Comic Football Suspended

[Gary Northfield]

I worked in part-works for 5 or 6 years (Horrible Histories, Roald Dahl etc...) and titles may seem niche, but they can sell extremely well. Retailers would tend to sell the first 8 to 10 issues which would carry special offers or free gifts enticing subscribers. Once hooked, titles can hold onto their readers for much of their 2 or 3 year lifespan, sometimes leading onto extended runs (Horrible Histories and Marvel Figurine Collection being good examples).

[-MikeD-]

I worked in part-works for 5 or 6 years (Horrible Histories, Roald Dahl etc...) and titles may seem niche, but they can sell extremely well. Retailers would tend to sell the first 8 to 10 issues which would carry special offers or free gifts enticing subscribers. Once hooked, titles can hold onto their readers for much of their 2 or 3 year lifespan, sometimes leading onto extended runs (Horrible Histories and Marvel Figurine Collection being good examples).

My son subscribed to Horrible Science...it kept going for years as a subscriber only comic. I thought I was subscribing for 24 and ended up paying for 80...

Still, it was a good quality publication, he actually read it (so did I) and although most of the content was rejigged from the books, it still looked good and more readable at magazine size. And the gifts could be interesting....especially the petri dish we were encouraged to grow mould in, and then told to throw away in the next issue as it could be dangerous!

[Gary Northfield]

I worked in part-works for 5 or 6 years (Horrible Histories, Roald Dahl etc...) and titles may seem niche, but they can sell extremely well. Retailers would tend to sell the first 8 to 10 issues which would carry special offers or free gifts enticing subscribers. Once hooked, titles can hold onto their readers for much of their 2 or 3 year lifespan, sometimes leading onto extended runs (Horrible Histories and Marvel Figurine Collection being good examples).

My son subscribed to Horrible Science...it kept going for years as a subscriber only comic. I thought I was subscribing for 24 and ended up paying for 80...

Still, it was a good quality publication, he actually read it (so did I) and although most of the content was rejigged from the books, it still looked good and more readable at magazine size. And the gifts could be interesting....especially the petri dish we were encouraged to grow mould in, and then told to throw away in the next issue as it could be dangerous!

Yeah, the subs department wasn't exactly a shining example of good business. I remember one day we all came back from lunch to be told not to talk to the TV cameras outside: a BBC children's Watchdog programme was camped outside with stacks of complaints from disgruntled readers.

Even though the mags were based on the books, there was a hell of a lot of fantastic originated material being produced on a fortnightly basis, including the comic strips and big double-page spreads. It was the same with Horrible Histories and in fact the research was a hell of a lot better than the original books in many cases. Although, saying that I vaguely remember the petri dish kerfuffle. The original idea was to get kids to grow culture from their bogies! Eurgh!

[Digifiend]

Ah yes, Short Change, they should never have axed that show.