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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Roy of the Rovers back in time for World Cup
(Via Lew Stringer and others): Egmont is joining in with the World Cup mania gripping the UK with the release of a 52-page full colour comic, All About Roy of the Rovers, which joins Titan Books fab new Roy collection… Read More ›
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Tough Guy Gets Going at Mohawk Media
UK publisher Mohawk Media has released a teaser image following its acquisition of the license to produce original adventures of Tough Guy. Tough Guy, the British publisher’s first title since the top-selling official Mr. T graphic novels, is written by… Read More ›
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Competition: Win a Rude Britannia Book!
Marking the launch of the Rude Britannia Exhibition at the Tate, downthetubes has THREE copies of the tie-in book – Rude Britannia: British Comic Art by Martin Myrone, Tim Batchelor and Cedar Lewisohn – to give away! Comic art –… Read More ›
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In Review: Bradford Fantastic Film Weekend
The 9th Bradford Fantastic Film Weekend was held at the National Media Museum from 4 to 6 June. The annual event began in 2002 as a celebration of classic ghost stories and the supernatural and has evolved into a major… Read More ›
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Radio Show spotlights Rude Britannia exhibition
Opening today at Tate Britain in London is the new exhibition ‘Rude Britannia’, which traces the history of British comic art from Hogarth to the present day. In an hour-long Clear Spot radio show from the Strip! radio show team,… Read More ›
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Sneek Peek: Fat Fathers versus Judge Dredd!
The Mighty Tharg has allowed comics artist Jon Haward to show a page from the upcoming Judge Dredd: Fat Fathers story, written by John Wagner, which will feature soon in 2000AD. Drawn by Jon about 12 months ago – talk… Read More ›
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Tube Surfing: Dan McDaid, Madame Tussauds and Zine Fayre News
Right, let’s see what’s out there… Over at the Forbidden Planet International blog, downthetubes contributor Matt Badham (that’s me) talks to cartoonist Dan McDaid about his work on the comic strip in Doctor Who Magazine and Image Comics’ Jersey Gods…. Read More ›
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OmniVistaScope Model 6 Now Available
The latest issue of Paul Scott’s annual Omnivistascope has been released. “Model VI” is dedicated to the memory of Patrick McGoohan and features an article by Ed Berridge on the real life inspiration for The Prisoner’s Village. The cover by… Read More ›
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Etherington Brothers Exhbit in Bristol
The Ink-dot/Howies ESCAPE Exhibition, featuring a series of beautiful new limited edition prints by more than 30 of today’s best illustrators, animators, designers (and one lowly comic book scribbler, Lorenzo Etherington) opens in Bristol later this month. It’s a show… Read More ›
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Druids secrets revealed in new Asterix book
A new Asterix book always attracts plenty of interest across Europe and we’re sure Secrets de druides, released this week in French, will prove no exception. In the new story, a lightning bolt has struck at the heart of the… Read More ›
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Take Ten: Channel 4’s Alien Ink graphic novel project launched
Channel 4 Education recently launched Alien Ink, an online graphic novel for teens. Written and illustrated by the team at Pulp Theatre, publishers of the hard-hitting cult hit graphic novel Brodie’s Law, Alien Ink aims to reflect a series of… Read More ›
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Culture Show Discusses Comics Tonight
Just a quick ‘heads-up’ to advise you to tune into tonight’s The Culture Show on BB2 (at 7.00pm, repeated at 12.20am Friday morning). The programme will be exploring “the past, present and post-election future of British comic art” which is… Read More ›
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In Review: Scheme Comix #1
The Comic: SF-inspired comics anthology featuring the work of Kev Harper, Number Six, David Walker, T. Bye, Sharon Irvine and Drip Tray. The aim of publishing Scheme is to showcase the best unknown artists working out of the city of… Read More ›
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VE Day Marked in Latest Commandos
The latest issues of DC Thomoson’s Commando, on sale now, features another cover from Janek Matysiak using his new direct-to-screen way of working. (You can see the first he did in this way here). The releases also feature the work… Read More ›
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In Review: London MCM Expo 17
The one thing that really hits you about the MCM Expo at London’s ExCel centre is its sheer size. The two big comics events in the UK are Bristol and BICS. Two weekends ago Bristol had 1000 people at it… Read More ›
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Doctor Who graphic novels range cancelled?
Speculation is rife on the future of Panini’s Doctor Who comics collections today, after news broke that the planned release of The Crimson Hand – featuring Tenth Doctor David Tennant’s last comics adventures – had been cancelled. Sheffield based store… Read More ›
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In Review: Crikey! pays tribute to John Hicklenton, O’Donnell
The latest issue of Crikey! – which has notched up an imprejavascript:void(0)ssive 15 issues, none too shabby for an independently published comics magazine these days – has changed its planned line up to pay tribute to the passing of creators… Read More ›
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Record attendance at London MCM Expo, Comics Village success
MCM Expo, May 2010. Picture: Juliette Crawford Last weekend’s London MCM Expo was the most successful in the show’s history, with more than 41,000 visitors attending over the two days. Already established as the top UK entertainment event, the show… Read More ›
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Marvel Super Heroes storm London’s Madame Tussauds
Two of the world’s leading entertainment brands – Madame Tussauds, part of the Merlin Entertainments Group, and Marvel Entertainment – have joined forces to create a unique new visitor experience at the leading London attraction, scheduled to open in early… Read More ›