Origin
David Fickling Books was founded in 1999 by Editor David Fickling, a stalwart of Children's books who had previously published the work of popular Writers such as Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials), and Gillian Cross (The Demon Headmaster).
The company started out primarily publishing children's books but branched out into the comic book market with the creation of the short lived anthology comic DFC, and its successor, The Phoenix.
Ownership
From 2001-2013 David Fickling Books was an imprint of Scholastic, and then later Random House. In 2013 the company went its own way and became an independent publishing house.
Publishing History
In 2008 David Fickling Books began publishing their weekly anthology comic, DFC. David Fickling had been a fan of British comics and was interested in rekindling the flagging UK comic book market, a market that he felt still had a great deal of untapped potential. DFC was sold primarily through online subscriptions and carried no advertisements. The Guardian newspaper gave the comic some much needed publicity early on but the unfortunate economic climate of the time caused it to be shortlived.
In 2009 the company began collecting its DFC material in trades, many or the stories had already gained some positive press at the time of their original releases, with Ben Haggerty's Mezolith getting a mention in books such as Paul Gravett's "1001 Comic Books You Must Read Before You Die"
2012 saw the start of David Fickling next major foray into the world of weekly anthology comics with the creation of The Phoenix, which was billed as DFC's successor, rising from its ashes so to speak. This time the comic was sold both online, and in branches of the UK Supermarket chain Waitrose.
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