ROCKET - Relaunch

An old title, but a new direction? Maybe?  a new audience? Could be!

So what? - Why? and Who?

With the hangmans noose being slung around the poor shoulders of the much loved Dandy comic (albeit only on the printed version - As it will continue in an online format) It's not even a quick trapdoor execution either, the poor thing will be left dangling by it's 75 year old rusty staples to be slowly strangled until 4th December when it celebrates it's 75th birthday  - A very special issue by the way, which will include a reprint of the very first DANDY - So you must buy it. What better way to celebrate a 75th birthday than to say 'Happy Birthday...Oh by the way, that was your final breath."

I thought I'd like to turn my attention to something aimed at a younger audience. So is ROCKET suitable?  Well, in all honesty. As it stands - NO it bloody well isn't.  For a start it was aimed at a crowd aged between 18-35 with a tendancy to purile humour and as blinkered a taste in music as it was possible to have. I loved it. But children would be bored by it and adults apalled. Well, there's a win win situation if ever there was one.

BUT. I like the title, and it could be young with the right illustrations and the right literary direction etc. Plus the fact I still have a couple of the original ROCKET tee shirts, and they still look brand new. apart from the fact they have faded, the logo has cracked up a bit, and I've managed to tear a few holes in them..... but apart from that, they look brand new.

Next question - WHY?
Well. Online comics are OK, maybe it is the way to go. Until you consider this. One of the main reasons for getting children to read is to draw them away from the distractions of computer gaming and the fun filled antics to be found on Youtube etc. So if the comic is online, there is only a single click back to the games and video clips. Then when they want to read in bed, you have to unplug the tower, and the monitor, and the keyboard, and the mouse,  nd lug it all upstairs, balancing it all on the bed so they can read to get to sleep, then you have to lug it all back downstairs again to get on with some essential twittering and blogging of your own.

My initial thoughts would err toward an A5 magazine / comic, whcih can be smuggled in with a school bag (shh naughty naughty) - But which has already been deemed (in secret of course) as OK reading matter by schools and parents.  I would want it to be funny, and maybe a bit risque (But suitable for the age range, say 10-14) so perhaps reference to bogeys, some toilet humour, farts etc.  But, ensuring that it is well written, well illustrated and generally a good value for money publication. Believe me, I can do that. It's where a seriously split personality comes in very handy.

I won't go into the other aspects at the moment. I have a few pages of rough notes scattered about with regards to printing, advertising, funding, how to fill up so many pages, how often it should appear, distribution and so on..... Notes and deletions,more notes, names, contacts and so on.

There you go. What do you think?