Author Archives
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.
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Tube Surfing: 26 January 2009
• (with thanks to Chris Wasshuber): Who created Lucky Luke? The cowboy, published by Dargaud and the creation of Morris, has been a beloved fictitious cowboy in Europe for the past 60 years bringing joy and entertainment to many readers… Read More ›
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Preserving Our Comics Heritage
John Birch works for the National Library of Scotland located in Edinburgh, one of the UK’s five legal deposit libraries, and curated their successful Local Heroes exhibition covering comics and graphic novels last year. In an interview for downthtubes, he… Read More ›
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Rainbow Orchid Re-Mastered Update
Garen Ewing has updated fans on progress with his Rainbow Orchid collections, with the first volume of this critically-acclaimed indie strip now scheduled to be published by Egmont UK in August 2009. “ I have been working practically every minute… Read More ›
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Maw, Paw an’ PM Broon
While the UK comics community, and the national newspapers, may have made much of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s appearance in the first issue of Marvel’s Captain Britain and MI13, it is unlikely to have raised much interest in Number 10… Read More ›
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Complete Dracula Announced
US publisher Dynamite have announced the launch of The Complete Dracula, written by Bram Stoker, Leah Moore and John Reppion, with art by Colton Worley and covers by John Cassady. Issue 1 of the five-issue comic series will go on… Read More ›
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Birmingham Comic Show Revamped
British podcast and comics news site Geek Syndicate reports that after three successful conventions, The Birmingham International Comics Show is regenerating into The British International Comic Show. “This is simply to reflect how the show has become the UK’s largest… Read More ›
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Blam! Returns to Leicester
After a series of popular and well attended comics events last year (see report), Leicester Libraries have announced another Blam! event, this time with top comics expert Paul Gravett. Titled “More Than Words Can Say: What are comic books doing… Read More ›
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Frights on the Frontier!
The latest issue of the subscription-only weekly British comic The DFC features Jason Cobley and Andrew Wildman’s Frontier on the cover, as heroes Mitch and Daisy find themselves cornered by werewolves in the weird Wild West. “It’s an absolute privilege… Read More ›
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Kevin O’Neill Confirms Bristol Expo Appearance
Legendary British artist Kevin O’Neill (whose work includes Nemesis the Warlock for 2000AD and Marshal Law) has confirmed that he will come to Bristol to sign the first volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century, written by Alan Moore…. Read More ›
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Stacking the odds for Indie Magazines Success
Here’s an idea which some enterprising comics publisher, or comics distributor, might consider as a way to drum up interest in their full range of titles. The financial crisis will make 2009 a year of high innovation for independent magazines,… Read More ›