I’ve had a week off work so you’d think I would have made an update eh? In fact I’ve not done much of anything all week. This is your future, kids!
Anyway, I’ve just now taken a subscription to the newest British comic! It’s called Comic Football and uses the DFC’s subscription only method, but being monthly a whole year’s subscription is only £19.50! That’s cheaper than 3 issues of Spaceship Away!
Only picture I could find!
The website, http://www.comicfootball.co.uk/ used to have a lot more on it, but appears now to just be a couple of sample gag strips, a buy page and a non-working “shop”. Anyway, from what I remember of the old and actually informative website this is more like a football-related version of the modern Dandy than Roy of the Rovers or the ill-fated Striker. I also expect most of the jokes will go right over my head!
But with that said it’s still a new British comic, and at the price you can’t really say no. There is also a 6-month subscription available and right now you can download the first issue for free! Any new comic is a brave venture and well worth supporting, so erm, step up to the spot and score a penalty and don’t send it for an early bath. Or something.
2024 Mikenote (which is longer than the original entry): Well, let's just say it was left sick as a parrot. After only 3-4 issues (blah blah was more than 10 years ago and the collection is on the other side of the world, you know how it goes), Comic Football folded and they sent me a cheque for the remaining unused amount of my subscription, which was approximately £13.15, if I remember rightly. It was a Comic Football branded cheque, which I promptly cashed, but now wish I'd kept. Would be a proper obscure British comics collectible! (I didn't even take a photo of it!)
The comic was, as the original post predicted, like a football-focused version of the (then-)modern Dandy. Strips included Football Mad Dad, who always wanted to watch "top 100 golden goals" DVDs, even on holiday and, erm, many others I now don't remember. The standout was a more serious(ish), serialised strip called Young Guns, about a kid making a new friend through his skill at park footy, and beginning to catch the eye of talent scouts from his town's down-on-their-luck second division team (I'm going on vague memories here!). Doubtless with the intention of him being signed up and helping lead them back to Premiership glory. Like a modern-day Roy of the Rovers! (yes, I know there's an actual modern-day Roy of the Rovers!)
Perhaps the Young Guns creators should have offered the strip to The Phoenix, once that got started. But then again, The Phoenix is aimed more at the type who see sport as "simulated combat" and disparagingly look down upon those who "watch people get paid phone numbers to kick a ball around" (just come out and admit you hate the working class). While voting the way people who get paid phone numbers to play pretend tell them to. (but they all finish each others' sentences against a plain white background! They keep repeating hollow phreases like "make a difference"! There's even a token black woman pointing 'sassily' into the camera! It's so impactful! ...thank fuck that trend died a death, eh?)
Before Comic Football, the same team put out a comic called Rammie, dedicated to the mascot of Derby County FC. Lew Stringer, at the time, seemed under the impression that it was going to be national publication, only adding later that "distribution" seemed to be "limited". Limited to Derbyshire, perchance? Anyway, after Comic Football folded, the website seemed to imply they were going back to producing more such one-off comics for clubs, as novelty match programmes and other such things. But now the site seems to have just disappeared entirely, so I suppose that's the end of that!
Slightly-later-in 20-24 Mike-note: I dug up the actual blog post I made, announcing the demise of Comic Football, so here it is.
Comic Football – Suspended!
Posted by admin on 3 October 2011, 10:49 pm
Bad news from newcomer Comic Football, it has been sent for an early bath after a stellar performance.
It was a game of three halves... erm
Despite giving 110% out on the pitch, at the end of the day that old injury to football comics told and it looks like the kid will be out for the forseeable future. The manager does, however, hint at a return in the future for the plucky upstart. We can only hope we haven’t seen the last of this promising talent.
Well I’m not gonna tell any old person my address XD
In transfer news the first subscription issue of The Dandy got transferred to my house. Remember, it now has under 8,000 people on the terraces but if you buy online the tickets are only £1! Get them now and secure your place right behind the goal.
