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.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek Explorer (previously known as Star Trek 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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Albion Man: An interview with Andrew Sumner
Interview first published 12th February 2007, links updated July 2019 Titan Books have just released their edition of the collected Albion, Wildstorm’s welcome revival of many British comics heroes owned by IPC. The trade offers the complete story – with… Read More ›
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Hookjaw Interview
Well, not Hookjaw himself, which would just be gut-wrenching sounds of gnashing shark teeth, but with the Collected Hook Jaw about to munch its way through the swimming public once more (just when you thought it was safe to go… Read More ›
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2000AD competition over on FPI
Joe Gordon from Forbidden Planet International has just dropped me a quick line to advise of a pretty cool 2000AD competition he’s lined up. “I just can’t let the 30th anniversary of 2000AD at the end of this month pass… Read More ›
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Forever Albion: Leah Moore and John Reppion Interviewed
I’ve just posted the first of three interviews to mark the release of Titan Books Albion collection, the first being with writers Leah Moore and John Reppion. Interviews with IPC’s Andrew Sumner and the project’s brilliant artist Shane Oakley –… Read More ›
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This week’s searches on downthetubes.net included…
In order of most searched terms: – 1 “web site” (why would so many people search a web site for “web site”) – 2 “Hilary Duff” (This is a comics site, people. Is Hilary Duff doing comics? I don’t think… Read More ›
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Family Obsessions
Steam Engine pic by my DadOriginally uploaded by JohnFreeman. Obsessions run in our family. I love comics, my Dad loved trains. I’m now trying to find out where he took some of his earliest steam engine pics and have added… Read More ›
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The Dead Goldfish
I thought this cartoon might have originally appeared in Viz – it seems to be based on an old Internet-circulated joke – but a version is being passed on from the “Bore Me” site, an archive of “viral” e-mail jokes… Read More ›
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People leave the strangest things behind
Following up on news reports that people would rather read a comic — sorry, book — than have sex, after a survey conducted by Travelodge, I scurried over to their web site to find the full text. What books would… Read More ›
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Save us from Guardian readers
So the world’s going to h*** in a handbasket and what are Guardian readers doing? Arguing about who has the best computer. I’m considering joining Harlan Ellison and Alan Moore in the typewriter zone. Not very seriously, mind, but considering… Read More ›
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ComicSpace up and (fully) running
The new online comics community ComicSpace, described as “MySpace for comics creators and fans” is now fully up and running and if you’re so inclined, there are now some fantastic samples from many British artists on the site, including Bill… Read More ›