Phoenix: a new British comic rises from the ashes of The DFC

A new British comic is in the offing, edited by former The DFC editor Ben Sharpe.

Contrary to earlier reports on Lew Stringer's blog, bleedingcool.com and elsewhere, Ben says The Phoenix is not a revival of The DFC, although its editorial team will include Will Fickling, who was heavily involved in that weekly subscription title.

"The Phoenix isn't affiliated to David Fickling Books or any other publisher," says Ben, who clearly enjoyed his time on The DFC, which gave him the chance, we gather, to look at wonderful artwork all day, and have vital conversations like 'how many nipples is it appropriate to show on strips about 30s-era crime-fighting dogs', 'do sheep really have the lung capacity to master the tuba' and 'does super-strength make a schoolgirl super-fast or actually a little bit ponderous'.

There's scant details of what format the title will take but it does seem that several DFC contributors will be involved, including Gary Northfield and Emma Vieceli.

They will be looking for submissions: Ben says he will post info on what they're particularly looking for as soon as the comic's main website goes live.

More news as we get it!

UPDATE 5 MARCH 2011: The Phoenix comic now has a website.

On a related note, three more books based strips from The DFC are due to be published in late 2011 from the David Fickling Library: Baggage from the Etherington Brothers; The Boss by John and Patrice Aggs; and Jame's Turner's marvellous Super Animal Adventure Squad.

• If you'd like to be on the early mailing list for The Phoneix, DM Ben Sharpe on Twitter

• Track news of The Phoenix comic on Twitter: http://twitter.com/search?q=thephoenixcomic