For a lot of comic-loving parents, they will have a particular memory of "Their" comic, the comic they grew up with, stuffed rolled up inside a back pocket while riding their Raleigh Chopper off to some bit of scrubland, to scrutinise every page, thrill at the stories, marvel at the art and perhaps even doodle their favourite characters and strips in their spare time.

I wanted C to have that memory, probably a bit too early on in her reading journey if I'm really honest, but casting around for kid comics when she was really tiny had me coming up empty handed.

Then I found a copy of "The Phoenix Comic" in our local library and let her have a flick through. Back when we started reading it, it hadn't been going that long - born from the ashes (very Phoenix-like in fact) from the sadly departed / way-ahead-of-its-time "The DFC" but retaining a solid collection of awesome comic folk from that glorious tome, turning out a new kid comic that has gone from strength to strength, establishing itself as a firm favourite with kids across the land.

When C first started reading it, she was drawn to the 'funnies' - Strips such as Bunny vs Monkey and Evil Emperor Penguin. Later when she started solo reading, she started to get her teeth into strips like Von Doogan (brain-melting puzzling stuff with the sharpest art you'll ever see) and Pirates of Pangaea, mashing up dinosaurs and pirates in a truly glorious way.

At first we used to pick up our copies from Waitrose, who had the foresight to stock The Phoenix amongst all their hideous licensed character mags and plastic tat mags for kids. We used to re-arrange the shelves in Waitrose so that the Phoenix Comic was always brought to the front and spread out a bit, just so it would catch the eye of other kids.

I remember going to a launch evening for a stack of David Fickling-published titles, and listening to the man himself talk about The Phoenix Comic and what his aim was. He grew up reading comics like Eagle, and just like me, wanted kids to have something that awesome in their lives on a weekly basis.

Of course, putting together a weekly comic isn't easy - yet over the years we've been reading it, we're constantly surprised and delighted at the sheer variety, diversity and brilliance of the stories and strips that find a home within its hallowed pages. "Old timers" on the comic like Jamie Smart, Neill Cameron and Laura Ellen Anderson constantly come up with the goods of course, but newer folk like Robert Deas, James Stayt and Kate Brown are bringing awesome stuff in too (in fact Gorebrah is another huge fave with C and I'm constantly in awe of James' ability to work in weird pop culture references into his strips).

The highlight for C was getting to star as a background character in Neill Cameron's hugely successful "Mega Robo Bros" comic strip, after she cheekily cornered him at a book event and demanded that he included her as one of the schoolkids in Alex and Freddy's school (I think she did so quite politely and charmingly, and we were utterly delighted that awesome Neill made good on his promise and did indeed work her into a climactic battle scene in the school playground, complete with her weirdly patterned but very distinctive turquoise rain jacket).

We've met a few folk from the comic over the years. David and Tom Fickling are as charming as you can imagine, and extremely protective and passionate about The Phoenix (rightly so). Tom even turns his hand to writing stories for the comic itself. We were also delighted to meet Lorenzo and Robin Etherington at a separate event, great guys whose work just blows us away.

Oxford feels like a good place to be if you love comics, as two of the mightiest comic empires snuggle up to each other in this awesome city (my own childhood comic of choice, 2000AD, is published just down the road from the Phoenix offices).

Many parents have asked me how they can start their kids out reading, and some have even asked me how they can start them off reading comics - and this is where I inevitably point them.

Stand by for a LOT of review links...!

Links to Original Reviews and Articles: 

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 29th May 2015 - "Troy Trailblazer and the Horde Queen (Book 1)" by Robert Deas (David Fickling Books / The Phoenix Comic)

The Phoenix Comic by various lovely artists / illustrators (Phoenix Comics)

ReaditDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 29th January 2016 - "Tamsin and the Deep" by Neill Cameron and Kate Brown (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Comic of the Week - Week Ending 13th July 2018: "The Phoenix Colossal Comics Collection Volume 1" (David Fickling Books)

Happy 200th Issue to the best kid's comic on the planet. The Phoenix bumper 200th edition ROCKS!

