David Fickling "confident" that The DFC will return

David Fickling, publisher of The DFC, seems determined to bring the comic back in some form. He's been quoted by Andrew Ffrench of the Oxford Mail (13 April), as saying "The DFC was subscription-only and was growing steadily, but unfortunately not fast enough in the current economic climate. The comic would still be going if the credit crunch had not come along. I would love to see it reopen in the spring of next year, but it is not a foregone conclusion ... We need to learn from our mistakes and make something even better next time round ... I am confident that The DFC will return in some capacity. But when the comic returns, I want to retain the freedom to continue the brilliant stories that children want to read."

I've already grumbled by two penneth's worth on the subject and I'm pleased to note that Fickling addresses the subject of collections briefly, saying "I always planned to publish some of the strips as books — they should sell well in the UK and across Europe."

Matthew Bell at the Independent on Sunday writes in his weekly diary (12 April) that the comic "was axed by Random House after if failed to draw its "target subscription level", although a spokesman declines to say what that was. "Sometimes the market can prove too hard," she says, "It needed time to grow but in a recession it couldn't be allowed the luxury of a slow-build."