Tube Surfing: 19 July 2008

By John Freeman on July 19, 2008

Tom Spurgeon of the Comics Reporter interviews British comic creator Daniel Merlin Goodbrey here. ‘What little I know about the writer and cartoonist Daniel Merlin Goodbrey intrigues in a way that it’s surprising I didn’t interview him a long time ago,’ confesses Spurgeon, in his introduction to the interview. ‘He’s a considerable presence within webcomics and is a generally prolific cartoonist in that realm, perhaps best known in the on-line world for developing the Tarquin Engine. Goodbrey’s a “new media lecturer” — which sounds fantastic — and done a number of works in hypercomics, yet he’s also written an old-school, print-bound Avengers short story, and has just completed another such assignment for Marvel.’ (Above right: a page from Necessary Monsters by Goodbrey and Sean Azzopardi)

Richard Bruton has written 100 comic reviews for the Forbidden Planet International Blog. To celebrate this feat, he’s created an index of his reviews, which you can find here.

And congrats to British cartoonist Jim Medway. He’s a dad! Down the Tubes wishes Jim and his family all the best. Jim Medway self-publishes via his own Paw Quality Comics and is a regular contributor to children’s comic The DFC.

Cartoonist Oliver East has posted the cover to his second book, Proper Go Well High, over at his blog. Proper Go Well High will be released by new British independent comics publisher Blank Slate Books, the company that released East’s first collection, Trains are Mint, reviewed here by Down the Tubes.

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “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.