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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Scott McCloud announced as first major guest for 2014 Lakes International Comic Art Festival
Innovative and multi-award comic creator Scott McCloud has been announced as the first official overseas guest for the 2014 Lakes International Comic Art Festival. The announcement comes hot on the heels of the event’s launch of its 24 Hour Comic… Read More ›
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Marvel UK revival title, Revolutionary War – #4 Preview Released
Marvel has just released a preview of Revolutionary War: Death’s Head #1, the fourth issue in its limited series reviving the Marvel UK characters. This issue is written by series creators Alan Cowsill and Andy Lanning and there’s a smashing… Read More ›
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Anderson Entertainment releases new Thunderbirds badges
There’s still no news on whether the new Thunderbirds Are Go TV project has secured a comic deal. We’ve still got our fingers crossed! As we’ve previously reported, we do know there’s other merchandise in the works to celebrate the… Read More ›
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Dambusters comic released for Kindle
Ace comic artist and illustrator Nick Spender has been beavering away on The Story of the Dambusters, a comics project telling the story of “Operation Chastise” for a long time, occasionally mailing me pages of work in progress. At last,… Read More ›
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Fumio Obata launches debut graphic novel at Gosh London
Japanese-born, UK-based comics creator, comics educator and animator Fumio Obata is at Gosh London tomorrow night (7th February), signing copies of his debut novel, It Just So Happens, published by Jonathan Cape. The team at Gosh! are huge fans of… Read More ›
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“To End All Wars” World War One anthology final cover revealed
This slipped through our radar last month – our apologies to the editorial team. It’s the finished cover for the upcoming World War One anthology To End All Wars, which will be released later this year by Soaring Penguin Press,… Read More ›
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“Celeste” sneak peek, new SelfMadeHero title from INJ Culbard
Creator INJ Culbard has published a tantalising sneak peek of his graphic novel Celeste, out this April from SelfMadeHero. In London, the moment two commuters, Aaron and Lilly, lay eyes on each another on a packed Monday morning tube train,… Read More ›
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Soaring Penguin to publish “Mengelmoes” by Willem Samuel
British independent publisher Soaring Penguin Press launches a new series this month: Mengelmoes, by South African-born creator Willem Samuel, a comic diary that takes you into the most life-changing period of South Africa. Soaring Penguin have kindly sent us a… Read More ›
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Cartoon Map of Europe in 1914 “discovered”
Cartoons featured as heavily in the day to day lives of the men and women of 1914 as they do today. This German cartoon from 1914, highlighted by the Public Domain Review, shows the lay of the political land… Read More ›
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Lakes Comic Art Festival announces “Great War in Comics” exhibition
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival has announced that the prestigious Abbot Hall gallery in Kendal is to host a tie-in exhibition, entitled “The Great War in Comics” – featuring art from the classic war strip Charley’s War drawn by… Read More ›
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Ladybird Books celebrates 100th anniversary in 2015
Ladybird Books – whose artists in the past included Dan Dare creator Frank Hampson and fellow Eagle artists Martin Aitchison and Frank Humphris along with TV21 artist Ron Embleton – will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2015. To coincide with… Read More ›
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Markosia announces “Apollo” SuperCon Exclusive
Independent British publishers Markosia have added another Limited Edition London Super Comic Convention Exclusive to their roster – an over-sized version of one of their latest graphic novels, Apollo by Erik von Wodtke and Douglas A. Sirois. Just 50 copies… Read More ›
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Battle Classics – Competition Winners
The winners of copies of Titan Books new British comic collection, Garth Ennis Presents Battle Classics were John Hammond and Paul Eldridge. Congratulations to them both and our thanks to Titan for the prizes. You’ll be pleased to hear that… Read More ›
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Hal Laren wins our Dan Dare “Reboot” Competition
We know we’ve been longer announcing the winner of our Dan Dare Reboot Competition. You can view them all the entries on Flickr here. There’s a piece of news on the character we have been anxious to share with you, but right… Read More ›
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Lakes International Comic Art Festival announces 24 Hour Comic Marathon
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival (17-19th October 2014) has announced plans to host a 24 Hour Comic Marathon hosted by ace comics creator and educator Dan Berry – and they’re looking for comic artists to take part. Here’s the… Read More ›
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British Comic Awards 2014 Nominations Open
After a slight delay the nomination process for this year’s British Comic Awards is now open. Readers, retailers, creators, publishers, heroes, villains and talking animals are all welcome to suggest their favourite comics and comic book creators. They will all… Read More ›
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Panel Borders: Régis Loisel and Peter Pan
Starting a month of shows about French comics or bande dessinée, Alex Fitch talks to cartoonist Régis Loisel about his epic graphic novel adaptation of and prequel to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, published in the UK by Soaring Penguin Press…. Read More ›
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In Praise of… Gerry Dolan
Back in my days as editor of Doctor Who Magazine, one of the first comic strips I edited for the title was “Stairway to Heaven”, a story that is much noted for being the first published professional work of a… Read More ›
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Birmingham MCM Comic Con back in March
Two great events; one weekend; one ticket! Visit the MCM Birmingham Comic Con at the NEC on 22-23 March and you’ll also get entry to Britain’s biggest collectors’ event, Memorabilia Birmingham. If you’re into movies, sci-fi, videogames, comics, cosplay or… Read More ›
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Revolutionary War: Fitting It Into Marvel Continuity
Over on the excellent It Came from Darkmoor blog dedicated to all things Marvel UK, Mark Roberts has been mulling over Marvel’s new limited series, Revolutionary War, and how it fits into overall Marvel continuity. In particular, he’d been trying… Read More ›