The Phoenix comic

GET INTO SOME TROUBLE WITH EDEN’S GREATEST INVENTOR!

CATCH UP ON THE EPIC LEGACY STORY SO FAR!

PLUS ALL THIS:

Do you love frogs? We do!

A grand return to the Woods!

Flember, Book Club, Big News, Ministry Of Mistakes, Squid Bits, Lesser Spotted Animals, Susy and Brad, Fanfare & more!

Issue 446 18 Jul 2020 UK: £3.25 US: $4.99

ake it read?

o e s th a t m n a book , d

I HATE PIXIES

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THE BIG NEWS

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BUNNY VS MONKEY

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LEGACY CATCH UP

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SUMMER READING CHALLENGE

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LOOSHKIN

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LESSER SPOTTED ANIMALS

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SQUID BITS

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FLEMBER

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AND JUST ONE MORE THING...

l et p a i nt o

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ket of sca r

The pixies take on Toby’s bully!

mp a buc

So much Phoenix news, it hardly fits on one page!

HT O F T H E WE E K

: If you du

The mayhem in the Woods returns to The Phoenix!

THOU G

Relive the story from the beginning!

Find out what all the excitement is about!

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Jamie Smart’s official Summer Reading Challenge book!

Martin Brown’s official Summer Reading Challenge book!

It’s back! It’s back! It’s back! It’s back! It’s back!

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What can Dev possibly be up to this week?

Join the Silly Squad and take part in

Well, maybe more than one thing...

the new digital Summer Reading Challenge!

have you heard of

the summer reading challenge? It’s brilliant for readers who love to read and readers who don’t know they’re readers yet!

help us make 2020 the most book-filled summer ever! for more, head on over to page 18.

Bamboozle the Panda Silly Squad (loves comics)

Tabs Inkspot Editor-in-Chief

AWESOME ALERT! Catch up on the world of Legacy this week!

WHAT is the Phoenix Every week, The Phoenix delivers stories and comics to thousands of kids around the world. High-quality, hand-drawn, award-winning... Phoenix comics are some of the best stories available anywhere today.

not a phoenix subscriber?

Well, what are you waiting for...?

Show this to your parent or guardian BORING LEGAL STUFF: Distributed

by Marketforce (UK) Ltd, 2nd Floor, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU. TAKE A BOW: Additional art by Lee Robinson, Jamie Smart, Laura Ellen Anderson and Zak SimmondsHurn. Cover art by Jamie Smart.

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STEP 1: Get online They can hop along to thephoenixcomic.co.uk to subscribe The Phoenix is printed on FSC® approved paper. All inks are vegetable based, but all creativity was generated by organic human brainage.

LAUGHTER TIME! We missed Squid Bits SO much!

STEP 2: Get it delivered

STEP 3: Feel awesome

Wait for that thump on the doormat

Bask in a warm fiery Phoenixy glow

GET CREATIVE!

Send fan art to: FANFARE@THEPHOENIXCOMIC.CO.UK

SUBSCRIPTION QUERIES?

Send enquiries to: THEPHOENIX@SUBSCRIPTION.CO.UK

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The Summer Reading Challenge is a project run by The Reading Agency and is supported by some of the greatest authors in the world including JACQUELINE WILSON and CRESSIDA Looshkin’s Big Number 2 was selected as an COWELL! The Summer official book of the Summer Reading Challenge.

Reading Challenge is all about READING and SUPPORTING local libraries. This year, while libraries are still closed, the Summer Reading Challenge is going online! And it’s totally FREE! Head to PAGE 18 for the whole rundown. Or just sign up now by visiting: www.summerreading challenge.org.uk/

UPDATES

LONG LIVE THE KING!

What an ENDING to I Hate Pixies this week! Toby’s nemesis Steph is on to something. Will she uncover Toby’s SECRET? Will she EXPOSE him to the entire school?

Will people think Toby is WEIRD forever?

I Hate Pixies will be back in The Phoenix SOON.

DID YOU KNOW? ON THE FLIPSIDE IS

CHALLENGE

I love summer and I love reading and I love challengeS! a summer reading challenge sounds perfect!

BACK(WARDS)

SUMMER READING

Scoop Yapski Newshound

This article has been flipped upside down to let you know that On The Flipside - the strip where everything is a bit topsy-turvy, is back next week! And it’s funnier than ever!

