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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Chris Evans Cast as Captain America?
The Hollywood Reporter is suggesting that actor Chris Evans has been cast as Captain American in the upcoming film featuring the famous Marvel character. (This does not of course refer to the Radio 2 DJ of the same name, the… Read More ›
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Bubo Bobblehead!
Sometimes an item of fantasy or sci-fi memorabilia just catches your eye and makes you think ‘I want one of those!’ This rather adorable character is Bubo, mechanical owl and Perseus’ guide from the 1981 version of the movie Clash… Read More ›
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Evans Above! It’s a Zarjaz interview!
Illustrator-turned-writer Paul L Mathews has been in touch to say that his blog Paul L Mathews: Struggling On has a mini-interview with Dave Evans, the editor/publisher of 2000AD fanzines Zarjaz and Dogbreath and other titles such as FutureQuake and Something… Read More ›
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New UK Spider-Man Comic?
Is Panini about to launch a new Spider-Man comic? As every self-respecting comics fan knows, the company currently publishes several comics for the UK market based on the US Marvel titles, including the hugely successful The Astonishing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man… Read More ›
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Big Finish Baker!!
It looks as though Tom Baker, the 4th and arguably most popular Doctor Who, may soon be working for Big Finish, the company who have produced audio adventures based on Doctor Who for the past decade. According to the Big… Read More ›
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New Flash Gordon Collection
(Updated 1 April 2010): downthetubes has a bias towards comics of British origin but one American character of great interest to many British sci-fi/comic fans, Flash Gordon, is appearing in a new archival collection from Dark Horse, to be published… Read More ›
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The DFC LIbrary goes on air!
Between May 2008 and March 2009, children’s book publisher David Fickling launched a bold experiment in creating a new kids comic – The DFC – for the British market, which on a weekly basis featured new stories in a variety… Read More ›
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It’s Official: BICS is back for 2010!
The British International Comic Show – Britain’s largest and most popular event devoted solely to comics and graphic novels of all kinds – returns to Birmingham in October, with a truly international flavour as the organisers welcome renowned creators from… Read More ›
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Reviving The Driver
YouTube fan ‘thegreyman’ has put a strip from the 1980s version of Toxic! (not to be confused with Egmont’s TOXIC of today) and put it to music. Written and drawn by Jeremy Banx and David Leach the greyman says he… Read More ›
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Tabella releases ‘Ghost’
Ghost Volume 1, the work of husband and wife team Phoebe Reeves-Murray and Daniel Scott Gabriel Murray – the latter described by one reviewer as “the new Alex Ross” – will be published soon by British publisher Tabella Publishing. Ghost… Read More ›
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Attention! New Commandos on Sale
Four new Commandos are now on sale in all good newsagents in the UK from publishers DC Thomson… Commando No 4275: The Camouflage KingsStory: Alan Hebden Inside Art: Vila Cover: Ian Kennedy During World War II, Randolf King, a civilian… Read More ›
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Mad Science Theme for Caption 2010
Independent comic creators festival Caption has been confirmed for Saturday 31st July and Sunday 1st August at the East Oxford Community Centre, Oxford. The theme is Mad Science and all ideas based around the theme welcome, so get those pencils… Read More ›
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Small Press Creators: Badham wants to hear from you!
Matthew Badham, a contributor to downthetubes, perhaps best known as a feature writer for Judge Dredd: The Megazine (and other outlets), is writing a 4000 word piece about the British indie/small press comics scene – and wants views from small… Read More ›
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More Carol Day newspaper strip stories online
Fans of the classic Carol Day newspaper strip may be interested to hear that the strip’s official web site, www.carol-day. com has recently updated with new stories and art. The new stories are “Money Matters” and “Jimmy Hayes“. Carol Day ran from 1956-1967, and was… Read More ›
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Dan Dare Movie in the works?
Dan Dare movie rumours…
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Unmasking Corruption with Comics in Liverpool
Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption comes to Liverpool this month, with an exhibition of political comic work to coincide with the release of their new comic book anthology. The free exhibition, at the Contemporary Urban Centre in Greenland Street, will take a… Read More ›
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WebFinds: Cliff Robinson’s Captain Britain
Regular readers of downthetubes will remember artist Cliff Robinson – one of many great creators on 2000AD down the years. He began his own blog some time ago, and has been posting some fantastic art, including this brilliant ‘faux’ Captain… Read More ›
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Troops to get a boost from King Kong and Friends
This month Britain’s Comic Book Alliance will be joining with the ‘Support Our Soldiers‘ charity to send thousands of comic books and graphic novels to troops stationed around the world and many miles from home. The CBA spoke to troops… Read More ›
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New Doctor And Companion To Visit Their Hometowns
As part of the pre-publicity for the new series of Doctor Who due to start on BBC1 at Easter, new Doctor, Matt Smith, and Karen Gillan, who plays new companion Amy Pond, will be undertaking a short publicity tour. As… Read More ›
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Scottish superhero film in the works from Mark Millar
Wanted and Kick-Ass writer Mark Millar has told Scottish TV network STV he is aiming big for his first directorial outing which will shoot later this year, taking his cues from the South African feature District 9. In a video… Read More ›