A celebrated children's book editor and publisher is having a stab at relaunching that one-time essential part of every childhood, the comic.

David Fickling, who began his career at Oxford University Press, believes comics should once again win a weekly place in young lives, alongside books.

He said: "I'm a book editor but I reckon a lot of my story sensibility came from reading comics. They're great story-carriers.

"Stories are the thing that draws children in. Stories are what draws everyone in."

The project, called DFC, masterminded from his Oxford office, in Beaumont Street, has been shrouded in almost as much secrecy as surrounded the contents of Philip Pullman's Once Upon A Time in The North, published by the David Fickling imprint.

Casting his mind back 40-odd years, he recalls being A Boy's Own fan. "I used to quite like reading Bunty as well, actually," he confessed. "This isn't a revival. For today's children it is almost a brand new form of entertainment."

Cumnor novelist Philip Pullman, who will be working on the weekly strip entitled The Adventures of John Blake, is delighted to be involved. He said: "I have always loved comics, since I discovered them as a boy, living in Australia in the mid-1950s. At the time my father was serving in the RAF."

In some parts of the world at that time, Superman and Batman comics were banned, with censors apparently fearful that young minds would be corrupted by caped super-heroes in tights.

But the young Pullman managed to get his hands on the precious comics.

"I thought they were the most exciting thing that I had seen in my life," he said.

"What I particularly liked about them was the speed of the story-telling. The stories were told quickly and could be understood so easily."

The weekly publication will be aimed equally at boys and girls aged from eight to 12 years.

From next month the comic, will be available by online subscription, although Mr Fickling hopes to see a print edition sold in shops eventually.

The first issue will be published on May 30, with each 36-page issue priced at about £3.

Mr Fickling knows that it is the toughest of markets to crack: "Who is to say that we've got it right, until the children have read it and decide for themselves?"