JOHN FREEMAN: THE BIO
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Not the John Freeman you're looking for? Maybe he's one
of these...
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One of Nick Miller's cartoons of me used in my editorials for Star Trek Magazine. |
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One episode of Ex
Astris as published on ROK Comics, drawn by
Mike Nicoll. ROK
Comics is just one product
from ROK
Entertainment, a global media company with interests in multimedia
projects for mobile. |
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Yes, there's no escaping it. I did edit Doctor Who Magazine. Here I am, coming out of my office... Pic by Bill Savage. |
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-- and here I am, in my office, with Nick "Voice of the Daleks" Briggs, in a sequence from the Doctor Who Magazine Myth Makers from Reeltime Pictures. Incredibly, yes, almost 20 years ago I did have hair. We had all sorts of people working for us, back then, as you can see below* |
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* All right John "Sergeant benton" Levene never really worked for Doctor Who Magazine. He was the first Doctor Who "star" I ever sat next to at an autograph session and advised me:"Always make sure the fans can read your signature." Smashing chap. He now lives in Los Angeles. |
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Me at the Royal Air Tattoo as launch editor of RAF Magazine, which is now edited by Steve White. Pic by Kevin Wills |
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Gene Dogs for Marvel UK - a four issue limited series intended to be a British X-Men. Maybe I shouldn't have read all those Chris Claremont comics first. (Sorry Chris) |
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Shadow Riders - a four issue mini series I wrote with Brian Williamson for Marvel UK. The first issue sold 142,000 copies! That was in 1993, though... Art by Ross Dearsley |
"If a person is not talented enough to be
a novelist, not smart enough to be a lawyer, and his hands are too
shaky to perform operations, he becomes a journalist..."
Norman Mailer
In addition to my day job as Managing Editor of comics to mobile service ROK
Comics, I'm a freelance
writer and creative consultant based in Lancaster, England.
My freelance work includes reviews for Star Trek Magazine. I also contribute to other magazines and the SF web site SciFiPulse, including Comics International and I run the downthetubes web site, blog and forum.
In the comics world I'm writing a variety of different
strips including Ex
Astris, a new SF strip available on
ROK Comics but also soon to be published in Bulletproof Comics, and,
later in 2008, in Spaceship
Away, and The
Really Heavy Greatcoat, which I've been
writing for over 20 years.
The first comic strip I ever wrote for which I was actually paid for
(back in 1987), The Science Service,
re-published by Knockabout Comics as part of a collection, Yesterday's
Tomorrows. The
Science Service was the creation of Rian Hughes;
I owe the chance of writing for Rian to comics expert and former Escape magazine
publisher Paul Gravett.
Past projects include:
• Comic strips for web designer company Netfundi and
IT company Cardium
Solutions.
• Sourcing creators for various creative projects for third party
clients
•
Raptus Convention in
Norway: helped arrange guests for their 2003 convention
• CJL
Publishing Italy: wrote a variety of adventure strips.
These included The
Grand Tour, drawn by Mike Collins; and Aten.
The artist on the strip, Gian Marco Ibba also draws an erotic barbarian
fantasy which is published online at www.e-popea.com which
is also being published by the well-known Italian Erotic magazine, Blue.
• Beyblade
adaptations and puzzle pages for Toontastic's Beyblade comic
• Writing
Dick Turtle strips for Lucky Bag Comic,
published by Toontastic. Sadly, that comic has now gone reprint
• Maintained and re-designed the official Hammer
Films web site.
THE FUN (UNPAID) STUFF
• Working
with Ian Wheeler on Eagle Flies
Again,
a fanzine about old British comics. The last issue was published
in May 2006 but lives on in the features section of this web
site
• Writing the occasional article called "Comics
and Crumpets" for
Comic World News
• I'm still working with a great local Lancaster team on Virtual-Lancaster.net
• Writing
The
Really Heavy Greatcoat strip -- written
by me and drawn by Nick
Miller. Now published in Comic International
ANCIENT HISTORY
In the past as a freelancer I've edited various comics for
Titan including Planet of the
Apes, Star Wars and Simpsons Comics.
I also wrote a "Clapperboard" column
on new film and TV projects to Dreamwatch.
Between November 1999 until December 2000 I was working as Project
Manager for the online community-based site VZSciFi.
