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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Dan Boultwood comes to Forbidden Planet
Comic creator Dan Boultwood will be launching Issue #1 of Titan Comics It Came! at the Forbidden Planet London Megastore on Thursday 15th August. Fans of cult film will love this hilarious B-movie romp, a knowing throwback to the heyday… Read More ›
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Thunder Brother: Soap Division hits a Six
The latest issue of Paul Rainey‘s glorious Thunder Brother: Soap Division is now available. Issue six features “House of Tiny Tearaways” which is the concluding half to last issue’s story “Mind Your Language”. Can Thunder Brother extract some unwelcome visitors… Read More ›
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Hogan and Parkhouse’s “Resident Alien” returns
Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse‘s Resident Alien saga for US publisher Dark Horse resumes on 14th August with The Suicide Blonde #0, on sale in all good comic shps on both sides of the Atlantic and as a digital edition…. Read More ›
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Dundee investment firm uses Beano characters in anniversary celebrations
The Dundee-based investment company the Alliance Trust celebrates 125 years of operations in 2013, and as part of its festivities, has commissioned DC Thomson to provide a number of bespoke Beano cartoons for them to use throughout their communications. These… Read More ›
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Northern Ways: Julie Tait reveals Lakes Festival long term plans
Britain is buzzing with comics festivals and conventions up and down the land and throughout the year. Across the spectrum of scale and longevity, Oxford’s determinedly human-scale small press weekend Caption is the longest one still running, while the MCM… Read More ›
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Fringeworks releases Chrissie Harper’s “Hard Luck City”
British publisher Fringeworks has just released Hard Luck City – a mixture of prose and comics that introduces a new world of characters and ideas that addresses human themes along with the supernatural. The book Written by Chrissie Harper and… Read More ›
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Into the Crawl Hole, new indie horror comic released
Crawl Hole is a new horror comic by Craig Collins and Iain Laurie, and the spiritual cousin of sorts to the pair’s other project, Roachwell.… “It’s a collection of short surreal comedic horror strips, some of which you may have… Read More ›
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Twelfth Doctor Challenge!
With the confirmation that Peter Capaldi is to be Doctor Who‘s Twelfth Doctor, we’re sure some of you will be racing to draw him. Artist David Roach – one of the regular creators involved in Doctor Who Magazine‘s comic strip… Read More ›
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New Doctor Who to be revealed tonight
(Updated): Here’s the full text of the press release about the show which will announce the next actor to play the Doctor in Doctor Who tonight on BBC1 and BBC America: here at downthetubes we are also wondering if this… Read More ›
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22 Panels Art Show – Cornwall’s first comic book convention
Cornwall’s first comic book convention – the 22 Panels Comic Art Show – will be running from 26-27 October 2013 in the coastal town of Falmouth. Celebrating comics as art in a weekend convention hosted by the town’s independent arts… Read More ›
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Egmont’s “Disney Stars” to cover Disney old and new
Egmont UK has expanded its Disney magazine portfolio with a new monthly title: Disney Stars. The first issue, which focuses on the new Monsters University film, was released on 17th July and is still on sale. The title will be… Read More ›
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Adapting Lovecraft: An Interview with Ian Culbard
Jon Turner caught up with him to talk about his latest project, the graphic adaptation of HP Lovecraft’s Shadow Our Of Time, released in June by SelfMadeHero, for the comic newspaper Your Days Are Numbered, which the title has kindly… Read More ›
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Limited edition “Heros the Spartan” – Sneak Peek
Book Palace Books release their limited edition collection of Heros the Spartan, the work of the late Tom Tully and Frank Bellamy, on 10th August – and we’re delighted to offer you this sneek peek of some of the features… Read More ›
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Dublin International Comics Expo headlines Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo
The Dublin International Comics Expo (DICE) 2013 takes place 28th-29th September and has lined up an impressive list of both US and homegrown talent. Run by the award-winning comic shop Big Bang, the two-day event in Dundrum, Dublin will offer a… Read More ›
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Creator-publisher Mike Medaglia launcing new book at Gosh tonight
A last minute plug – creator-publisher Mike Medaglia is launching his anthology of spiritual comics, Wu Wei, tonight at Gosh!, 1 Berwick Street, Soho, London W1F 0DR from 7.00pm. Glyn Dillon of The Nao of Brown fame has designed the… Read More ›
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“To End All Wars”, World War One comics anthology finalized
Work is proceeding apace on finalizing To End All Wars, a collection of short comic stories set during World War One, edited by Jonathan Clode and John Stuart Clark (aka the artist ‘Brick’) The anthology, first mooted back in January,… Read More ›
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“Electric Man” comic crowdfunder launched
The team behind the warmly-received Electric Man film have just launched an Indiegogo campaign to publish a tie-in comic, with the aim of inventing 80 years of fictional comic history for the character. “How many times can they re-boot… Read More ›
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SEQUENTIAL Digital Comics App goes global, adds more new titles
Tokyo-based software developer and publisher Panel Nine, which has offices in London and is run by longtime British comics creator Russell Willis, has just released its digital graphic novel iPad app SEQUENTIAL worldwide. SEQUENTIAL is a storefront app for the iPad… Read More ›
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Lew Stringer’s “Derek the Troll” returns in new Fighting Fantasy book
Some of you may recognize the character featured here as Derek the Troll, who starred in his own comic strip back in the 1980s, first in the pages of fantasy game mag Warlock and then in its sister publication White… Read More ›
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Egmont offers free Roy of the Rovers, Charley’s War digital comics
To celebrate the launch of Egmont’s new Classic Comics website, they’re giving away digital editions of Part One of Charley’s War and Volume 1 of Roy of the Rovers for free for a limited time on the iTunes store for… Read More ›