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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In Review: Bryan Talbot’s Grandville
by Bryan Talbot Publisher: Jonathan Cape Out: 15th October 2009 The Plot: Bryan Talbot’s most recent book, Alice in Sunderland, was hailed by The Guardian as one of the ten best graphic novels ever and acclaimed by critics all over… Read More ›
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Darabont Takes on The Walking Dead?
Writer director Frank Darabont – whose impressive credits include The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile – looks about to take on zombies currently being drawn by British artist Charlie Adlard for a new TV project. Variety reports cable network… Read More ›
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Unmask Corruption competition Launched
Corruption is both a cause of poverty and a barrier to overcoming it, and one of the most serious obstacles to eradicating poverty. Now, experimental youth initiative Ctrl.Alt.Shift – a community of self proclaimed “outspoken” individuals working to highlight corruption… Read More ›
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Review Round Up: Pasties, Khaki Shorts and Thief Takers!
Over the past couple of months several indie press folk have sent us comics for review and I have to apologize for being slow at publishing reviews of them. downthetubes remains a site created in spare time between paid work… Read More ›
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Warren Ellis’ Supergod debuts in October
Warren Ellis has been talking about his new Supergod project for Avatar Press, which launches in October. “I think of it as the third leg of a superhero-fiction trilogy, following Black Summer and No Hero,” he reveals on his web… Read More ›
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DC Thomson buys Friends Reunited
Via Forbidden Planet International and others: : Scottish publishing empire DC Thomson, home to long-loved titles like the Beano, Sunday Post and the Dandy among many other publications, has bought the Friends Reunited website through its subsidiary Brightsolid Limited. DCT… Read More ›
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Pat Mills Signing Announced
Top British comic writer Pat Mills will be signing copies of the English language release of the first volume of his Requiem Chevalier Vampire series at Forbidden Planet London next month. One of the founding fathers of 2000AD and a… Read More ›
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Titan Books Announce Bond Omnibus
Titan Books has put together an omnibus collection of some of James Bond newspapers strips they originally released in shorter albums. On sale next month, The James Bond Omnibus Vol.1 collects the first time eleven of the Bond strips first… Read More ›
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London Alternative Press Festival Report
Comic creator Gareth Brookes reports on the Alternative Press Festival, which took place in London earlier this month… The Alternative Press Festival took place between the 29th of July and the 2nd of August. The idea was to try to… Read More ›
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FindComicApps Site Launched
(Crossposted from the downthetubes mobile comics blog): A new website, findcomicapps.com, offering a guide to the increasing number of digital comic applications for iPhone has been launched recently. It’s no secret that the App Store can be overwhelming and titles… Read More ›
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Comic Strip at The Fringe: Two Shows to Catch
With the Edinburgh Fringe on now, our readers may already be aware that the Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre, stars of BBC 3’s Comedy Shuffle and Upstaged, whose number includes comic creator Kev F. Sutherland, will be back at this… Read More ›
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In Review: Tripwire 2009 Annual… Simply Awesome!
Regular readers of downthetubes will recall that as a result of distributor Diamond’s recently-introduced minimum order levels, this latest edition of ace comics and genre magazine Tripwire is not being distributed in the US. (See news story). While not the… Read More ›
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Children’s Comics Fortnight for Resonance FM
Starting children’s comics fortnight on London-based radio station Resonance FM, Alex Fitch talks to writer Terry Deary and cartoonist Martin Brown for his Strip! radio show this week. It’s a chance to find out more about their hugely successful Horrible… Read More ›
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Sharp Advice on Breaking Into Comics
British comics artist Liam Sharp (publisher of MamTor, artist on Gears of War and, many moons ago, Death’s Head II) has just posted a revamped version of his excellent guide to breaking into comics over on DeviantArt. The post is… Read More ›
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Nexion Knuckles In
Nexion is a new anthology showcasing some of the fine underground comics talent of Glasgow and Edinburgh, full to the brim with Sci-Fi treats, Horror meats and myraid acts of unseemly behaviour! Featuring 68 pages of black and white madness,… Read More ›
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In Review: Tamara Drewe
The Plot: Tamara Drewe has transformed herself. Plastic surgery, a different wardrobe, a smouldering look, have given her confidence and a new and thrilling power to attract, which she uses recklessly. Often just for the fun of it. People are… Read More ›
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Sun Spikes Smith Story
Good news! Since downthetubes drew attention to British newspaper The Sun‘s out of date story about 2000AD artist Ron Smith’s trial, they have removed it from their web site. Ron’s fans over on the official 2000AD web site followed up… Read More ›
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Futurama Films Air as Episodics on Sky1 in UK
Futurama, the quick-witted animation from the mastermind behind The Simpsons, makes a much anticipated television return on Sunday 30th August at 6pm only on Sky1 in the UK, with the channel’s screening of the episodes originally released as direct-to-DVD films…. Read More ›
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New TOXIC On Sale Now, Complete With Bad Jokes!
The latest issue of Egmont’s TOXIC is in the shops now and comes with a free electronic handheld game that the publishers say is guaranteed to keep readers busy on boring car journeys or when they’re stuck round your nan’s!… Read More ›
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Blade Runner Tops "Greatest SciFi" Poll
Blade Runner has been named the greatest sci-fi movie of all time