has progressed in leaps and bounds in the last ten-twelves- the astonishing concept art produced for games and movies by the like of Ryan Church or Bungie Entertainment, for example .Are there really not artists of that caliber out there that publishers could take a punt on for the medium of comics?

I'm seriously considering launching a kickstarter campaign to create a competitor British adventure weekly competitor to 2000ad. Good as that title remains in many respects, I think we're just not seeing the best this country can do, and I think we should be. I think a mix of 'Valiant' -style mix of action and humour with modern production values might be key.

It's all very easy- and maybe even 100% correct- to assume that such a venture would just have too much competition from Facetwat, but what if there's a chance? I look at newstands these days, heaving and groaning with Closer and Heat and Soduko and flipping Angling Times... is that really all these stands are good for?

I'm open to ideas!

Anorak783 wrote:For my own part, I think an adventure comic aimed at 8-14 year-old boys COULD still work but it would need to be aimed at what they're interested in today's current climate: the strips would need to be more akin to Grand Theft Auto or 24 than Captain Hurricane. Features would need to be as close to Nuts magazine as they could get away with. Give it a hard or risque edge so there's a kudos to reading it, like Viz used to have.

I wouldn't make it anything like Nuts - because it just closed down a few weeks ago. It makes more business sense to imitate successful formats, surely?

Digifiend wrote:

Anorak783 wrote:For my own part, I think an adventure comic aimed at 8-14 year-old boys COULD still work but it would need to be aimed at what they're interested in today's current climate: the strips would need to be more akin to Grand Theft Auto or 24 than Captain Hurricane. Features would need to be as close to Nuts magazine as they could get away with. Give it a hard or risque edge so there's a kudos to reading it, like Viz used to have.

I wouldn't make it anything like Nuts - because it just closed down a few weeks ago. It makes more business sense to imitate successful formats, surely?

The proposed idea sounds a bit like CLiNT, which sadly isn't around any more.