ReadItDaddy's Comic / Graphic Novel of the Week - Week Ending 7th February 2020: "Gorebrah: The Mightiest Chef in the Universe" by James Stayte (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Comic / Graphic Novel of the Week - Week Ending 4th January 2019: "Mega Robo Bros 3: Mega Robo Revenge" by Neill Cameron (David Fickling Books)

Bunny vs Monkey Year 1 (The Phoenix Presents Series) by Jamie Smart (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's First Book of the Week - Week Ending 3rd June 2016 - "Mega Robo Bros" by Neill Cameron (David Fickling Books)

The Phoenix Presents "Corpse Talk" by Adam Murphy (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Comic of the Week - Week Ending 19th October 2018: "Bunny vs Monkey Book 5" by Jamie Smart (David Fickling Books)

The Phoenix Presents - Gary's Garden Book 1 by Gary Northfield (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 6th February 2015 - "Pirates of Pangaea - Book 1" by Daniel Hartwell and Neill Cameron (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week Ending 10th March 2017 - "Evil Emperor Penguin Strikes Back" by Laura Ellen Anderson (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Second Book of the Week - Week Ending 2nd October 2015 - "Evil Emperor Penguin Book 1" by Laura Ellen Anderson (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Picture Book of the Week - Week Ending 15th December 2017 - "Mega Robo Rumble (Mega Robo Bros 2)" by Neill Cameron (David Fickling Books)

Fantastic comic creating fun with The Etherington Brothers - The Story Museum, Oxford

ReaditDaddy's Comic of the Week - Week Ending 1st June 2018: "The Adventures of John Blake: Mystery of the Ghost Ship" by Philip Pullman and Fred Fordham (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Second Book of the Week - Week Ending 15th April 2016 - "Von Doogan and the Great Air Race" by Lorenzo Etherington (David Fickling Books)

Long Gone Don Book 1 by Lorenzo and Robin Etherington (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Comic of the Week - Week Ending 7th September 2018: "Corpse Talk: Queens and Kings" by Adam and Lisa Murphy (David Fickling Books)

The Phoenix Presents "Von Doogan and the Curse of the Golden Monkey" by Lawrence (Lorenzo) Etherington (David Fickling Books)

Bunny vs Monkey Book 2 (The Phoenix Presents Series) by Jamie Smart (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Graphic Novel of the Week - Week Ending 5th January 2018 - "Tamsin and the Dark" by Neill Cameron and Kate Brown (David Fickling Books)

Bunny vs Monkey Book 4 by Jamie Smart (David Fickling Books / The Phoenix Comic)

The Phoenix Presents - Star Cat Volume 1 by James Turner (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Book of the Week - Week ending 3rd April 2015 - "Tales of Fayt - The Mystery of the Crooked Imp" by Conrad Mason and David Wyatt (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's First Book of the Week - Week Ending 30th November 2018: "The Funniest Book Ever" by various Authors / Artists (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Second Picture Book of the Week - Week Ending 27th April 2018: "Looshkin Book 1" by Jamie Smart (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Comic of the Week - Week Ending 11th October 2019: "Claire: Justice Ninja" by Joe Brady and Kate Ashwin (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Comic / Graphic Novel of the Week - Week Ending 4th October 2019: "Looshkin: The Big Number 2" by Jamie Smart (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Picture / Comic Book of the Week - Week Ending 6th January 2017 - "Long Gone Don Book 2" by The Etherington Brothers (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's First Book of the Week - Week Ending 5th August 2016 - "The Phoenix Presents: Lost Tales" by Adam Murphy (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Picture Book of the Week - Week Ending 18th August 2017 - "Corpse Talk: Ground Breaking Scientists" by Adam and Lisa Murphy (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's Second Picture Book of the Week - Week Ending 23rd March 2018 - "Corpse Talk: Ground Breaking Women" by Adam and Lisa Murphy (David Fickling Books)

ReadItDaddy's First Book of the Week - Week Ending 28th August 2015 - "Corpse Talk Season 2" by Adam Murphy and Lisa Murphy(David Fickling Books / The Phoenix Comic)

Our first Book of the Week this week should come with a paper bag to hyperventilate into, if you find yourself laughing until you can barely breathe...

Our Comic of the Week this week is like a nitrous boost for those of you who have yet to experience the stupendous Phoenix Comic...

Our Comic of the Week this week is another winning collection culled from the pages of the Phoenix Comic. It's time for adventure!

When the dust settles after our earth is burnt to a crisp, many aeons into the future (or - at the rate climate change is going, sometime after a week on Tuesday) I wonder if this crazy pair will still be battling on...

"Shout" magazine. I DO NOT KNOW WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE!!

Straight off the bat I have to say I am completely A) out of my depth and B) completely out of my comfort zone with this week's ReaditTorial.

