We’re sorry to report the passing last month of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles artist Iain Buchanan. This tribute shares memories of the popular comic creator from family and friends…
On the weekend of 8th November 2025 well loved professional cartoonist and designer Iain Buchanan passed away after a short illness.
Iain began his career drawing self published comics and gig posters in Brighton in 2001. His drawings were published by renowned publishers including IDW and Panini Magazines (TMNT), Titan Comics (Gogo’s Crazy Bones), Markosia Enterprises (providing art Alien Pirates, written by Harry Markos), Routledge (on titles such as Finding Kite: A Social Skills Adventure Story), Franklin Watts and QueenSpark Books.
Iain also worked as a freelance Graphic Designer; he loved making logos and posters.
“I’ve always enjoyed working collaboratively since my early days making comics with friends, and I love getting feedback from a writer or editor,” Iain himself wrote of his career in a blog post for TAUK Publishing. “Breathing life into the characters is probably the most fun part for me, but it can take time to get into their skin. Once I am familiar with them, the pages themselves come pretty easily. I can work quickly and have drawn comic pages consisting of six to eight panels in a day for twelve consecutive days to meet a deadline, but it’s nice to have longer.
“I’ve learned many things during my drawing career, but the most valuable has been learning the language of visual storytelling. I am incredibly grateful to all the artists who’ve shared tips, every writer who has trusted me to draw their story and every piece of valuable feedback from an editor. The best thing about this job is that you get to work on something that can make a connection with a reader, and hopefully, they will enjoy reading as much as I did growing up.”
Prior to his death, Iain lived in Chester with his wife, daughter, and cat, Lucky.
The news was sudden and came as a shock not only to his close family, but also to his wider friend group. News of his passing began to filter through on the morning of 11th November. When Iain’s cousin posted the following to his Facebook page:
‘Sometimes there are just no words. Absolutely devastated to have lost my big cousin over the weekend. This is not goodbye, but see you soon cuz. Love you forever and always.”
Dawn Poole, 11th November 2025
As the day progressed friends and former colleagues began to offer their sympathies, leaving heartfelt messages of remembrance. First to post was Colin J Dinnie, who wrote a message which many of Iain’s close friends felt said exactly what they were also feeling.
“With incredible sadness I wanted to pay tribute to my friend Iain who sadly died at the weekend. I knew Iain over 20 years ago when I lived in Brighton and I optimistically put an ad in a comic shop looking for people to make comics with. Iain was one of the first people to respond and his enthusiasm for the idea and his art work helped form the creative collective called Underfire Comics. Which Iain actually named because my ideas were pretentious and terrible.
“Iain was an incredibly humble and generous guy. I had the privilege of seeing his style develop from a heavy noir black and white to the fabulous retro cartoon style he became known for. I also had the privilege of knowing him as a friend and drinking buddy through my years in Brighton and the South East.
“I’m terrible at keeping in touch and I won’t pretend to know what was happening for Iain during the last few years, but for those times in the early 2000s in Brighton pubs and comic cons, I’m so glad to have known him and I wish his family and especially his little daughter all the love in the world.“
Colin J Dinnie, 11th November 2025
A short while later another post appeared offering similar words of condolence and loss from Jessica S Kemp.
“News is filtering through that Iain has passed. I had hoped that I was mistaken when I read the post this morning, but Colin’s beautiful words have confirmed the sad news.
“I knew Iain during the time that Colin and our extended and frequently close-knit friend group knew each other in Brighton. I found a home and a group of generous supportive friends in them at a time in my life when I needed them most.
“Iain was always welcoming, kind and caring in ways that most never are. When and wherever I saw him, he always had a kind word and took the time to genuinely connect with whoever he was with. Outside of that group I frequently bumped into him at festivals where he was often acting as a carer for others. We alway made a little time to hangout no matter how briefly our care or work schedules allowed.
“Iain was someone who made time for you and made you feel better for seeing him. The kind of generous and caring friend that we all wish for and I am better for having known him.
The last time I saw Iain in person was at his wedding. Life separated us all and flung us to the winds, contact increasingly sparse, but no less meaningful when managed. It’s unfathomable that he is no longer here, and we will no longer see that smile.
“My thoughts are with his family, his daughter and his friends, we are all the poorer without him.“
Jessica S Kemp, 11th November 2025
Writer Alec Worley collaborated with Iain on Panini’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic.
“Iain brought exactly the kind of vibe we were after on TMNT,” he noted. “The energy, the humour, the joy of adventure. He always came up with something cool, no matter what kind of weird mutant or mad situation we threw at him. I’m so sorry to hear of his passing.”
To be remembered well is perhaps the greatest testament to leave behind.
Iain is survived by his wife and daughter.
Iain Buchanan, born 5th August 1976, died 11th November 2025
Our thanks to Jessica S Kemp for providing this item. Our sympathies to Iain’s family and friends
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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