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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Sneek Peek: Century 21 books return
Thunderbirds set to blast back onto bookshelves!
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Bryan Talbot exposes comic legends with ‘engorged’ book
The Naked Artist, comic creator Bryan Talbot‘s prose book documenting the outrageous, daft and occasionally educational tales of the comic industry is now available in Kindle, iBook and several other formats including PDF. If on the night of a comics… Read More ›
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Simon Spurrier uncoils at Forbidden Planet London
Forbidden Planet has announced a signing by Simon Spurrier for his novel A Serpent Uncoiled at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, London in August. Dan Sharper’s sins are a sickness. Sharper is a former underworld enforcer who now scrapes a living… Read More ›
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Pulpfest 2011 celebrates classic magazine art
Doc Savage cover (January 1939) by Emery ClarkeVia www.pulpartists.com PulpFest 2011 will be celebrating the 100th anniversaries of the births of illustrators Emery Clarke, Robert Harris, and Milton Luros on Friday, 29th July in Columbus, Ohio. Clarke and Harris are… Read More ›
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Summer fun with Eagle Times (Volume 24, Number Two)
The Summer 2011 edition of Eagle Times is available now and features articles by downthetubes contributors Jeremy Briggs and Richard Sheaf. Here’s the line up: Frank and the Newspaper Cuttings: a look at the use by Frank Hampson, throughout his career, of… Read More ›
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Rainbow Orchid Vol 3 Preview On-Line
The third and final volume of Garen Ewing’s excellent series The Rainbow Orchid is due to be published on 2 April 2012 – which does sound like an awfully long way away. However to keep us all going until then,… Read More ›
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“Lou Scannon” debuts with werewolf opener
Doctor Who and Transformers colourist Kris Carter is a man juggling many projects and one of them is an independently-produced sci-fi comedy comic, Lou Scannon, written and drawn by him and his friend Dan Harris. The first issue, ‘The… Read More ›
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Sculpture and Comic Art feature for Comics Forum
The second edition of Sculpture and Comic Art by Kirstie Gregory is now available on the Comics Forum blog. Entitled ‘Chris Ware: Cabinets, Cardboard and Joseph Cornell’, the piece will be of interest to anyone who’s thinking about submitting a… Read More ›
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Panel Borders: Doctoring Comics
Concluding radio show Panel Borders month of shows looking at medical comics, they have a talk by Dr. Ian Williams recorded at Laydeez do Comics last month about his work in sequential art including curating Graphic Medicine and creating comic… Read More ›
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McCrea, Ellerby among comic creator guest at first Manchester MCM Expo
The MCM Expo team have just released the first details of comics artists and writers who will be attending the inaugural MCM Expo Manchester Comic Con, held at Manchester Central on Saturday 30th July. MCM Expo’s Comic Village tour features… Read More ›
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Commando: Music From The Home Front
In this 50 anniversary year of the Eagle award winning Commando, there are a number of tie-ins scheduled to be published in addition to the standard 104 issues of the comic. As well as the latest of the big reprint… Read More ›
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Comedian Jimmy Carr writes debut comic strip in CLiNT
‘Beat My Score’ by Jimmy Carr, art by Ryusuke Hamamoto Jimmy Carr, famed stand-up comedian and co-host of Channel 4’s 10 O’Clock Live, has written an exclusive comic strip story in the latest issue of Titan Magazines’ CLiNT. Stepping out… Read More ›
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Air Pirate Press launches ‘The Art of Brett Ewins’
Recently released by Air Pirate Press is The Art of Brett Ewins, a new book shedding light on the life and times of on of Britain’s best-known comic artists. In a frank and revealing 11,000 word interview, the 80-page book,… Read More ›
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Comic Con Comes to Manchester – and kids will go free
Hold on to your seats – the MCM Expo Manchester Comic Con is ready for lift off! Next month sees the UK’s perhaps most famous comic con arrive in Manchester, bringing the best in pop culture entertainment to the city… Read More ›
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Warrior Remembered in Manchester
Legendary British comics editor Dez Skinn is back in Manchester again next weekend (he was there only a couple of weeks ago for the relaunch of Starburst). “There’s an all-day celebration of one of my old titles reaching its 30th… Read More ›
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Gene Colan Scholarship Launched
Following earlier discussions with the late Gene Colan, writer Clifford Meth has established a Gene Colan Scholarship at the Joe Kubert School. The much respected comic artist, passed away aged 84 on 23rd June. His work at Marvel, reprinted in… Read More ›
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Comics Creators At The Glasgow Comic Con
The inaugural Glasgow Comic Con took place on Saturday 25 June 2011 in the Mackintosh Church Arts and Heritage Centre in Maryhill, Glasgow. The downthetubes review of the event is here but with more photos available we have decided to… Read More ›
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In Review: Glasgow Comic Con 2011
Glasgow as a city has something of a reputation – and some so-called supporters of its two football teams haven’t exactly been helping matters recently. So, based on this, what were we expecting at the inaugural Glasgow Comic Con that… Read More ›