It stemmed from a conversation about the state of children's magazines, more specifically the "Tween" market really.

I think nostalgia had to be the only reason my wife and I started talking about "Just 17" and "Smash Hits" magazines and the heady pre-internet days where Tweens weren't even a thing, and teenagers were either too cool to read stuff like that, or bought them just for the song lyrics, problem pages (which used to make for some quite harrowing reading) and celebrity posters (look there's nothing wrong with sticking a photo of Morten Harket on your wall, nothing at all!)

We both like the idea of Charlotte regularly reading something "offline" (and the irony of that won't be lost on you as you read on) that perhaps covers music, tv, film, news and current affairs but in a less vapid way than some of the publications we rifled through in the supermarket (I really can't stand plastic tat mags and I'm not exactly in love with anything that purports to tell you the inner secrets of celebrity Vloggers or YouTube / Twitch Streaming superstars either, sorry Zoella et al).

Obviously the fact that Charlotte loves comics means that a regular subscription to The Phoenix has already happened (and hopefully will continue to be done for some years to come - and heck, even if Charlotte goes off the idea I'll be carrying on with it anyway!) We've also really loved Okido and Anorak - both fantastic magazines that stimulate and entertain in equal measure with a great mix of stories and activities.

But the 'other stuff' seems harder. The likes of brilliant factual magazines like "Aquila" and awesome fiction stuff in "Storyteller" prove that it's possible to produce amazingly engaging mags for STEM and storytelling but what of the rest?

We've looked at "The Week Junior" as a really good attempt to fill the gap left by the BBC's "Newsround" mag but are we just hoping against hope that in this internet age, print mags aren't dying out in their droves and that there's still hope for a resurgence of interest in print that might match what's going on in children's publishing elsewhere (ie print kicking digital's ass).

"Shout" magazine was one example we looked at - obviously for girls older than Charlotte. This one seemed to be sliding down the slippery slope of promoting perfect looks, photoshopped faces and a shallow obsession with all things pink. Worse still, it seemed to make huge assumptions that all kids her age spent the majority of their time online, or watching Sky TV series we've never even heard of.

Magazines that promote the cult of 'zelebrity' (sorry, not sure if that's an actual phrase but it's one I've ended up using to try and categorise folk who have somehow become famous outside their YouTube channels) really weren't what we were looking for at all.

The pink! It burns!

At Charlotte's age we're still (hopefully) a couple of years off her discovering the 'joys' of tapping stuff into a search engine and coming up with all sorts of nuggets (or horrors) - but thankfully with two tech-savvy parents, we're already beginning to put all the parental controls and locks into place to ensure that if she ever gets loose on the laptop she's limited in what she'll have access to. So far, if she gets any time at all on computers at home it's always with one of us in the room or keeping an eye on what she's up to. She still loves playing games or checking out MyMaths but obviously this idyllic blissful ignorance of the internet won't last forever.

Back to the mags though and in the end, of the selection we bought for her, it was actually an arts and crafts mag she went for, pretty much binning the others after just a cursory flick through. Our idea of her being interested in something that featured music, movies and TV ended up being passed up in favour of something creative instead. Admittedly the magazine we chose came with a ton of freebie (and probably terrible quality) art materials, but I guess that was a better outcome than I expected.

It feels like for the time being this nostalgic idea of finding a magazine that appeals to her and isn't overtly focused around education or learning really is a pipe dream.

Ultimately the decision will be hers on whether she'll continue with the one she chose but if anyone out there has a good recommendations for girls around 9 that we haven't already mentioned, please drop a comment below!

He's black (and white, and sort of orangey) he's mean, and he kicks butt! Our esteemed Book of the Week this week is, of course, "Evil Emperor Penguin Strikes Back" by Laura Ellen Anderson...

The Phoenix 200th Issue with a truly awesome cover from the mighty Chris Riddell. Why are you standing there staring at it, GO AND BUY IT!!!!

I was slightly concerned last night as I was getting changed after work, and suddenly heard a very loud screech from downstairs. Dashing down 3 flights of stairs (ReadItDaddy Towers is very tower-ey) to see what Charlotte was screaming about, I found the scene below...

Reading comics in the correct page order? Forget that, buddy! It's Doogan first!

Charlotte had once again beat me to the punch. Our copy of the Phoenix 200th issue had dropped through the letterbox, clad in its gloriously illustrated envelope heralding the arrival of a big fat entertaining wodge of comic greatness that meant sheer and utter (blissful) silence from Charlotte while she absorbed every gorgeous morsel.