HOT OFF THE PRESS

CELEBRATE

THE RETURN OF

LEGACY With all this talk of reading, don’t forget, the BEST place to read will always be THE PHOENIX! This summer we have: Gorebrah, Star Cat, Claire: Justice Ninja (Ninja of Justice), Sigismond’s Neighbourhood, I Hate Pixies and more! Oh, and of course, LEGACY. It’s back next week, and it’s totally UNBELIEVABLY awesome!

SCARLETT is the young Warden of Hightown, who just wants to study MAGIC. REX is the exiled Lord of Karn, who is on his way to being a XENBU master. JANNI - now known as THE JINX - is an APPRENTICE of THE SHADOW. There’s too much to talk about here. So, to find out more, or if you’re new to The Phoenix, head over to PAGE 16 now!

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bunny vs monkey

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bunny vs monkey

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Your art, your letters, your Phoenix!

PIERRE SAYS... ze talented joshua sent us zis picture of ze great woods bake-off, featuring star baker weenie! bravo!

PIERRE SAYS... look at zis joyful picture of ze wise and wonderful gatherwool by dexter! you can practically smell ze mischief!

Bonjour, mes phoenixers! as always, your artwork zis week was fabugoose!

TABS SAYS... phoenixer quanren is getting me excited for the return of legacy with this colourful artwork!

DEAR PHOENIX, My name is Daniels. I am 9 years old. I am a big fan of The Phoenix. I love the comics every week - they are so funny. Especially Looshkin and Bunny vs Monkey. Thank you so much for making the comics. The funny stories are getting me and my brother through the lockdown. Can’t wait for next week’s magazine.

Yours sincerely,

DANIELS 14

HEY, DANIELS! Thanks so much for your awesome letter and artwork!

We’re glad you’re enjoying The Phoenix and it’s keeping you laughing. Hopefully this issue with a helping of Bunny vs Monkey AND Looshkin is a welcome addition to your collection!

Stay Phoenixy,

TABS :)

By post

Send us your letters & creations

By email

By pigeon

By telepathy

FANFARE@THEPHOENIXCOMIC.CO.UK THE PHOENIX COMIC, 29 BEAUMONT STREET, OXFORD, OX1 2NP

DEAR PHOENIX HQ, We have been reading The Phoenix since about 2012. We probably have over 300 issues in our collection (too many to count at least). The earliest copy we could find was issue 10! It would have been amazing to have seen the 1st issue. Our weekly comic delivery during the C19 lockdown has been a particularly welcome sight - thank you for helping to keep us amused and entertained. We love the fabulous art and creativity of all the stories.

Yours sincerely,

TOM AND HARRY HEY, TOM AND HARRY! Eight years of Phoenixy goodness!

Woo-HOO! That’s quite an achievement, and we at Phoenix HQ are delighted to see that you’ve kept so many issues! I’ll bet we’ve changed a lot since those first issues, but we’re glad you’re still enjoying the awesome comics. We’ll keep rolling out the stories you love if you keep reading them and taking care of those super-rare issues for us!

Stay Phoenixy,

TABS :)

BLU E SMALL

PIERRE SAYS...

Do you ever worry that there are too many good books in the world and not enough time to read them? I worry about that all the time. I spend so much time worrying abou t it that I could probably read a book in all that time .

we loved zis phoenixy ensemble from louis! I can see A few of my personal favourites!

Me

w an

h

in i le ,

th e

ry o f m mini st

i s ta k e s . . .

did anyone spot a mistake in issue 439? If not, did you think to look for a mistake in the ministry of mistakes itself? if you did, great job! you see we reported that the pizza box mishap in claire: justice ninja was in issue 439, when the mistake actually occured in issue 438! mistakes are everywhere, my mistake spotters, and therefore you must look everywhere to spot them. wait, guv. I just realised you never said whether the mistake was made on purpose to test the mistake-spotters, or if

you actually made a mistake...

Governor Carcass Minister of Mistakes

NO comment. well done to all who spotted it.

Doug (Just Doug) Junior Mistakist

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EXPERIENCE THE STORY F

LIRA

JANNI

Pick a character : LIRA, JANNI JANNI, REX or SCARLETT SCARLETT, and fo

Deep in the Golan Jungle a team of highly-trained Orchid Agents discover an ancient lost ruin.

