The DFC: the verdict

A while back, I reviewed the first issue of the brand new British kids' comic The DFC for the Forbidden Planet blog, Now that I've received four copies in total, I need to make a decision: do I cancel my subscription, or do I keep reading?

I'm going to keep reading. I had mixed feelings about the first issue, and I'm still not able to give it a 100% positive rating ("New at the Zoo" is excruciatingly unfunny, and I'm 20 years too old for the puzzles and the Doodlit feature), but overall it's really impressive. "The Spider Moon" continues to be the high point of every issue -- Kate Brown's delicately gorgeous artwork and enchanting storytelling lift my heart every time. The other stories are much improved from their first instalments: "John Blake", written by Philip Pullman, is showing signs of having a plot, which you wouldn't have guessed from the first chapter; "The Boss" is good old-fashioned "they fight crime!"-type fun; "Monkey Nuts" is funny; "Super Animal Adventure Squad" is really funny; "Mo-Bot High" has the kind of high-concept hook that it would be very hard to mess up (and they don't); "Good Dog, Bad Dog" is both funny and clever; and while "Vern and Lettuce" never actually makes me laugh, it has a whimsical charm and a soothing visual style that always pleases me.

I'm not the target market. I'm not even close to the target market. The DFC is meant to be for kids: I'm not a kid, and I don't have any kids of my own. The fact that one 29-year-old single comics critic loves The DFC is not necessarily indicative of... well, anything in particular. I think it's great; I think I would have loved it even more if I'd been able to read it when I was a kid. I think it's head and shoulders above anything comparable on the British market -- not just what's on the market now, but anything that's ever been on the market. Yeah, you heard me: I think The DFC now is better than Bunty and The Beano were when I was five. You'd better believe that's high praise.