The secret of reading

Other famous titles including Whizzer and Chips, The Beezer and Cor! have bitten the dust in recent years as comics tried and failed to compete for youngsters’ time with television, video games and the Internet.

So it seems surprising to find that a new comic, aimed squarely at eight to 12-year-olds, launched inJanuary this year looking to captivate a fresh generation with its traditional format.

The Phoenix is a glossy publication mailed to about 3,000 subscribers every week and features colourful cartoon strips and stories in a high quality format.

It is produced by a small team in Beaumont Street, Oxford, including several members of the Fickling family.

Publisher David Fickling started The Phoenix after his previous comic, The DFC, was closed down byRandom House, his parent company.

Day-to-day operations are handled by his wife Caro with sons Tom and Will heavily involved in its production.

The team is passionate about helping children learn to read and is backing an Oxfordshire County Council campaign to boost literacy standards among Key Stage One pupils in the county which are among the worst in the country.

Mrs Fickling said: “We believe children need reading choices and can get lost in reading. Whether it is a football magazine or a comic, stories are very important to youngsters.

“When I was young, everyone enjoyed everyone else’s comics and that is what got us reading. If a child reads on their own for fun they become more committed to reading in general and research shows they are happier and ultimately more successful.

“The secret is to take reading away from school and beyond parents reading to children and for youngsters to see it as a fundamental skill in life.

“Comics help raise reading levels and children who enjoy them are happier to read text books.”

With that ethos in mind, The Phoenix is physically posted out for delivery every Friday in a special envelope covered in cartoon strips addressed directly to the child, which is hugely important according to Mrs Fickling.

“The point is that it belongs to them. We have pictures sent to us by parents showing how their child has not moved for an hour and a half because they are reading it, despite the television being on.

“We also make a big deal about their contributions to the comic. We want to have a close, personal relationship with our readers to make sure it is what they want.”

And that readership isn’t just confined to children. Pictures have been sent in of parents and grandparents reading it and giving positive feedback.

The Phoenix is also distributed to libraries, schools and bookshops and is stocked by Waitrose supermarkets. It even has subscribers in Spain, New Zealand and a bookshop in the United States.

Tom Fickling said: “One of the difficulties we have is that we lost our comic culture in the 1980s but that did not happen in Europe or Japan.”

Like most comics, contributors come from far and wide and include novelist John Dickinson, Chris Riddell, a political cartoonist with The Observer and illustrator Lorenzo Etherington.

Mr Fickling added: “Our first rule is that it has to be exciting and fun with emotional heart that makes a good story.”

Its income comes entirely from the £2.99 cover price as there is no advertising, so the emphasis is on increasing circulation over the next three years.

While the focus is on the physical copies, a digital edition will soon appear on the Apple newsstand platform, with the team very aware that new technology needs to be embraced, even with traditional concepts and values.

As for the future, Mr Fickling believes there are gaps in the market for comics aimed at very young children and 12-16-year-olds. But growth will be controlled.

He said: “We want to remain a small, flexible and responsible business in tune with our readership.”