Janni is a rough kid who terrorises the streets of Hightown with her gang of mischief-makers and hoodlums.

One day Janni is picking on a Wildkin kid called Scamps. But Scamps’ buddies, Scarlett and Rex, arrive to stand up for their Wildkin friend.

Janni challenges Sca loser agrees to stay a centre for the rest of t

The Orchid Agents unlock a magical chamber containing the Staff of Gojaa, one of five legendary artefacts of power that were created by the Ancients.

But someone has been watching Janni, someone powerful who is looking for a lost soul to turn to the Shadow...

Janni is angry and humilated. She swears revenge against Scarlett who, as a rich noble, has everything she doesn’t.

But Janni tries to chea a magic spell called P Blast to win the race.

THE SONGSTRESS agent of the shadow

But the Orchid Agents are not the only ones seeking the Five artefacts of power.

Forces of the Shadow, intent on the destruction of the world, have followed them and taken this opportunity to attack!

This mysterious figure is called The Songstress, and she promises Janni the power to get back at all those who have wronged her.

Janni is shaken by meeting Scarlett again. They are so similar. If life were different, they may have even been friends.

At the People’s Counci impacted the lives of i Hightown. She also lea and feels responsible.

Janni lures Scarlett into a dark alley to take her revenge. But just as she Scarlett’s kindness and the mention of Janni’s old gang of friends diss She runs off into the night scared and confused.

Forces are going to collide

After unleashing the Staff’s Power and badly burning herself in the process, the surviving Orchid Agent, Lira, makes her way to a place of safety. A small place called... Hightown.

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The Songstress reminds Janni that she is alone and has no one. She convinces her to surrender her name and adopt a new one... the Jinx!

Legacy is bac next week

FROM THE BEGINNING...

SCARLETT

REX

ollow their adventure by following their coloured line.

rlett to a race . The away from the town the summer.

at! So Scarlett uses Piel’s Propelling

One day, Rex and Scarlett are having lunch when they find out their Wildkin friend is getting picked on by a girl called Janni and her gang.

Scarlett and Rex are punished by being given work in the library, where for the very first time Rex talks about the sister he lost when he had to leave his home.

il Scarlett learns that her spell nnocent bystanders who live in arns that Janni has gone missing

e is about to strike... sipates her rage.

LUPEA

regent of hightown

Scarlett Thawn and Rex Adamar are two young nobles, both growing up without their families. Scarlett has magical powers, while Rex is a student of the mysterious martial art, Xenbu.

Their punishment is interrupted when the notorious mage, Kal Jotan, returns to bring Lupea news of danger from an old enemy, The Shadow, who are looking for ancient artefacts of power known as The Five.

KAL JOTAN

mage and xenbu master

Kal Jotan persuades Lupea to let him train Scarlett in the art of magic, while also revealing that he is unique amongst mages in that he has studied the ancient martial art of Xenbu and so can also teach Rex. He hopes to prepare them for a dangerous future.

After fighting with Rex, Scarlett visits Grum’s snack shack to blow off some steam. When suddenly she spots Janni through the crowd!

But though she is keen to learn magic, Scarlett finds picking up the new spell Kal teaches her difficult and exhausting.

The festival of Soultide arrives. The time for remembering lost loved ones.

Scarlett and Rex make up as they share the sorrow of losing their families.

Things come to a head when Rex gets fed up with Scarlett not putting her all into her training.

ck Rex diligently takes on board Kal Jotan’s teachings and soon shows that he is a quick and exemplary student.

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EAD MORE WANT TO R

I love comics, and honestly, Phoenixers, how can it get any better than looshkin?

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Bamboozle the Panda Silly Squad (loves comics)

?

DISCOVER MORE OF THE MADDEST CAT AROUND IN

LOOSHKIN: THE BIG NUMBER 2 AVAILABLE NOW AT THEPHOENIXCOMIC.CO.UK

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This is a

fascinating book.

