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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Egmont’s classic comics archive arrives at Rebellion, Roy of the Rovers collections already in the works
The surviving bound comics volumes and comics art from the Egmont archive has arrived at new owners Rebellion‘s Oxford HQ, another step in the process of seeing some great British girls and boys comics material get back into print. 2000AD‘s… Read More ›
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Tax changes ahead for UK freelancers, digital only and quarterly reporting on the way, despite rollout speed concerns
This might sound a bit of a boring item, but it’s important for any freelancer creating comics or working as an illustrator, because UK government proposals to not only require quarterly tax reporting, but to also only file tax returns digitally… Read More ›
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Something For The Weekend – Black Dog and Dylan Teague overload! – This Week’s New Comics in the UK (w/c 24th October 2016)
Ace artist Dylan Teague has taken over all incoming transmissions this week, with a superb cover for the new Judge Dredd Megazine (Issue 377), art on “Judge Dredd” for 2000AD – and of course his strip for the wonderful digital… Read More ›
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Pre-Christmas Comics Goodness planned in Manchester at For the Love of Sci-Fi event
Featuring guests from comics, movies and TV, For the Love of Sci-Fi is a two-day event taking place at Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Manchester on 3rd – 4th December 2016. Comics guests announced so far are Mike Collins, Carlos Ezquerra, Simon Furman, Diego Galindo, Kev Hopgood, Staz Johnson, Mike… Read More ›
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Knight Rider Returns – Again!
Justin Lin, the director behind the Fast and Furious franchise, is working with Machinima to bring back Knight Rider as a digital series. World Screen reports the digital series is being produced with NBCUniversal (who own the property), popular video platform Machinima and Lin’s YouTube… Read More ›
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New comics from the Lakes Festival: “Coelifer Atlas” and “Carrot to the Stars”
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival has recently published two great books as part of its developing publishing program. They are Coelifer Atlas, this year’s special 24 Hour Marathon Comic project featuring a stellar line up of talent, which aims to raise awareness of the… Read More ›
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Malta Comic Con 2016 Guest Line Up – PJ Holden, Sean Azzopardi and Tim Perkins join the throng!
Organisers Wicked Comics have announced a slew of guests for the eighth Malta Comic Con, taking place Saturday 3rd – Sunday 4th December at the south end of the Malta Fairs and Convention Centre (MFCC) in Ta’ Qali. I was… Read More ›
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Rare, ‘banned’ 1970s British Action comic sells for over £4000
Regular readers of downthetubes will recall how a rare copy of the controversial 1970s comic Action went under the hammer on eBay last year; and the final winning bid was over £2500. Well, another copy of the rare Issue 37,… Read More ›
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Light Relief: Brad Tuttle’s Brassneck and Robot Archie for Inktober
After the gloomy news British comics fans had this weekend, I’m more than delighted to be given permission to post this fun “Inktober” art by Milton Keynes-based tattoo artist Brad Tuttle, featuring two classic robots from British comics gone by to cheer… Read More ›
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2000AD to pay tribute to Steve Dillon
Honouring one of their finest talents, Steve Dillon, who died at the weekend, 2000AD has announced the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic will pay tribute to the artist in a future issue. “Over the last two days it has been great to… Read More ›
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Remembering Steve Dillon, by Garth Ennis
Garth wrote this tribute to Steve Dillon, who died this weekend, for his Facebook page and it is reproduced here with his full permission. Steve liked a drink or two, and if the truth be told that’s how most of us… Read More ›
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2017 Lakes International Comic Art Festival Date Announced, Sergio Aragonés First Guest
The dates for next year’s annual Lakes International Comic Art Festival have been announced after its 2016 event proved a massive success once again at the weekend, attracting both comic creators and fans from around the globe. Visitor numbers were up… Read More ›
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In Memoriam: Comic Artist Steve Dillon, A True Legend of Comics
We’re very sorry to report the passing of gifted and much-loved comic artist Steve Dillon, a renowned talent rightfully described by Jamie McElvie as “a true legend of comics“, perhaps best known internationally for his run on DC Comics Hellblazer and… Read More ›
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Finnish cartoonists visit the UK to talk about their Freedom of Information comic
Think Freedom of Information is a bit of a dry topic? Not when you mix it with some exuberant inky comic art, it’s not! Two Finnish cartoonists, Siiri Viljakka and Lauri Tuomi-Nikula, are visiting the UK to speak about their… Read More ›
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New book spotlights Argentine and Brazilian comics
El Eternauta, Daytripper, and Beyond: Graphic Narrative in Argentina and Brazil is a new study by David William Foster in the World Comics and Graphic Nonfiction Series from University of Texas Press. Out on 25th October, this new book examines… Read More ›
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To The Death: Simon Furman And Geoff Senior talk world building and roads not taken on Death’s Head
This week sees the full launch of British comic creators Simon Furman and Geoff Senior’s creator owned story To The Death as a full digital package of 18 weekly web episodes, so how could we not catch up with them both… Read More ›
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Steve Jackson Games’ “Munchkin Apocalypse” takes on Judge Dredd!
Munchkin Apocalypse – the popular card game from Steve Jackson Games – invades Mega-City One in February 2017 and crosses paths with its most famous street judge. Munchkin Apocalypse: Judge Dredd is a 15-card booster pack for the game, featureing characters and… Read More ›
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Gary Erskine delights with art for Jet City Comics’ “Frontlines: Requiem”
There were a lot of great-looking comics projects to look out for at this year’s Lakes International Comic Art Festival, but one I was very lucky to see – the only copy quickly snapped up by a Jeff Hawke fan! –… Read More ›
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TPub Comics launches “Twisted Dark” film competition
Twisted Dark – So Easy – a sample video of a story from the Twisted Dark by Neil Gibson. For the source comics visit: tiny.cc/TwistedApp. TPub Comics – publishers of the top-selling psychological thriller Twisted Dark have announced a short film competition… Read More ›
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In Review: A Seven-Year Old’s take on Beano’s New Look
With the new-look Beano read and re-read several times now by comic creator Simon Russell’s seven-year-old son, and a few more issues “out there” since the relaunch, here’s a review from one of the comic’s target audience… “My son is probably skews… Read More ›