Author Archives
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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New Doctor Who calendar on its way from Andrew Skilleter
Coming soon from top Doctor Who artist Andrew Skilleter is his The Doctor Who Art of Andrew Skilleter 2019 Limited Edition Calendar, featuring twelve of his paintings featuring Doctors One to Twelve. The stylish graphics combined with the artwork will guarantee you 12… Read More ›
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British Comic Heroes under one roof! Rebellion snaps up TI Media’s classic comics catalogue
2000AD publishers Rebellion have acquired all the comic titles owned by TI Media, reuniting publications dating back to Comic Cuts with the titles they purchased from Egmont in 2016. This means virtually every classic British comic title published out of London… Read More ›
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Coming Up: US Comic Convention Round Up – are you ready for New York Comic Con?
Here’s a quick guide to some US comics events, via Scoop, the free weekly e-newsletter published by Gemstone. (Sign up here). Baltimore Comic-Con and New York Comic Con dominate October’s schedule, but there are plenty of great Halloween/horror-inspired events towards the… Read More ›
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When “The Goodies” took over Cor!! (drawn by Joe Colquhoun)
Network has just released The Goodies: The Complete BBC Collection, as a general DVD release and a now sold out limited edition set – and there is a quick mention of the tie-in comic strip that appeared in weekly humour comic… Read More ›
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Weird War – and look Who’s involved in the latest Paragon anthology!
Sweet Nellie Bligh! The latest issue of indie comics anthology Paragon, edited by Davey Candlish, looks brilliant! What other comic has Doctor Who and Ian Fleming fighting Saddam Hussein? Because that’s what you get in “Shadow Rats: WMD“, written by… Read More ›
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Ride ‘Em, Cowboy! Book Palace has more British western comics, Eagles for sale
Book Palace has a new selection of British Pocket Library comics on offer including scarce, hard to source late issues of Cowboy Picture Library. The last 150 issues of this series – which include art by creators such as Jordi… Read More ›
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Horror author Richard Laymon dissected in latest issue of “The Paperbook Fanatic”
Issue 40 of Justin Marriott‘s The Paperbook Fanatic is now available from Amazon, the latest in a series of terrific fanzines he publishes through Amazon’s Createspace service, primarily dedicated to vintage paperbacks, but often cross over into comics material. The Paperbook… Read More ›
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In Memoriam: Comic Artist Norm Breyfogle
We’re sorry to report the passing of award-winning American comic artist Norm Breyfogle, aged 58, and artist perhaps best known for his work on DC Comics Batman and Detective Comics, who worked with a number of British creators over his… Read More ›
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Lakes Festival Focus 2018: Satoshi Kitamura
Every year, in the countdown to the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, we bring you a series of interviews with guests at the event. This “Festival Focus” for 2018 is Tokyo-born illustrator Satoshi Kitamura who, after dropping out of school to pursue… Read More ›
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Rufus Dayglo and Dan Cornwell revealed as artists on new Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth game
Osprey Games, a division of Osprey Publishing, has revealed 2000AD artists Rufus Dayglo and Dan Cornwell as the artists on its upcoming Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth card game. As we previously reported, Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth, set to… Read More ›
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Watch Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy and Pan’s Labyrinth on the Big Screen – and get a free BPRD comic!
Ace comics, film and animation magazine Tripwire has teamed up with one of its favourite cinemas, the historic Phoenix in East Finchley to bring Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy (2004) and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) back to the big screen. Here’s the details of how you… Read More ›
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New Striker comic distribution stymied by WHSmith, but the publishers have a cunning plan…
The new Striker football comic – its launch the result of a hugely successful crowdfunding campaign earlier this year – has been hit by distribution problems that mean Issue 3 will now not go on sale until next week in newsagents…. Read More ›
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Crowdfunding Spotlight: Nottingham Comic Con – Comic Anthology: Inter Space
Nottingham Comic Con has launched a Kickstarter for its third anthology, Inter Space, a 40 plus page all ages comic conglomeration featuring stories from some great creators, many of them at the event on Saturday 20th October. This book has… Read More ›
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Jump On Board! This week’s new 2000AD aims to entice new readers
New readers should have no qualms about jumping on board and buying 2000AD tomorrow as a brand-new roster of stories starts in the bumper Prog 2100. There are some great strips included, particularly the Judge Anderson tale penned by Alan… Read More ›
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Lakes Festival Focus 2018: Yomi Ayeni
Every year, in the countdown to the Lakes International Comic Art Festival, we bring you a series of interviews with guests at the event. This “Festival Focus” for 2018 is Yomi Ayeni, an award winning Transmedia creator, producer, filmmaker, and storyteller,… Read More ›
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Pat Mills heads to Prague to talk 2000AD’s “Defoe”, his comics career and more
2000AD creator Pat Mills is looking forward to going to Prague this week, for an-all day comic event at Prague City Library on Friday 28th September – and the event will hopefully be live streamed. He’ll be chatting about his… Read More ›
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Sarah Graley draws Minecraft, first pages revealed by Dark Horse
Ahead of New York Comic Con and MINECON Earth, Dark Horse, Mojang AB, and Microsoft have revealed the first art from the first instalment in a multi-project publishing partnership, Minecraft Volume One, featuring art by Sarah Graley. Minecraft Volume One… Read More ›
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Alan Moore’s Jerusalem release as omnibus paperback
Jerusalem, the New York Times-bestseller from Alan Moore, author of From Hell and Watchmen is now available in a single-volume paperback. On sale from today, Tuesday 25th September in shops and in digital from 25th September, the novel is published in the UK from… Read More ›
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Call for Papers: International Conference of Graphic Novels and Comics
A Call For Papers for the Joint International Conference of Graphic Novels and Comics and 20th Anniversary of the International Bande dessinée Society at Manchester Metropolitan University next June has just been announced. Taking place 24th -28th June 2019 the… Read More ›
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Comic creator David Leach special guest for MediaHubUK event
Comics artist, writer and editor David Leach is a special guest at MediaHubK in Cookham,Berkshire, in October. A cartoonist and editor “with a larger than life personality” David is the creator of the cartoon character, Psycho Gran and has edited… Read More ›