The Phoenix Comic - for those of you who have been living in a small cave in Camarthenshire for the last few years - is the best comic in the business for kids. Based in our home town (Oxford - also home to the mighty 2000AD - there must be something in the water down here!), it's been a huge favourite of ours since it first appeared (way back before Charlotte could even read it properly on her own).

So what's so great about it?

It's full of astonishing characters and truly original stories, with humorous, fantasy, science fiction, culturally diverse and historical themes all contributing to this glorious mag. The hugely talented pool of writers and illustrators ensure that it doesn't just look fantastic, it's a beltingly good read too.

Charlotte practically INHALED Issue 200 (As you can see, she's a huge Von Doogan fan but also loves Bunny vs Monkey, Troy Trailblazer, Evil Emperor Penguin, Corpse Talk AND Mega Robo Bros - all of which can be found in Ish 200 as well as many more!) Having recently been thrilled by the storyline concerning the very future of the comic, and the gallant keybearing readers who banished "The Antifun" once and for all, it's fantastic to see a comic that not only does what it does so well - but also directly involves its readers by encouraging them to draw, scribble and write their own comics and pics too! How brilliant is that?

We're not the only ones who think so. When you've got hugely talented folk like Phillip Pullman taking up storytelling reins in the comic in 2016, and describing the comic as "A wonderful marriage between words and pictures" you know they're definitely doing something right (watch out for his new strip early next year which is already looking amazing from the preview page you'll find in Ish 200).

The Phoenix will be coming to WH Smiths with the 200th issue, and can also be found in Waitrose and also via direct subscription via the website.

If you've been looking for the best comic to introduce your kids to, look no further.

STAY PHOENIXY!!!!

The Phoenix is on sale now, priced at a ludicrously reasonable £2.99 (and NO PLASTIC TAT OR ADS, HOORAY!)

He's short, he's portly, he smells faintly of herring but he's the most evil despotic villain in the universe (and we love him!) Our second Book of the Week this week is "Evil Emperor Penguin Book 1" by Laura Ellen Anderson

It's the most outrageous talk show on the planet and our Book of the Week this week. Give a big hand to Adam Murphy and the glorious undeadyness of "Corpse Talk Season 2"

Back in my errant youth, I spent rather a lot of time glued to the pages of 2000AD. That comic started up the day after my birthday, way back in 1977. I'd been into Sci Fi for a long time and the stories in that comic were completely amazing and like nothing I'd ever seen in comics before. It set me on the path of discovering the wider world of comics and science fiction stories and that's something that has carried on into adulthood (I think I'm an adult, at least!)

Getting to the point, most generations will tell you similar tales of comics they had stuffed in their school satchels or unceremoniously rolled up in their back pockets, ready for a surreptitious read during double maths. The Phoenix Comic is that comic for Charlotte - "her" comic if you like, and though she's younger than I was when I first really got my teeth into comics big time, she soaks up the weekly tales from the new champion of britcomics with vigour.

The latest fantastic book-collected work culled from the pages of The Phoenix is "Troy Trailblazer and the Horde Queen" by Robert Deas. Robert's stories hark back to the amazing comic sci fi roots of strips like Dan Dare and Star Lord (no, not that prancing perp in the Marvel Comics universe, but the dude with the cool haircut who was the star of his own comic before 2000AD soaked it up in the late 70s / early 80s). The main difference though, is that Troy is a character kids can identify with. An energetic youth with an itchy trigger finger and an all-too inquisitive mind, ready to leap into adventure (and quite often trouble!) with his cohorts Blip (a slightly prissy but logical hovering robotic computer), Barrus (a sort of gruff anthropoid moggy who you REALLY wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of) and Jess (exactly the sort of kick-ass female comic character Charlotte absolutely LOVES seeing in The Phoenix, and thankfully there's never any shortage of them in the comic, hooray!)

Not shying away from a plot that feels almost hard-fi in its approach, Robert pens an intricate tale spanning the galaxy and time itself, as the story switches between Troy's present, future and past. Our would-be intergalactic Indiana Jones must travel back in time to undo a terrifying incident that unwittingly created the greatest threat to the liberty of the galaxy, the rise of The Horde Queen.

