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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Moominvalley recreated in Bury Art Gallery
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Sneek Peek: X-Men versus Dracula by John Royle
Here’s a sneek peek at an upcoming cover for Panini’s Marvel Heroes title by fab artist John Royle. John’s also penciled the upcoming X-Men and Dracula strip from what he tells us is a great script by Mitchel Scanlon, with… Read More ›
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Chris Claremont confirmed guest for MCM Expo
Comic book creator Chris Claremont at the November 2008 Big Apple Convention in Manhattan. Photo: Luigi Novi The London MCM Expo has announced that comics legend Chris Claremont is to be a special guest at the 29-31 October show’s Comic… Read More ›
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Hallowe’en Treats from artist Duncan Long
Illustrator Duncan Long – featured in SciFi Art Now – is giving friends and fans two free ebooks to celebrate the Hallowe’en season: Edgar Allan Poe’s Eleonora (for which Duncan did the cover and inner illustrations for as well as… Read More ›
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Matt Smith’s Doctor Who Covered in New Book
Books about Doctor Who aren’t exactly rare these days and downthetubes wouldn’t even begin to try to cover all of them. But every so often, a title of particular interest emerges which is worth looking out for. Often these are… Read More ›
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Academic Comics Forum registration opens
Registration for Comics Forum, a two-day academic event taking place as part of this year’s Thought Bubble Sequential Art Festival in Leeds, is now open. The Forum includes the Women in Comics II conference on 18th November and Theory and… Read More ›
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Neil Roberts creates Sarah Jane Adventures comic for the BBC
A panel from the BBC’s new online Sarah Jane Adventures comic The BBC have published a new online Sarah Jane Adventures comic, which is being drawn by Neil Roberts, one of the artists featured in SciFi Art Now. Sarah Jane… Read More ›
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Neil Roberts creates Sarah Jane Adventures comic for the BBC
A panel from the BBC’s new online Sarah Jane Adventures comic As Jeremy Briggs notes in his report on Doctor Who Adventures, the BBC have published a new online Sarah Jane Adventures comic. Although published in a web-friendly ‘sliding frame’… Read More ›
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Doctor Who (And Sarah Jane) Adventures
With the new series of The Sarah Jane Adventures now being broadcast on various BBC channels, junior Who comic Doctor Who Adventures has given over pages to the series and in the current issue the 12 centre pages of the… Read More ›
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The Dandy – Pulling Back From The Xtreme
Take a long hard look at the cover of the current issue of Dandy Xtreme. Stripped of its free gifts (five chewy sweets and a small toy light sabre) there is nothing to suggest that it is a comic, let… Read More ›
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Argh! Tim Quinn reveals the ups and downs of life as a comic book creator
If Beryl the Peril, Korky the Cat, Spider-Man, Desperate Dan and the Bash Street Kids are some of your favourite cartoon characters, then get along to Morecambe’s Platform venue on Friday, 29th October to meet Tim Quinn, who worked on… Read More ›
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That’s Novel new London comic exhibition
THAT’S NOVEL: lifting comics from the page is a new exhibition at londonprintstudio which opens on 22nd October 2010, featuring the work of several artists including Charlie Adlard, Ho Che Anderson, Darryl Cunningham, the late John Hicklenton, the Metaphrog team,… Read More ›
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Sci-Fi Art Now Creator Interview: Nick Brokenshire
Artist Nick Brokenshire, who has been illustrating and teaching for a few years now, has been a lifelong comics fan, consuming 2000AD, the 1980s Eagle “and anything from the US that I could get my hands on” He graduated from… Read More ›
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Sci-Fi Art Now Creator Interview: Stephen Baskerville
Concept Art for the Astro Zoo game by Stephen Baskerville Stephen Baskerville is a videogame concept artist whose recent work included Doctor Who: Evacuation Earth for the Nintendo DS (as well as helping out on the Wii companion game, Doctor… Read More ›
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Sci-Fi Art Now Creator Interview: Neil Roberts
Neil Roberts is a freelance artist and lecturer who’s worked in the videogame industry as a character artist for 12 years before going fully freelance in October 2008. In his time he worked on games such as Colin McRae Rally,… Read More ›
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Striker Comic Archive released Free online
Football comic Striker is to have its entire 25-year archive made available to read free on its official website, striker3d.com. The library has been launched with the release of the first seven stories from 1985 to 1987 and new episodes… Read More ›
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Bryan Hitch signing Ultimate Comics Studio
Top British comic artist Bryan Hitch will be signing his Ultimate Comic Studio at the Forbidden Planet Megastore London, on Saturday 23rd October 1 – 2.00pm. Bryan explores his inspirations, approaches and techniques through a stunning collection of his finest… Read More ›
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Sci-Fi Art Now Creator Interview: Matthew Soffe
It’s always been Matthew Soffe’s dream to illustrate a strip for British weekly comic 2000AD. In the meantime, he’s trying to make my mark in as many small press titles as possible and has had work published in Dogbreath issues… Read More ›