Monster Fun

[pauljholden]

I'm excited! A NEW ongoing kids comic???



https://2000ad.com/news/rebellion-announce-monster-fun-britains-newest-on-going-humour-comic-for-kids/

[CalHab]

Great news! The key to this is distribution, I think. If it gets into supermarkets etc then hopefully it'll find an appreciative audience.

[IndigoPrime]

Well, that’s good news. A pity the frequency is bi-monthly, but the reasoning (aligning with holidays) makes sense. Perhaps if it takes off, we’ll get more. Although I suspect if Sweeny Toddler isn’t in every issue, mini-IP is going to HAVE WORDS.

[Colin YNWA]

Wow well that is interesting news. The format / schedule is fascinating every 2 months is more like a regular special? I wonder whether that will allow it to find a regular audience, or is the idea more for folks to drop in and out as they stumble across it? Either way fantastic to see Rebellion trying new things... mind you all this could do is make Jim's blood pressure rise as its used as evidence of why Regened should be its own thing!

[IndigoPrime]

I don’t think this does anything to contradict what Jim and others have said about Regened. It’s a combination of tactics, markets and what distributors/stores will take. Rebellion obviously sees a possible space for Monster Fun, and there must be a level of newsstand support to allow that to happen. That said, given the Beano numbers I saw recently, I’ll bet Rebellion will also be pushing the subs side of things hard. (Beano ABCs are up, but that’s entirely down to subs, not newsstand.)

[CalHab]

I don't know what its like nationally, but Beano distribution in my area was so patchy and unreliable that I had to go down the subscription route.

[broodblik]

I am in if there will be a Leopard strip

[Jim_Campbell]

Rebellion obviously sees a possible space for Monster Fun, and there must be a level of newsstand support to allow that to happen.

Yeah… I was just about to post something similar. You don't take a punt on an undertaking like this without a lot of really solid market research, and the support of your distributor. Clearly, they have data that says there's a strong enough market for this to make it worth a punt.

(And I've never argued that Regened shouldn't be its own thing, only tried to provide some context as to why it isn't.)

FWIW, if Rebellion is playing a long game here, I think this new title makes it more likely that Regened, or some variation thereon, will make the jump to a standalone at some point in the future.

If Monster Fun is targeted at the lower end of the reading ages, then adding a more YA-oriented title into the age bracket above it is a smart strategy and creates a direct pathway to feed readers into 2000AD proper — get 'em when they're young, provide something for them to move on to when they outgrow Monster Fun, and hopefully keep enough of them in the general habit of reading comics that they'll move on again to the 'grown up' titles when they outgrow Regened.

[broodblik]

Just an interesting question why choose Monster Fun and not something like Buster or Cor. I though both these titles where bigger.

[Colin YNWA]

I don’t think this does anything to contradict what Jim and others have said about Regened. It’s a combination of tactics, markets and what distributors/stores will take.

I know I was just teasing!

[Jim_Campbell]

I know I was just teasing!

I KNOW WHAT YOU MEANT. ;-)

[pauljholden]

Just an interesting question why choose Monster Fun and not something like Buster or Cor. I though both these titles where bigger.

Buster and Cor (as titles) are sort of meaningless to anyone below the age of 40, "Monster Fun" while both a throwback to an earlier title is ALSO a fairly good descriptor of what it is.

I have no insight here, but that seems an obvious answer to me.

[IndigoPrime]

FWIW, if Rebellion is playing a long game here, I think this new title makes it more likely that Regened, or some variation thereon, will make the jump to a standalone at some point in the future.

As a bi-monthly in the alternate months, perhaps. (That’s how some of the Lego mags work: Jurassic World alternates with one of the Ninjago ones.)

Regardless, this is good news. A new newsstand title for kids really isn’t something I was expecting to see—although I was hoping to see it.

[Robo-K33F]

Just an interesting question why choose Monster Fun and not something like Buster or Cor. I though both these titles where bigger.

Buster and Cor (as titles) are sort of meaningless to anyone below the age of 40, "Monster Fun" while both a throwback to an earlier title is ALSO a fairly good descriptor of what it is.

I have no insight here, but that seems an obvious answer to me.

Correct.

[IndigoPrime]

As a parent of a youngling, these lines are interesting:

“awesome free subscriber gifts the kids will love”

Given the point about plastic tat in the press release I got, I would hope the free gifts would be meaningful and relatively eco-friendly and also not tat. My kid has so much _stuff_. She doesn’t really need more.

“You'll also receive regular emails filled with fun activity ideas to keep everyone enthralled”

It’ll be interesting to see how that works out. Printers are thinner on the ground than they used to be, and most children won’t have their own email. But some will have devices. So: curious to discover what this will entail.

(Mini-IP will be coming up 8 when this coming launches and so seemingly the target age.)