That job included the creation of the framework for a new "virtual
chat zone" using avatar technology. It was all great fun, and
mixed a lot of what I have been doing for nearly 20 years - editing
SF magazines and comics - with new media applications. Unfortunately,
it seems the technology was ahead of its time and the US parent Avaterra.com
pulled the plug on many of its operations just as its European arm
was about to secure some major media deals. VZones is now back up and
running and has a new project, The Second Kingdom, which is doing well.
Until November 1999 I was Managing Editor at Titan Magazines in
London, publishers of a wide range of licensed science fiction magazines.
My managerial duties included the hands-on editing of Babylon 5 Magazine and Star
Wars Comic, and overseeing the creation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek Monthly, Star Wars Magazine, The X-Files, Xena, The Simpsons and Manga Max.
Titan Magazines is part of the Titan Publishing Group, publishers of
Titan Books and owners of many
Forbidden Planet (London) shops.
Prior to this, I was Director of the Lancaster
Literature Festival. I also edited the now defunct Lancaster-based
events listing magazine Off The Beat, a direct descendant of On the Beat,
which I started in 1984 or thereabouts. You can now read new adventures
featuring The
Really Heavy Greatcoat online.
Between 1987 and 1993 I was at Marvel UK and my work there included
editor of Doctor Who Magazine and, later, several Marvel UK
titles, including Death's Head, Warheads, Motormouth (its
last few issues) Digitek and the weekly Overkill. I have
also written a few comic strips for Marvel (among them, Warheads and Shadow Riders)
and Fleetway (Judge Karyn); wrote the Science Service which was drawn by the legendary Rian Hughes; self-published a fanzine, SCAN,
which counted comics luminary Alan Moore amongst its minuscule number of
subscribers; and started writing a novel. I'm still writing it. (I wrote
one in Sixth Form which was awful).
According to several Doctor Who fans I am descended from werewolves
(a long running joke in the pages of the gone but not forgotten Fanmail fanzine.
This has been attributed to my inability to shave on a daily basis and
the fact that I never sleep when there is a full moon.
ABOUT THIS SITE
As a UK-based creative consultant I have had over 20 years
experience of editing and writing, for both traditional and electronic
media. My clients include publishers, mobile games content suppliers
and others.
This site was originally created to be a resource base for people seeking
comics artists and writers but has mushroomed over the years to deliver
British comics news and features, and become a home for some of the
features which ran in Eagle
Flies Again on
the web. It also includes information on
events and
other SF resources on
the web.
Please note that I do NOT claim to have direct contact with all the creators
listed on my public resource pages,
though I have worked with many artists and writers over the years.
ART AND WRITING SAMPLES
I am always interested in seeing artist and writer samples and am happy to do my best to try and promote British indpendent and mainstream comic publications.
If you are a published creator -- that includes self published -- and would like to be included on this site please send to johnfreeman6-downthetubes@yahoo.co.uk
PLEASE SEND ME NO MORE THAN TWO samples of your strip work (cartoon or adventure strip). I will e-mail you if I require more images. Please also send me contact details and information on whether you work using Illustrator, Photoshop and other computer programs; or if you work traditionally with pen and ink. Please also let me know which languages you speak and your usual rates of pay per page or illustration, thank you.I am also interested in seeing animation work, especially
Flash-based work: please send details and a URL, NOT samples unless requested.
For a guide to comics on the web, check my Links
section. Again, further links are welcome.
John Freeman
26 JUly 2008
Above: Your Office Anywhere Man, created for IT specialists Cardium Solutions. This is one of a series of three initial strips to promote their remote data services as part of an ongoing marketing campaign. Scripted by me and drawn by Mike 'Doctor Who Magazine' Collins.
OTHER JOHN FREEMANS...
• Try this Google Web Search
ACADEMICS
• John Freeman, Founder, Performance Practice
Link: www.brunel.ac.uk/about/acad/sa/artstaff/drama/johnfreeman
and: www.dmu.ac.uk/faculties/humanities/pa/jfreeman.jsp
With a BA Honours in Creative Arts, an MA in Theatre Studies and a PhD which focused on heuristic research methodology and performance, John Freeman is the founder and former editor of Performance Practice. In addition to a background in the subject, he has written extensively on contemporary performance, new theatre writing, the documentation of practice and creative processes, with articles in titles such as the Guardian and many others. He's also the author of Tracing the Footprints, aimed at students, teachers, practitioners and lecturers involved in the documentation of practice. Freeman hopes the book demonstrates that theatre making is not just one process but many; all linked, interwoven, and impossible to disentangle.
