300 issues strong

From the ashes of the DFC rises... the Phoenix.

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big bad bri
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Joined: 03 Mar 2006, 15:50

300 issues strong

Post by big bad bri »

i have to say i'm very impressed with this 300 issues and still going.i thought it wouldn't get to 100 seeing as you cant buy it in many places and even my local whs stopped selling it ages ago.i wish i kept buying it but think i stopped around the 60s mark as couldn't afford it,its even gone past huge titles like cor back in the day.its an amazing achievement and hopefully rebellion can take a few ideas from them and start some classic titles again.

Lew Stringer
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Re: 300 issues strong

Post by Lew Stringer »

big bad bri wrote:i have to say i'm very impressed with this 300 issues and still going.i thought it wouldn't get to 100 seeing as you cant buy it in many places and even my local whs stopped selling it ages ago.i wish i kept buying it but think i stopped around the 60s mark as couldn't afford it,its even gone past huge titles like cor back in the day.its an amazing achievement and hopefully rebellion can take a few ideas from them and start some classic titles again.
From a response I had on Facebook, Rebellion don't see any future in new or classic weeklies or monthlies (they're focusing on graphic novels) but it'd be good to see some enterprising publisher have a go. It's not easy though in this day and age. It needs a lot of money behind it, which The Phoenix has.

Thing is, most publishers wan't to see instant profit, so they're not going to go the route of a subscription-only comic that may or may not build up an audience. If there is another weekly to compliment The Phoenix it'll come from an independent source as that comic did. (Or like Viz did back in 1979.)
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/

comixminx
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Re: 300 issues strong

Post by comixminx »

Yes, good old The Phoenix - it has kept going, is full of great stuff, and has built up a loyal audience. And pays its contributors reasonably, though not along the lines of the riches that the big name creators of the comics glory days were paid by the sound of it... The fact they do book reprints is really great, they make fine birthday presents and the like so that I can try to spread the word to my kids' friends who wouldn't otherwise see much in the way of comics.
jintycomic.wordpress.com/ Excellent and weird stories from the past - with amazing art to boot.

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Tin Can Tommy
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Re: 300 issues strong

Post by Tin Can Tommy »

I'm surprised it wasnt mentioned before but they are over 500 issues now.
And you can read number 500 online.

https://thephoenixcomic.co.uk/Page/Index/500

I find it ironic that back when the Dandy closed some people blamed some of the artists like Jamie Smart for it but the Phoenix has got to issue 500 with Jamie's artwork on the front cover.

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Digifiend
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Re: 300 issues strong

Post by Digifiend »

No way were any of the writers or artists responsible for Dandy's demise (DC Thomson clearly don't think so either as some of them ended up working on Beano - including Smart who did Roger the Dodger for a while - and some of the new characters from the last couple of years still show up in the Dandy Annual). It just never recovered from the failed Xtreme revamp a few years earlier. The 2010 revamp was too little too late.

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Tin Can Tommy
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Re: 300 issues strong

Post by Tin Can Tommy »

I completely agree with you Digifiend, I was repeating opinions that I dont agree with from certain blogs.

The continued success of the Beano and the Phoenix goes to show it.

I wonder if the Dandy would still be around if it had copied more of the Phoenix's approach. Focusing on subscriptions for example.

AndyB
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Re: 300 issues strong

Post by AndyB »

His work for the Phoenix confirms how great a storyteller Jamie is. His artwork is really good if you allow yourself to look at the skill with which he lays it out, the perspectives, and actually look at that greenery.

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