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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TRIPWIRE kicks off its 21st birthday celebrations
May is a busy month for the British independent media magazine TRIPWIRE. Despite not hitting the kickstarter target for TRIPWIRE 21, its planned 21st anniversary special, publisher and editor-in-chief Joel Meadows tells us he’s putting the book out anyway. The… Read More ›
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Marvel Heroes game makers announce Iron Man weekend as film breaks UK box office records
Marking the launch of Marvel’s Iron Man 3 movie, which opened in the UK last week in advance of the US release and has broken box office records (taking £11.4 million in its opening weekend), game maker Gazillion Entertainment will… Read More ›
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Radio interviews with Tim Pilcher, Graham Rawle and Paul Magrs
Book List: Celebrating Ephemera Starting a new series of the bimonthly show on books, Alex Fitch talks to three authors whose work celebrates ephemera and pop culture detritus. ‘Graphic Novelist’ Graham Rawle discusses his latest novel The Card, which follows… Read More ›
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Comic Creator Interview: David Hine on adapting “The Man Who Laughs”
David Hine has had an illustrious career in comics, both as artist and writer, working on a diverse range of comics since his debut in the 1980s on titles such as Crisis. He’s currently finishing the first arc of Storm… Read More ›
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Duncan Fegredo back on Hellboy – Midnight Circus launches in October
Following up on a collaboration which spanned multiple series, leading up to Mike Mignola’s return to both writing and drawing his beloved demon, British artist Duncan Fegredo will return to tell a story about a young Hellboy’s first brush with… Read More ›
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Mars Attacks Judge Dredd!
Step on up and place your bets! An army of angry green men bent on galactic conquest have landed in Mega-City One, but they didn’t count on the grizzled lawmaking legend of Judge Dredd standing in their way. The skeptics… Read More ›
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Radio interviews with Jenny Linn-Cole and Jon Turner
Panel Borders: Shallowater, Your days are numbered Concluding a month of shows looking at small press and independent comics, we have a pair of interviews recorded in venues where such titles are stocked. Alex Fitch talks to Jenny-Linn Cole (in… Read More ›
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Ian Gibson at Gosh London today
The artist behind one of 2000AD’s most ground-breaking series will be signing at Gosh Comics today Ian Gibson’s work with Alan Moore on The Ballad of Halo Jones is lauded as some of the legendary weekly comic book’s greatest. And… Read More ›
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Convict Commandos back in action!
Here’s the lowdown on the latest Commandos
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British team create ‘Eden’ for Dark Horse Presents
Creators Jim Alexander, John Higgins (assisted on colours by Sally Jane Hurst) and Jim Campbell have a short story, “Eden”, in the latest issue of Dark Horse Presents (#23), on sale now in all good comic shops. Jim Alexander’s publishing debut… Read More ›
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Beano and BeanoMax go Prank Mad…
(via Lew Stringer): British comics have often featured activity pages amongst the strips, from the humble reader’s jokes page, ‘How to’ features on magic tricks, and puzzle pages such as Teaser Time. The latest thing appears to be the pranks… Read More ›
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Neil Gaiman’s Keynote at the London Book Fair – Video
Here’s Neil Gaiman‘s keynote speech at this year’s London Book Fair, in which he talks about the need to experiment with new media and pretty much sums up what we’re all thinking -no-one knows what is really going to work… Read More ›
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Andy Diggle and Sean Phillips at FP Edinburgh for Free Comic Book Day
(via Forbidden Planet International: On Free Comic Book Day (Saturday May the 4th) the Edinburgh Forbidden Planet International will be welcoming artist Sean Phillips and writer Andy Diggle for a special signing session from 3 to 5.00pm. Get yourself down… Read More ›
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Enter The Englishman – from Eco Comics
Eco Comics has been celebrating St. George’s Day by announcing its next comic book series, Englishman, written by Chris Bunting and illustrated by Valentin Ramon. It will be a paperless-exclusive title from the award-winning ‘green’ publisher. “I often feel quite… Read More ›
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Peter Hogan pens "King’s Road" for Dark Horse
Peter Hogan (co-creator of Resident Alien) returns to the pages of anthology-title Dark Horse Presents this month with a new story entitled “King’s Road“, drawn by Phil Winslade. Dark Horse tell us King’s Road is sure to be another gem… Read More ›
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Call for Papers: Transitions 4 – New Directions in Comics Studies
A call for papers for Transitions 4 – New Directions in Comics Studies has just been published. Transitions will be a one-day symposium at the University of London in November, promoting new research and multi-disciplinary academic study of comics, comix,… Read More ›
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Radio interviews with Al Davison, David Hine, Tom Humberstone and Tony Lee
Panel Borders: From small press to mainstream In a panel discussion recorded at SCI-FI-LONDON, the London International festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film, guest presenter Matt Badham talks to comic creators David Hine, Al Davison, Tom Humberstone and Tony… Read More ›
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Hasbro Invites Kids and Fans to Create New Transformers Character
Hasbro has launched a worldwide promotion inviting fans of all ages around the globe to help create a new Transformers character that will be forever added to the Transformers world – including new comics. In anticipation of the Transformers’ brand… Read More ›