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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Lancaster Comics Day Launch Event on Saturday
A small event to launch Lancaster Comics Day will take place at First Age Comics, Lancaster on Saturday 30th May 2015 from 11.00am. Lancaster Comics Day, taking place Sunday 14th June 2015 in Lancaster Library, is a new event aimed at comic fans of all ages for the… Read More ›
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Egmont launches “World of Warriors” Magazine
Continuing its development of computer game-related titles, Egmont Publishing has launched Mind Candy’s World of Warriors in ‘Allabout’ Magazine. In November 2014 Mind Candy, the creators of the renowned online game Moshi Monsters, launched a new adventure and combat strategy game, World of Warriors…. Read More ›
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British Comic Shop Releases (27th May 2015) – Alan Moore’s Providence Launches, Surface Tension debuts
Here’s our guide to new comics and graphic on sale in British comic shops today (Wednesday 27th May 2015), complementing our monthly list of new British graphic novels and comic collections (May 2015 list here). This week sees the release… Read More ›
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In Review: Surface Tension #1 by Jay Gunn
WRITER/ARTIST: Jay Gunn PUBLISHER: Titan Comics ISSUES IN SERIES: 1 (OF 5) PAGE-COUNT: 40pp PRICE: $3.99 RELEASE DATE: 27th May 2015 ORDER CODE: MAR151531 “WE ARE ALL MADE OF WATER” Months after mysterious corals drew 99 per cent… Read More ›
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Rare “Banned” Action Comic reaches £1320 bid on eBay
An extremely rare copy of Action – a 1970s British comic whose controversial content provoked storms of protest and was eventually banned – is currently being auctioned on eBay and bidding on the adventure comic has reached £1320. (Updated… Read More ›
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New Doctor Who design book out later this year
Mike Tucker, one of the most dedicated and inventive visual effects artists to work on the Doctor Who TV series – and the author of several Who-related books – has co-authored a new title about the making of the show… Read More ›
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Dirty Rotten Comics Wants You! (For their next anthology, that is)
British indie publisher Dirty Rotten Comics are now taking submissions for their summer anthology. the final deadline is 30th June 2015. Regular readers will recall that downthetubes team member Antony Esmond enthused about their most recent edition, noting issue three of this anothology series was pretty… Read More ›
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Wallace Wood omitted from Netflix Daredevil credits, estate and US creators protest
Over on Bleeding Cool, an article about the brilliant US artist Wallace “Wally” Wood and his integral part in the creation of the Marvel superhero character Daredevil appears to have been mined from posts on the Wallace Wood Estate Facebook… Read More ›
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Tonight’s Gotham on Channel 5: All Happy Families Are Alike
The first season of Gotham comes to a close on Channel 5 tonight, as Gotham City’s gang war reaches its boiling point. Fish Mooney goes head-to-head with Maroni and Penguin in an attempt to re-stake her claim on the city…. Read More ›
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Rummages in the attic! Classic Marvel UK titles, Scream and other British comics up for sale
British comics collector Steven Holder dropped us a line at downthetubes to tell us he was “having a bit of a clear out” that we think will interest our readers, as it includes some fab Marvel UK goodies including… Read More ›
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First Age Comics Top Ten Titles This Week (w/e 22nd May 2015)
Diamond has its top selling US comic lists, and so do the big London comic shops and many others. So here at downthetubes, we thought it high time we had our own Top Ten Comics chart documenting top… Read More ›
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In Review: 24 By 7 – A Collection of 24 Hour Marathon Comics
Editor: Dan Berry Creators: Dan Berry, Sarah McIntyre, Joe Decie, Kristyna Baczynski, Fumio Obata, Jack Teagle, Warwick Johnson-Cadwell and Dan Berry Publisher: Fanfare Press/Lakes International Comic Art Festival ISBN: 0993211208 Out: Now (available at various comics events, online and in… Read More ›
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Brighton Illustration Fair debuts next weekend
The first Brighton Illustration Fair – for illustrators from Brighton and beyond – takes place at the end of this month (30th – 31st May 2015). The event, which features guests including comic artists Boo Cook, Jack Teagle, Donya Todd and Chris… Read More ›
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Comics Are for Kids! A Quick Chat with “Funny Monsters Comic” publisher Joe Matthews
Fed up with the lack of new British humour comics being published by the major publishers, Rochdale-based comics creator Joe Matthews decided to publish his own. As we previously reported, Issue Three of his wonderful Funny Monsters Comic is… Read More ›
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Ramsey’s Raiders re-run in Commando heralds all-new stories to come
Here’s the run down on the latest issues of DC Thomson’s Commando (Issues 4811-4814), on sale now in all good newsagents and digital editions. Sorry for the delayed intel this week. This batch sees a much-demanded re-run for the very… Read More ›
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Rare Beanos, Dalek Swapits, Dan Dare and Adam Eterno art in latest ComPal Comics Auction
The catalogue for the latest ComPal Comics auction is online, which ends on 14th June 2015. The company now works with the-saleroom.com to provide real time bidding, viewable online, as bids are placed by the company’s customers who have registered their details…. Read More ›
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Is it A Bird? Is it A Plane? No, it’s… Action Man?
Palitoy’s Action Man doll – a licensed version of Hasbro’s G.I. Joe which was launched in 1966 – went through a lot of permutations down the years, most of them armed services related. But in the late 1970s, the range added… Read More ›
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David Hine: Why You should Back the Broken Frontier Anthology
With less than two days to go before the Broken Frontier Kickstarter campaign for its proposed comics anthology to reach its target of $58,000, comics writer and artist David Hine, one of the creators involved in the project, reveals why he feels it could be… Read More ›
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Panel Borders: TorsoBear, Cogs & Claws
Continuing a month of shows about creators whose work sits in the middle ground between ‘mainstream’ and independent comics on Britain’s only over the air regular show about comics, Alex Fitch talks to creator Brett Uren about his graphic novel series TorsoBear, a… Read More ›
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Joe Matthews “Funny Monsters Comic” for kids continues
Fed up with the lack of new British humour comics being published by the major publishers, Joe Matthews decided to publish his own. Issue Three of Funny Monsters Comic is on sale now, featuring the “Zackster – Kid Zombie” (this… Read More ›