• John Freeman, President of the US National
Book Critics' Circle
Rea dhis blog on The Guardian web site
ARTISTS
• John Freeman, Cartoonist
Link: www.polypop.com/comix/freeman
Black humour comics from an artist and musician
with Tourette's syndrome. Read a review of one of his gigs (which
starts: "Who needs a tired, worn out Buzzcocks while John Freeman is still in the game.")
John Freeman - Watercolour artist
Link:
www.johnfreemanstudio.co.uk
North Yorkshire-based John Freeman's beautiful watercolour works
include Nocturne, HM Endeavour, Goathland and Whitby series in prints,
cards, calendars and jigsaws. (Photo of John's shop in Whitby courtesy
of Jeremy Briggs)
• John
Freeman - Watercolour Artist
View a gallery of his wor on the St.
Neot Picture Gallery web site
Another artist, this Bedfordshire-based John Freeman has been painting
in watercolours for over 10 years. Though showing promise at an early
age John discontinued drawing until his late twenties when the gift
of a paint box inspired him to rediscover long neglected skills.
In an effort to make up for
lost time, John now paints regularly, following the English tradition
of watercolour landscape.
His passion for capturing the essential essence of our surroundings
has led John to sketch & paint in many parts of the world, however his
interest chiefly lies in painting the ever changing landscape and beautiful
skies of his native England.
John currently lives in Bedfordshire.
BASEBALL PLAYERS
• John Freeman (d. 1958)
View Stats here
BUSINESS
• John Freeman
Link: www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0887001.html
Born in 1807, By 1850, according to a census, Freeman was the wealthiest
African American in Marion County, with a restaurant in Indianapolis and
four acres of land on which he grew crops for his restaurant. But he still
had to fight to prove he was not a runaway slave...
JOURNALISTS
• John Freeman
Biography: www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUfreemanJ2.htm
Also a member of the Labour Party and MP before becoming a journalist.
Freeman resigned from the House of Commons in 1955. He worked for the New
Statesman and served as editor of the magazine between 1961 and 1965.
Other posts held by Freeman include High Commissioner in India (1965-68),
Ambassador to the United States (1969-71) and Chairman of London Weekend
Television.
• There's a John Freeman who contributes
to the bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com. He's
a freelance writer and book critic whose reviews and essays
have appeared in more than 100 newspapers and magazines including
Wall Street Journal, Los
Angeles Times, Boston Globe and Chicago
Tribune.
He graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in English literature
and now lives in New York City with 2,000 books.
• John Freeman (of KION 46)
Link: Full Bio on the KION 46 web site
John Freeman has been covering news on the Central
Coast for nearly two decades and now ranks as one of the
most experienced broadcast journalists in the area. John
started off as a photojournalist, but has gone on to fulfil
a multitude of roles at the station, including News Director, Special
Projects Producer and now Weekend Anchor on KION 46 News
at Eleven.
MARINE SURVEYORS
John Freeman, Freeman and Partners - UK
Link: www.freemanandpartners.com
Freeman & Partners offers specialist services to underwriters and
yacht owners or their agents in respect of condition surveys, supervision
of maintenance, repair and refit programs together with certification
surveys and inspections. The company has two offices, one based
in the New Forest headed by John Freeman, and one in Palma, Majorca
headed by Bob Hoghton, offering a high quality, economic,
efficient professional survey service throughout southern England,
the western Mediterranean and the Balearic Islands.
In addition to their
normal survey and inspection services they also able to offer specialist
endoscopic surveys of both concealed structures and machinery internals.
They have access to specialist equipment for non-destructive testing
of spars and rigging, in particular rod rigging together with sophisticated
methods of detecting damage or defects in carbon structures.
PHOTOGRAPHERS
John Freeman
Link: www.johnfreeman-photographer.com
London-based photographer - some great images,
clients include the BBC World Service and Ann Summers. That's what
I call diversification.
POETS
• John Freeman (1880 - 1929)
Link: National Portrait Gallery Information
POLICE MEN
Sgt. John FREEMAN
Link: A long link to a page on the British Transport Police web site
A Midland Railway Policeman who served in
four wars.
