See that little cube that Ben Haggarty's holding? It's a special mineral that naturally occurs in huge silver cube shapes, and when Ben found it, he wondered what people would have thought if they'd come across it 10,000 years ago... and then the stories of Mezolith began to uncoil in his storyteller's brain. (I've forgotten the exact name of the crystal, I'll get back to you about that one!)
Hurrah for Ben and one of Britain's most remarkable artists, Adam Brockbank, the authors of the second installation in the DFC Library. And man, Mezolith a corker. Adam's mostly been working in film (he created a lot of the Harry Potter monsters) but I'm so glad he put himself on pages this time. 
Our DFC publisher, David Fickling, gave one of his trademark rousing speeches, and made everyone laugh when he said people ask him what ages these books are suitable for. His reply: six... 'til death!
I was excited to see a whole bunch of the DFC Team! You can see what we've been getting up to and visit websites over at the Super Comics Adventure Squad.
Adam Brockbank and Ben Haggarty (Mezolith), back row from left: Lorenzo Etherington (Monkey Nuts), Dave Morris (Mirabilis), Sarah McIntyre (Vern and Lettuce), Emma Vieceli (Violet), David Fickling (publisher), Patrice Aggs (The Boss), James Turner (Super Animal Adventure Squad, John Aggs (John Blake, The Boss), Robin Etherington (Monkey Nuts)
Some wondefully atmospheric pages from the book. My favourite story is the one about the swan maidens. Gary and I were laughing at how much some of the characters look just like Adam. (Which makes sense, he modelled the main character, Poika, on his son.)
Adam in conversation with children's book legend Shirley Hughes, still a great regular on the party circuit. I had a big grin on my face listening to Paul Gravett and Ian Rakoff trying to convince her to make more comics after being so impressed by Bye Bye Birdie, Hughes' first graphic novel for adults.
David's wife, Caro Fickling, and Adam and Ben's agent, Suresh Ariaratnam, examining the mysterious crytal.
The Etherington Brothers and John Aggs. Look out for the Etherington's Monkey Nuts, which comes out a month before my Vern and Lettuce!
Shirley Hughes talking with John's mum Patrice Aggs. (The mother-son team wrote and drew The Boss together.)
Random House team, editor Helen McKenzie-Smith, publicist Lauren Bennett and new publicist Random Rosie. (Right, Rosie, I really AM going to
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By: Sarah McIntyre,
on 4/9/2010
Blog: Sarah McIntyre (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: dfc, book launch, vieceli, haggarty, brockbank, aggs, etheringtons, Add a tag
By: Sarah McIntyre,
on 11/11/2009
Blog: Sarah McIntyre (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: shelton, brown, gravett, dfc, comica, phoenix, brockbank, haggarty, Add a tag
Yesterday a bunch of us from The DFC gang met up in David Fickling's Oxford office to find out what's happening with some of the amazing comics that appeared during the DFC's 43-week appearance. And the news is good! While The DFC as a weekly magazine has been shelved for the time being, readers are going to be able to read whole collections of their favourite strips, in individual books. The first three to appear will be Dave Shelton's Good Dog, Bad Dog (which ran in The Guardian), Kate Brown's Spider Moon (which ran as a play by Playbox Theatre company, photos here), and artist Adam Brockbank (who designed many of the beasts in the Harry Potter films) and storyteller Ben Haggarty's Mezolith.
David Fickling was hugely excited at the meeting, saying he was gearing up to become the lead comic book publisher in the UK, and wants David Fickling Books to take on the huge comics industry in France and elsewhere. So here's the deal: He says it's going to be a struggle, because as of yet with the top retailers, no real comics market yet exists in the UK, so we're really going to have to push to create one. He's going to print 5,000 hardback copies of each of the three books, and we really need to sell all of them so we can afford to go on and bring out more books. So if you want a Vern and Lettuce book in the second round (and boy, oh boy, do I!), please get ready to support these three books and convince everyone you know to buy them, and get everywhere you can think of to stock them! We'll have an overarching DFC Library launch, and then fab events at the launch of each, with Good Dog, Bad Dog being the first to come out in March, then Mezolith and Spider Moon in April and May. (You can even pre-order them on Amazon here!)
Just as we were all meeting, Tilda the office manager, came in with a letter than had just arrived in the post, from a DFC reader named Samira who, even after all these months, was still dead set on seeing her favourite comics in print, whatever it took (Thanks, Samira!):
Here's a few photos from the DFB headquarters yesterday:
David and Will Fickling; editor Hannah Featherstone, Adam Brockbank and Will
Lauren Bennett (the fab publicist I've been working with on Morris the Mankiest Monster) and me; Ben Haggarty
Clare Hall-Craggs, publicity director at Random House Children's Books, and the very messy table at th