Merry the Giraffe Silly Squad (loves non-fiction)

CELEBES CRESTED MACAQUE The monkey with a Mohican SIZE: three-month-old baby sister size WHAT THEY EAT: mostly fruit, but also leaves and seeds, eggs, bugs and frogs WHERE THEY LIVE: the northern

tip of Sulawesi and neighbouring Bacan in Indonesia STATUS: critically endangered AND: you say macaque like ma-cack AND ANOTHER THING: they have bright pink bums

B

EING A CRITICALLY ENDANGERED ANIMAL CAN BE COMPLICATED. THE CELEBES crested macaque is also called the Sulawesi crested macaque – which is confusing, until you discover that Celebes and Sulawesi are names for exactly the same island in Indonesia. It’s also called the black-crested macaque and the black-crested ape. But it’s not an ape, it’s a macaque.

Macaques are small to medium-sized monkeys often with short or no tails. After humans, they are the most widespread primate, ranging from Gibraltar to Japan. Like most macaques, crested Celebes are active during the day and spend most of the time on the ground, hanging around in extended family groups, looking for food and looking after each other. At night they sleep safely in the trees. Which doesn’t sound complicated at all.

But then there’s its critically endangered status. Celebes crested macaques are regarded as crop-raiding pests by farmers, and their rainforest home is under attack from miners and loggers. They are caught for the illegal pet trade and they are even hunted to be put on the menu for special occasions and holidays.

GIBRALTAR (BARBARY) MACAQUE

JAPANESE MACAQUE

PET MACAQUE 22

From MARTIN BROWN, illustrator of the megaselling Horrible Histories, comes a very special look inside his books about real creatures you’ve never heard of – it’s Lesser Spotted Animals !

Enjoy this peek at pages from these FANTASTIC, FUNNY and FASCINATING books – out now!

S

o in their natural habitat on Sulawesi, their numbers are dropping – alarmingly. There were maybe 25,000 in 1980, now, perhaps 5,000. However, over on the island of Bacan, where they were introduced in 1867, there could be as many as 100,000. So, problematically, where Celebes crested macaques are meant to be, they are facing extinction, but where they are not meant to be, there are oodles of them. So are they endangered or not? IT’S COMPLICATED.

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Each week we recommend a brilliant new book for you to read

ABOUT THE BOOK

king coo the curse of the mummy’s gold

by Adam Stower

Ben Pole is back at school and back in trouble!

A band of burglars and an ancient mystical curse have him in a terrifying tangle. Who will save the day? Will they catch the Midnight Mob? Will Ben survive breakfast?

He needs a genius. He needs a fearless bearded girl.

He needs KING COO! The first King Coo book was featured in The Phoenix as a Phoenix Book Club book.

I

agree!

this novel is great!

Chops Piggerton Deputy Editor Snook the Penguin Silly Squad (loves novels)

CHECK OUT THIS AMAZING TRAP SET BY KING COO!

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David Fickling Books, £6.99

This week, we have a book that is an utter delight!

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oh, and just a few more things before you go...

HOW THE PROS DRAW

EXCITEMENT (SO EXCITED) 1.

3.

5.

1.

2.

4.

1. James Stayte 2. Jess Bradley 3. Laura Ellen Anderson 4. Andreas Schuster

5. Jamie Smart

ORANGE SMAL RE D SMALL

want Books? Pah! You d? rea something to ! I’m me d Rea s! thi Read Ba-JING! all you need!

YE LLOW SMALL

Point of fact, Braille ch is a system of tou ing reading and writ s dot ed rais ch in whi ers represent the lett and et hab alp of the l numbers, as wel as music notes and to symbols - a way ally read if you are visu impaired.

TEAL SMALL

L

cked up Dudes... If I sta ever seen every book I’d , I’d be able pile ge hu a into to make... books.

A huge pile of you think...

Really makes

GR EE N SMAL

These Smalls sure do talk big talk about reading for a group of rectangles without any eyes or hands, huh?

THE HOTTEST COMICS!

THE BIGGEST LAUGHS!

EVERY SINGLE WEEK!

L

Read a book, d read it Phoenixer, an just a now! Even if it’s reading little one! All is good!

PU RPLE SMAL

L

ry time beautiful? Eve Aren’t books reading a g one, you’re you’re readin ether just eone put tog sentence som at for little wordy tre for you. Like a your brain...

SHOW US YOUR CREATIONS!

FANFARE@THEPHOENIXCOMIC.CO.UK

The return of Legacy!

The return of Sigi!

SUBSCRIPTION HELP!

THEPHOENIX@SUBSCRIPTION.CO.UK

The return of Red Panda!

Stay phoenixy!

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