As regular fans of Troy Trailblazer will tell you, the story unfolds at an absolutely cracking pace as we slowly discover what happened, and more importantly who the evil Horde Queen actually is (genuine gasps from Charlotte as the twist unfolds and confirms her guesses).

Reading about Robert's inspirations (cool stuff from when we were kids like Ulysses-31 and Thundercats, and other groovy Filmation animated series) it's fantastic to see a story that reads as good as it looks. Robert's artwork is utterly glorious, and in the collected book edition it's great to see awesome diagrams of Troy's ship as well as character info gathered together to set the scene for newbies to the stories.

We don't want to be accused of bias or anything, but there's a very good reason the Phoenix collected works keep hitting our Book of the Week slot. They really are utterly phenomenally good and if you're looking for a way to introduce your kids to comics, sci fi and fantasy, you really can't go wrong with an ish of The Phoenix or two (or three, or an annual subscription!)

"Troy Trailblazer and the Horde Queen" hits shelves on 4th June 2015.

Charlotte's best bit: The slow burn of the story before the big plot twist and surprise is revealed. Whoah!

Daddy's Favourite bit: Sci fi gloriousness that doesn't talk down to its audience, but sets up a thrilling and intricate plot with glorious visuals to match. Definitely our sort of comic strip!

(Kindly sent to us for review by The Phoenix / David Fickling Books)

Imagine waking up after a traumatic incident to find that the world you once knew had disappeared, and worse still, your hair had turned completely white. To add insult to injury you also find that your surroundings are less than hospitable, and you are - in fact - constantly referred to as "Old deady-chops over there".

Welcome to the world of Long Gone Don, one of the coolest comic strips in the fabulous Phoenix Comic, wrought by the expert hands of The Etherington Brothers (Lorenzo and Robin).

Don Skelton finds himself in exactly this predicament at the very start of the tale, collected together here as part of The Phoenix Presents series - something that has allowed us to catch up with all the bits we've missed from the weekly strips in the comic itself (hooray!)

Somehow we'd managed to miss the very start of Don's adventures, so here we find him as a true fish out of water, wandering the dark and gloomy confines of "BroilerDoom" - a place that's as warm and welcoming as a wet weekend in the local sewage works.

Thankfully help is at hand, A sassy hispanic crow called Castanet helps guide (if guide is quite the right world) Don through the underworld, teaming up with a motley collection of miscreants that make the Guardians of the Galaxy look like a local sewing circle.

It's brilliantly told, gorgeously illustrated stuff and we've been hooked on this book since it fluttered through our letterbox.

"Long Gone Don Volume 1" by Lorenzo and Robin Etherington, is out now from David Fickling Books. Don't be late for your own death!

Charlotte's best bit: Gorgeous art and a completely crazy collection of characters, and something of a huge crush on Don himself

Daddy's Favourite bit: Utterly in love with this strip, packed to the gills with hilarious comic asides and gorgeous details in the art. More soon please!

(Kindly sent to us for review by David Fickling Books and those wonderful Phoenix folk!)

The Phoenix Comic Festival - Coming to the Story Museum, Oxford!

It's so exciting, it's a wonder my underpants haven't exploded. News reaches us courtesy of the super-fabulous Jabberworks (Sarah McIntyre) that The Phoenix Comic and The Story Museum Oxford have teamed up to kick off Oxford's first family friendly Comics Festival.

Mark 4th May 2013 in your diary, and come along to the Story Museum between 11am and 4pm for a whole host of comic-related goodness, with The Phoenix and a family-friendly 2000AD (!) on offer.

Edit: Please take a moment to look at the Phoenix info page on the event. Due to the level of interest, the event is now ticketed with limited spaces. Ticket vendor to be confirmed soon.

http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/toccf/

We'll be there!

The Phoenix Non-Choccy Easter Comic Pack. Tons of excitement in something that fits through your letterbox!

I love the effect The Phoenix Comic has on Charlotte and the continued effect that being sent one of these fantastic packs by the lovely folk at The Phoenix is having. You see Fridays are no longer "Daddy Picks Me Up From School" day, they're "The Phoenix Comic! YAY!" as our 5 lovely issues of the mag plop through the letterbox, clad in their deliciously decorated special envelopes.

Yes folks, for the bargain price of £14.99 you too can get yourself a slice of the action, it's simpler than falling off a chocolate log.

1) Order one of the packs from the Phoenix Comic website 

2) When it plops through your letterbox, pin the badges to your lapel, strut around the house like a thing possessed, stick the stickers on things (not on Mummy and Daddy's lovely wooden floor though!) and read the fantastic mini comic included (great if you're one of the increasingly rare people who has not experienced The Phoenix's raw excitement before!)

