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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Beano-branded guitars and Brewers Fayre “Menacing Meals” on their way
DC Thomson has announced to new Beano-related licensing deals in the past week, one for musical instruments and the other with restaurant chain Brewers Fayre, which will include the release of a limited edition Beano comic on Father’s Day. The… Read More ›
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Bryan Talbot, Graphic Novel Man – DVD and download winners!
Digital Story Engine recently released their ace documentary “Graphic Novel Man” focusing on the career of award-winning British comic creator Bryan Talbot (you can read our review here) and gave us six copies of the DVD and six HD Digital downloads to give away. All… Read More ›
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British Comic Shop Comic Releases (4th June 2014)
Here’s a list of comics – both US and UK releases – on sale in specialist UK comic ships on 4th June 2014, courtesy First Age Comics, Lancaster. We’ve picked out the UK titles in bold below: 2000AD Summer Sci-Fi… Read More ›
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Hunt Emerson, Knockabout launch Kickstarter to fund Calculus Cat collection
Ace British comic creator Hunt Emerson and publisher Knockabout have just launched a Kickstarter Campaign to try and launch a souped-up reprint of his wonderful 1980s Calculus Cat comic book. Calculus Cat hates TV. His world is black and white, weird,… Read More ›
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Sunderland-based PhD scholarships in media and cultural studies offered
The Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Sunderland is offering two full-time Home/EU PhD scholarships with a start date of 1st October 2014. Together with full payment of fees, each scholarship will include a… Read More ›
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Panel Borders: European Female Voices
Starting a month of shows looking at the work of female comic creators on Britain’s comic radio show Panel Borders, Alex Fitch talks to German scratch board artist Line Hoven and Belgian cartoonist Judith Vanistendael about their family drama graphic… Read More ›
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Charley’s War art exhibition in Swanage next month
Artwork by the late Joe Colquhoun from the seminal World War One comic story Charley’s War, which featured in weekly comic Battle, will be on show at Durlston Country Park near Swanage next month. Created by arrangement with Joe’s family, the event… Read More ›
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International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference announced
The fifth International Graphic Novel and Comics Conference will take places between Friday 19th – 20th July 2014 at the Conference Centre in the British Library in London. Now in its fifth year, this conference brings together comic and graphic novel… Read More ›
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Duncan Fegredo, Audrey Niffenegger and more join Lakes Festival guest list
Not content with an already-announced guest list that includes top comic creators Scott McCloud, Gail Simone, Jock and Becky Cloonan, plus a Doctor Who-inspired group that features publisher Dez Skinn and top creators Nick Abadzis, Mike Collins and Robbie Morrison,… Read More ›
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Rebellion releases A.B.C. Warriors – The Mek Files featuring Bisley, Smuzz art
Recently released from from the 2000AD Thrill-vaults in a 304-page pulse-pounding collection, are everyone’s favourite war droids: the Atomic, Bacterial, Chemical-proof A.B.C. Warriors. Beautifully bound in a stunning hardback edition, for the first time, all of the full-colour splash pages and… Read More ›
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Titan launches first Dragons: Riders of Berk
Swooping in from DreamWorks Animation’s smash-hit TV series Dragons: Riders of Berk, Titan Comics has just released the first volume of a series of all-new original adventures of Hiccup and Toothless. Dragons: Riders of Berk Volume One is a thrilling all-ages publication… Read More ›
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Dynamite Entertainment previews Peter Milligan’s “Terminal Hero”
US publisher Dynamite has released some preview pages from Terminal Hero, the second book in its “Creators Unleashed” series of creator driven comics, written by 2000AD‘s Peter Milligan with art by Piotr Kowalski, with a cover on #1 by Jae Lee. In… Read More ›
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Eleventh Doctor makes his final regular Doctor Who Magazine comic strip appearance
The new issue of Doctor Who Magazine is on sale from Thursday 29th May and makes the most of its feature on the most popular stories of the first five decades of the series, as voted for by readers of the… Read More ›
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Leave your brains by the door, here’s Biodegradable Four!
Hard boiled detectives, high speed car chases, brain harvesting aliens and adulterous Martians are just some of the attractions awaiting readers of the digital comics anthology 100% Biodegradable, available now Edited by David Hailwood and John Kirkham, the title… Read More ›
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Alan Moore backs digital comics creation app project, Electricomics
Britain’s best known modern comic book writer Alan Moore is leading a research and development project, Electricomics, to create an open source app enabling digital comics to be made by anyone, a digital comics project that will include the publication of… Read More ›
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Azzopardi does ArtHouse! (Exhibition, that is…)
Ace artist Sean Azzopardi is exhibiting some prints at the ArtHouse, a new venue in Crouch End. London-based cartoonist Sean has been making and self publishing comics for eleven years and is a regular face at comic conventions… Read More ›
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DC Thomson, Elstree Studio Productions release Bananaman movie poster
DC Thomson and Elstree Studio Productions have just released the first poster to promote the upcoming Bananaman film, due for release sometime in 2015. Very little is known about the film, announced back in March, so far –… Read More ›
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Kingsman: The Secret Service trailer released
Twentieth Century Fox released its first trailer to promote the upcoming release of Kingsman: The Secret Service recently, based on the comic created by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, which is due for an October release. I’ve only just seen it,… Read More ›
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Revolutionary War collection, reviving Marvel UK heroes, on sale today
The collected edition of Marvel Comics “Revolutionary War” limited series, is on sale this week (28th May), a story that revived many of the Marvel UK characters. The series was created by Andy Lanning and Alan Cowsill and features art… Read More ›
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Leren Conor’s comics-inspired designs hit the catwalk
Inspired by the antics of several Batman villains, young designer Leren Conor has created a series of comic-inspired costumes for her final year university graduate collection, “A Twisted Love Affair For The Society Of Outcasts’. “For our final project at… Read More ›