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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Rose Black: Demon Seed Due In August
We reviewed Rose Black, the graphic novel published by Rough Cut Comics, recently and teased that the second book was due soon. Courtesy of Rose Black co-creator Ed Murphy we now have the impressive cover by Joel Carpenter to the… Read More ›
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Tripwire spotlights Slaine, Blueberry and X-Men in latest free digital edition
The July 2011 digital issue of ace comics and other media magazine Tripwire features a host of goodies – and you can download it free from the official web site (www.tripwire-magazine.com). The Eagle Award-nominated and acclaimed magazine launched a digital… Read More ›
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Harvey Award Nom for Sean Michael Wilson and Mitsuhiro Asakawa’s ‘Ax’
Ax: Alternate Manga edited by Sean Michael Wilson and Mitsuhiro Asakawa and published by Top Shelf Publishing, has been nominated for a Harvey Award for Best American Edition of Foreign Material. “The Harvey Awards are one of the comic book… Read More ›
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FutureQuake blasts from the hip with three 2000AD-inspired titles
Ace Eagle Award finalist publisher FutureQuake Press have just released the latest issues of of their superb comics featuring a host of raw British talent, both new and established – including the likes of Liam Sharp – yes, Liam Sharp!… Read More ›
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V for Vendetta Original Art on eBay
The artwork for V for Vendettaoffered on eBay I’m selling an original piece of art from Alan Moore and David Lloyd‘s classic story V for Vendetta on eBay. With the byline “We shouldn’t have to live like this” – a… Read More ›
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Skyboat artist Ian McQue to lead Pro Concept Art Course in Dundee
Ian McQue, Lead Concept Artist and Assistant Art Director at Rockstar North, will be teaching a Professional Concept Art Course over the weekend of 6-7 August 2011 in Scotland, UK. The course offers a rare opportunity for game and concept… Read More ›
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Skyboat artist Ian McQue to lead Pro Concept Art Course in Dundee
Ian McQue, Lead Concept Artist and Assistant Art Director at Rockstar North, will be teaching a Professional Concept Art Course over the weekend of 6-7 August 2011 in Scotland, UK. The course offers a rare opportunity for game and concept… Read More ›
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Panel Borders: Interactive Comics
Jack’s Abstraction by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey, available on Android devices Starting a month of shows about the cross-over between comic books and video games on the Panel Borders radio show that first airs on ResonanceFM, Alex Fitch talks to web… Read More ›
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John Higgins to launch Watchmen print sets at SDCC
To celebrate 25 years of Watchmen, the book’s original colourist John Higgins has created a brand-new limited-edition Watchmen portfolio exclusively for San Diego Comic-Con 2011. The new portfolio comes in two flavours, each containing a set of three individual prints… Read More ›
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Tube Surfing: Two, Four, Nine, Fifty
BBC2 Scotland Only: Monday 11 July 2011 10pm will see the broadcast of the BBC Artworks Scotland documentary about Scottish comics and comic writers which, unsurprisingly, will feature Alan Grant, Mark Millar and Grant Morrison talking about their work. While… Read More ›
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Sneek Peek: Century 21 books return
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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 ›