3) Fill out the special mail card inside and pop it in the post. As soon as it's processed, you will receive 5 (yes 5!) issues of the comic through your door every Friday.

We have been enjoying the stories, particularly Pirates of Pangea (Charlotte's favourite, she is demanding a Sophie costume so we're not quite sure how we're going to manage this!) and Star Cat.

It's a fantastic pack, lasts much much longer than a rubbishy chocolate easter egg (and it fits through the letterbox far more easily). Go grab yours now!

Charlotte's best bit: The excitement of knowing that each issue plops through the letterbox on Friday, no muss no fuss.

Daddy's favourite bit: Far better for my ever-expanding waistline than polishing off Charlotte's easter choc surplus when she's not looking (she can't read this yet, nyaa nyaaa!)

Astonishingly, we still have Christmas chocolate hanging around the house, and the thought of another Easter spent surreptitiously hiding Charlotte's crazy huge collection of chocolate confectionery around the house so she doesn't scoff the lot sends choccy chills down our spines. Sure,  it's still a while off yet, but shops have been stocking Easter Eggs since boxing day. Eeek!

If only there was something fantastic she could get as an Easter present that A) wouldn't give her a set of gnashers like gnarled tombstones and B) would mean our waistlines wouldn't expand from absolutely having to force ourselves to scoff her easter treats, purely for the greater good (the greater good).

Never fear, The Phoenix Comic is here with the best present idea ever - An easter gift box for £14.99 that contains...

• Five (yes Five!) issues of the fabulous Phoenix Comic
• Badges!
• Sticker Sheets
• A mini comic
• A chocolate Gary Northfield*

The Phoenix Comic App (on iTunes)

The Phoenix Comic App (on iTunes)

It's OK, we haven't gone completely bonkers after the surreality of the Olympic opening ceremony (but ah, wasn't it great! Weird yes, but great!), we have started looking at more diverse material here at ReadItDaddy. I'd aimed to do something on The Phoenix Comic for a while, but a couple of tweets from one of their mainstays on Friday about how rotten a brit comics forum were being about the mag (What do a bunch of annoying cheesy-wotsit-eating live-at-home-with-mum-and-dad types know anyway) made me want to give it more coverage and spread the love.

The Phoenix Comic is that rare beast amongst comics. Something that you'd be quite happy to let your kids loose on, knowing that A) it doesn't come with an annoying free gift that will end up found at various locations around the house until you bin it in frustration for the piece of plastic tat it is and B) it's not aiming to sell your kids a bunch of annoying toy / character-based merchandise (though I would quite happily wear a Pirates of Pangea T Shirt if they ever made 'em available).

Based literally a stone's throw from where I'm typing this. The Phoenix Comic blazed onto the scene 30 issues ago, and it's that good, it feels like it's been around forever. I was brought up on a diet of comics like 2000 AD, Warlord and other 'boy' comics, and my other half pointed out that The Phoenix does feel a bit boy-centric but Charlotte disagreed and consumed Issue 30 with gusto.

Comics always made me want to draw (and I drew a lot of portraits of characters like Ol' Stoney Face himself, Judge Dredd to learn things like anatomy and action poses). I'd be very happy if comics like The Phoenix had the same effect on Charlotte (in fact once we'd read Issue 30 of The Phoenix we had a go at drawing superheroes from the comic's excellent (and funny) tutorial and then drew our own comic strip about Charlotte being hungry and secretly wanting to eat Mikados rather than bread & jam).

So to the team working their butts off to produce the stunning artwork and vibrant stories of The Phoenix every week, we'd just like to say that there's a reason you don't get many kids hanging around crusty old comic forums. They've got better things to do with their time, like actually reading your comics, loving them to bits and being inspired by them to go and create their own. Right there is where you're building the legacy of British comics, not on some dumb forum.

I've often spread the love about The Phoenix to other parents and so if you've never heard of it, or fancy introducing your child to comics that aren't dumb, aren't chock full of merchandising and are written and drawn with a lot of passion and skill, then go and check out the Phoenix website for an electronic taster.

Charlotte's best bit: Gary's Garden - "Wake up wake up, why are you lying in a poo!"

Daddy's favourite bit: The eye-meltingly lovely artwork on "The Lost Boy"

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars