Launched by David Fickling Books in May 2008, The DFC (David Fickling Comic, though each issue's cover offered a humourous alternative for what the abbreviation might stand for, such as Dracula's Favourite Cardigan for the first issue) was an attempt to provide an all-ages comic similar to those once available in the UK market, which was not tied to a licensed product. In that vein, it carried no adverts, and, not being available in high street shops, was sold entirely through subscriptions, except for the 26th issue, which was also experimentally released through major British supermarket Tesco.
After several months Randomk House, parent company to David Fickling Books, announced they were looking to sell The DFC, which was struggling to attain enough subscribers to justify its continuation. Failing to find an interested party, the 41st issue carried notification that the title was cancelling, and March 2009's issue 43 was the final one.
Since The DFC's cancellation, David Fickling Books has launched a new weekly title, The Phoenix, as well as republishing several of The DFC's strips as graphic novels via their DFC Library line, such as Mezolith, Monkey Nuts, Mo-Bot High and Spider Moon; another couple of former DFC strips, Mirabilis and Frontier, have been republished by Print Media Productions.
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