POLITICIANS
John Freeman - British
Wiki:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Freeman_(politician)
The Right Honourable Major John Freeman MBE (born on February 19, 1915)
was a British Labour Party politician, television executive (he was chairman
of LWT for 13 years), bowls commentator and diplomat (he was ambassador
to the US). He was the presenter of the BBC Face
to Face television series
between 1959 and 1962. His polite but probing questioning famously
reduced the renowned-for-being rude What's My Line panelist Gilbert
Harding to tears after probing about his (then illegal) homosexuality.
(The Transdiffusion web
site reports: "Freeman made pointed reference to Harding’s ‘mannerisms’,
suggesting that Harding was camp (he was not)." Although Harding did not
admit to being gay in the interview, "eventually, the façade
cracked and he began to cry when Freeman mentioned the recent death of
Harding’s
mother."
Freeman also clearly
unnerved comedian Tony Hancock. The
Tony Hancock Appreciation Society, whose site features a transcript
of the interview, comments: "Hancock was as surprised as anybody when
he was asked if he would like to participate in the show. After some deliberation
Hancock agreed... The resulting examination of Hancock's troubled personality
was so stark that the BBC had their doubts about whether or not it should
be aired at all; indeed, Freeman was forced to write a letter to the Daily
Telegraph following the broadcast to counter the public criticism his interview
style had received."
• Listen to extracts from John Freeman's 1960 interview with Evelyn Waugh
on the BBC web site: www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/waughe1.shtml
PROFESSORS
John Freeman, MD (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine)
Link: www.neuro.jhmi.edu/profiles/freeman.html
Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics and has spent most of his career at Johns Hopkins. After graduating from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
John Freeman (University of California)
John H. Freeman,
a leader in the field of entrepreneurship and a professor at the University
of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business, died of an apparent
heart attack at his home in Lafayette, California on Monday 3 March 2008.
He was 63. This
a link to the notice of his death on the Univerity's web site.
Dr John Freeman BA (Cantab) PhD (York) (University of Cardiff)
Link: www.cardiff.ac.uk/encap/staff/freeman.html
John Freeman teaches courses on Romantic Poetry, Shelley, Twentieth-Century
Poetry and Creative Writing. His research interests are in the poetry
of the last two centuries with particular emphasis on Shelley and on poetry
from 1950 to the present. He has lectured on literary topics and given
poetry readings in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy
and Lithuania. He has taught many creative writing courses and workshops
outside the university including the Poetry Otherwise course at Emerson
College, Sussex, in 2003 and 2004.
John Freeman (University of Florida - Journalism)
Link: www.jou.ufl.edu/people/faculty/jfreeman/freeman.htm
John Freeman (University of Iowa - Psychology)
Link: www.psychology.uiowa.edu/faculty/freeman/freeman.html
John R. Freeman (University of Minnesota - Political Science)
Link: www.polisci.umn.edu/faculty/freeman
John R. Freeman (Ph.D., University of
Minnesota, l978) is Distinguished McKnight University
Professor.
John Freeman (West Dean College, UK)
Link: www.westdean.org.uk/site/arts/gallery/art/freeman_john.htm
John Freeman, artist and etcher, studied at Bath Academy of Art, Corsham,
and Chelsea School of Art, and exhibits widely. He has a special interest
in the history of drawing and painting the figure.
SLAVES
Thomas Jefferson and John Freeman
Link: www.wku.edu/~andrew.mcmichael/freeman.html
On 1 June 1801 Thomas Jefferson recorded in his memorandum book the £10 he had paid John Freeman, a slave the new president rented from Dr. William Baker on a monthly basis. While Freeman might have been an uncommon and ironic name for a slave, the rental arrangement was not unusual, either for Jefferson or for thousands of other slaves and their masters in the early American republic. (Read the article on slave John Freeman in full)
TECHNOLOGY WIZARD
• John Freeman
Link: http://jlfreeman.net/
Computer programmer with more than 20 years experience. Most recently developing
genomics and microarray tools for biologists. Previously developed visualization
software, communications and operating systems software, and device drivers,
ported and packaged the X Window System and related software packages, delivered
software to the customers, always with high quality. More than fifteen years
project lead experience.
• John "Cloudy Hands" Freeman
Link: www.cloudyhands.com
This guy does things with databases and other stuff. Damm clever chap by the looks of it!
