The Phoenix

Today sees the launch of issue one of The Phoenix! It's a fantastic issue with amazing comic creators such as Daniel Hartwell, Neill Cameron, Ricardo Tangle, Jamie Smart, the Etherington Brothers, Patrice Aggs, Kate Brown, Ben Haggarty, Adam Murphy, James Turner and Chris Riddell - and there will be many more to come as The Phoenix appears weekly.

It is a worthy and natural successor to the much-loved DFC, and with that I think this blog kind of comes full circle and it seems a good time to close things down here as a bright new chapter in British comics begins.

There was some consultation and most contributors seemed to agree that the Super Comics Adventure Squad has slowed down quite a bit over the past few months and that with The Phoenix now risen from the ashes of The DFC, with its own website and new direction, it would be a good time to move on to pastures new - which may mean a new website/blog for UK kids' comics ... let's see!

In the meantime - huge thanks to all you readers, and also to everyone who contributed such fantastic comics news, content, drawings and links over the life of this blog. It's been brilliant :-)

Please keep up your support of the vibrant UK comics scene and keep visiting the creators' links over there to the right, and subscribe to The Phoenix, if you haven't already - it's British comics at their very best!

The Phoenix Launches Tomorrow!

Click it to go BIG!

NEW YEAR'S EVE EXCLUSIVE: Long Gone Don Character designs...

Get Ready for January 7th!

Lorenzo!

Merry Christmas

From me, my daughter and a robin

WIN: a giant robot!

... to your own personal specifications!

Read all the details about this fun Christmassy Competition over on my blog, and then go enter the contest on the Mo-Bot High Facebook Page! Thank you. And Merry Christmas, everyone.

Merry Christmas everyone!

More- Mo-Blogs!

After a slight chickenpox-related delay, Mo-Bot Blog Week rolls on over on my blog! More fun stuff and even I think a little competition, coming up this week!

Mo-Bot Blog Week!

Hey, all this week I'm posting various fun Mo-bot High-related sketches and new art over on my blog and on the brand new Mo-Bot High Facebook Page! Go click 'Like' and get a FREE MINCE PIE*

- Neill

*This offer is in fact a TOTAL LIE. But go anyway!

Baggage makes it into the Irish Independant's round up of top books for Christmas!

Yup, Randall and the gang have made it across the water! Whoop!

Lorenzo!

Peek at Chris Riddell's studio & sketchbooks!

Hi, this is Vern and Lettuce's Sarah McIntyre here. I just got to go to Brighton to visit Chris Riddell in his studio, and he let me post a whole bunch of amazing images from his sketchbook! Here's his pencil drawing for Sauron's Bedtime, a cartoon you might have spotted in the back of The Phoenix Issue Zero. I saw distinct proof that he has a whole load of treats lined up for you in upcoming Phoenix editions!



Click here to visit Chris's studio, over on my blog.

Etherington book signing in Waterstone's Saturday 17th December...

If anyone's in town, come see us! More details on the blog!

Lorenzo!

Baggage chosen by the Guardian as one of its Children's books of 2011!

Whoop!

Lorenzo!

New Stranski Print released!

Hey folks! My brand new Stranski print from Ink-Dot and Hello Blue is now available for purchase through our store! Go HERE and scroll down the prints section on the right to check it out and purchase!

Lorenzo!

A FREE COMIC FOR EVERYONE!

Yes that's right! The free issues of The Phoenix issue ZERO are now available for you to get your greedy mitts on! All you have to do is visit thephoenixcomic.co.uk/waitrose enter your address details and the Waitrose Offer Code - PHOENIX1 - and a FREE copy of the comic will be posted to your home!

Here's a Sneaky-peek at Long Gone Don...

Lorenzo!

The Leopard of Lime Street

As Garen points out, it's been quiet here, so here's a pic for a dream project. This would be how I'd revamp classic comic strip 'The Leopard of Lime St'. Set on a council estate and giving it a parkour feel rather than a radioactive leopard.

SCAS - what shall we do now?

Hello Super Comics Adventure Squad!

As you know, the SCAS blog was started as a place to keep alive the creative spirit and camaraderie that was instigated by The DFC upon the news of its then-imminent demise.

The blog has been a fantastic fountain of British comics goodness since then, especially in its first year, though, perhaps not surprisingly, it has dwindled somewhat in past few months (largely kept alive by those magnificent Etheringtons!).

So, with the arrival of The Phoenix - for all intents and purposes a re-birth of The DFC - I have a question for you and some related possibilities …

Should The Super Comics Adventure Squad keep going?

Here are some options:

1) We close it down but keep it online as an archive that can no longer be posted to. This is probably better than it limping along with just a monthly post from one or two creators - no new audience will come for that and the effort of posting will outweigh the return in readers, who will diminish. It was good, but things move on - that's okay!

2) We keep it as it is and try to encourage more people to post their news and drawings and see if we can kick some life back into it. I think this may work for a short while, but I don't know how sustainable it is.

3) We revamp and redecorate and connect ourselves more closely with The Phoenix, including inviting new creators that will see their work in the comic. The good thing about this is that it will bring the blog back to life probably for a longer period than option 2; the other side of the coin, however, is that there may not be a need for the blog with The Phoenix being a living thing with its own site as a point of focus.

4) Never mind The Phoenix - we open it up to any UK comics creator and it becomes a central blog/hub for ALL UK comics creators to highlight their news and post sketches and stuff. This might get a bit manic (if it works) or it might die an even more dramatic death (if it doesn't)!

What do you think? Please post your thoughts in the comments and we'll see what the consensus is (readers as well as creators, let us know what you think). 

Thanks very much for reading this, and for all your support now and in the past :-)

Best wishes -

Garen (SCAS blog admin)

PS - no apologies or feeling guilty for not posting allowed - we're all busy with stuff and have our own blogs and social networks to take care of - it's okay! :-)

The Phoenix - you can now subscribe!

The Phoenix website has graduated from being a 'watch this space' news page to an (almost) fully functional site with news, previews, details and subscription details (and deals!).

  Go and check it out!

 Here are just a few little snippets of what you can expect to see - I think you'll agree that it looks rather fantastic (click for bigger version) ...

Brand new exclusive BAGGAGE strip in the TIMES newspaper today!

Read about this uber-exclusive Etherington treat HERE!

Etherington Brothers Sign Television Develpoment Contract!

Announced HERE!

FRONTIER: Dealing with Demons

Thanks to those fabulous guys at PRINTMEDIA the entire run of the Frontier strips that appeared in the DFC is now being presented as a Graphic Novel. The book will contain never before seen pages of comic strip art as well as the contents of Daisy's Diary and an article by artist Andrew Wildman about how the art for Frontier was produced.

The book can be ordered on Amazon and will be available on the 1st November.