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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Moore and Reppion pen Damsels for Dynamite
Fantasy comics are definitely seeing something of an upswing in popularity right now, a reflection, perhaps of a general desire to escape the doom and gloom of everyday life in a recession. Well, another title is about to join the… Read More ›
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Call for Papers: The Adventures of Tintin essay collection
Abstracts are now being accepted for inclusion in an anthology to be produced by UK comic scholars on “The Adventures of Tintin.” Proposed essay topics should creatively engage with the critical, philosophical, and social issues explored in the Tintin universe…. Read More ›
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WebFinds: Writing Comics Resource
Lee Robson and Matthew Badham alerted me to this last month but it got buried in my in-tray. Writer-To-Watch-Out-For Dan Hill has managed to recompile a huge collection of articles and links from professional comic writers about the various aspects… Read More ›
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In Review: Raising Amy
Stref’, who is also known as Stephen White, has a diverse amount of work to his credit with strips in The Beano and The Dandy, his hardback anthology Milk and the violent X. Raising Amy, published by Markosia, is a… Read More ›
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Windett and Gatehouse pen Monster Hunter Guide project for Penguin US
Artist Dave Windett – who has drawn comics featuring some of the biggest licensed characters including Korky the Cat, Inspector Gadget, Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny – has once again teamed up with writer and frequent collaborator John Gatehouse… Read More ›
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John de Lancie at UK’s first My Little Pony convention
Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s John de Lancie is the Guest of Honour at Britain’s first ever ‘Brony’ convention in August, taking place in Manchester, celebrating all things My Little Pony. While My Little Pony may not seem our usual… Read More ›
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LCD Publishing launches "It’s For Boys"
Exeter-based LCD Publishing will launch a new title aimed at 5-7 year-old boys this Friday (22nd June 2012). It’s For Boys, a new 13 issue a year title priced £2.50 is, according to distributors COMAG, “designed to make learning fun… Read More ›
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Morrison one of three authors to gain Queen’s Birthday honour
Congratulations to Grant Morrison, who has been awarded an MBE, recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List (pdf) “for services to film and literature”. The annual list was published this weekend and saw just three authors – crime writer Susan… Read More ›
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Skilleter releases ‘Sarah Jane’ charity print
Artist Andrew Skilleter has released Sarah Jane Tribute Charity Print, donating a set sum from each and every print sale to supporting the Macmillan (Cancer) Nurses, £2.50 on an A4 size print, and £5 on an A3 size print. The… Read More ›
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International Literature Festival launches comic competition
The 12th International Literature Festival Berlin (ILB) will take place between 4th – 16th September and 2012 and, as in the past years the organisation will present over 100 authors from all over the world in more than 200 events…. Read More ›
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Waiting a bit longer for Crucible…
Those of you who might be dipping into this blog for some tasty updates about our Crucible strip (you’re not just here for Daleks, are you?) will be disappointed to hear that you’ll have to wait to see the strip… Read More ›
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Panel Borders: Manchester strips
Continuing a month of shows about comic communities around the UK, Alex Fitch travels to Manchester to talk to four local creators on Sunday’s Panel Borders. Adam (Blood Blokes) Cadwell, John (Bad Machinery) Allison, Joe (Freak Leap) List and Chris… Read More ›
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Egmont kick off digital Classic Comics titles with ‘Roy of the Rovers’
Egmont has launched its new digital Classic Comics imprint with four iBooks collecting some classic Roy of the Rovers stories. Egmont says it will be distributing a broad programme of iBooks and e-comics, and with a huge amount of comics… Read More ›
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Caption readies for another great event
The annual small and indie press event Caption takes place 18th – 19th August 2012 in Oxford. Oxford’s annual small-press comics convention is a unique, friendly event that brings comics creators, manga artists, comic-book readers and professionals together to mingle… Read More ›
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Carlisle comic convention announced
(with thanks for the heads up of Dave West at AccentUK): Carlisle comic fans have banded together and are planning Carlisle MegaCon, a comics event aimed squarely at giving North West comic fans an event that will be easy to… Read More ›
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Random Art: Max Bertolini
Max Bertolini, one of the contributors to SciFi Art Now, has had a long, varied and successful career. The image I’ve featured here – ‘Megara,’ the cover for the January 2005 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction… Read More ›
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Cereal Geek 8 goes on sale
The latest issue of Cereal Geek, devoted to animated shows of the 1980s, is now available. Priced £6 in the UK, Issue Eight continues the theme from the previous issue, showcasing the many animated movies of the eighties; both series-based… Read More ›
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Cybermen limited edition book goes on sale (break out your gold)
Acclaimed illustrator Andrew Skilleter, perhaps best known for his Doctor Who art, is offering Cybermen fans the opportunity to buy a unique edition of the Cybermen book first published by Who Dares/Silver Fist in 1988 – a limited facsimile edition… Read More ›
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In Memoriam: Ray Bradbury
The following tribute to author Ray Bradbury has been posted on raybradbury.com, but I preface it with my own short thank you to a great novelist, whose work I much enjoyed as I grew up in the 1970s, his short… Read More ›