I was very excited recently when I spotted a story in the Oxford Mail about a new comic book project.
Oxford publisher David Fickling is planning to launch a new weekly comic for boys and girls in May.
Contributors to the comic, called DFC, will include his old pal Philip Pullman, writer of the award-winning His Dark Materials triology.
Details of his weekly strip, The Adventures of John Blake, illustrated by John Aggs, are being kept a closely guarded secret, and will be revealed when the first comic is delivered into homes on Friday, May 30.
Mr Pullman is a very busy man at the moment. Following all the fuss about the movie The Golden Compass, the screen adaptation of Northern Lights, the author has a new book coming out next month.
Entitled Once Upon a Time in the North, it tells the story of two of the major characters from His Dark Materials and will be published in the same format as Lyra's Oxford.
What isn't quite clear is where you can get hold of the new comic, and I shall try to find out if it is going to be available in the shops.
Apparently there will be no adverts and the comic will have its own website www. thedfc.co.uk.
I have visited the website but it appears to be in the process of being built at the moment so I feel slightly tantalised.
What I found really encouraging was Mr Fickling's comment about the "heart-pounding excitement" of hearing comics drop on the doormat every week when he was a nipper.
I experienced the same sensation when my brother and I subscribed to Dandy and The Beano in the early 1970s.
The comics didn't cost my dad more than a couple of gobstoppers in those days and would keep us busy for hours on a Saturday morning.
My four-year-old is a massive Beano fan — in fact the other day he dressed up like Dennis the Menace for a fancy dress party — and I am convinced that comics are a great way of aiding kids' reading development.
I know the contents are frowned on by some adults but the words-and-pictures combination is what gets youngsters hooked on reading.
Do you have any comic favourites? Do let me know.