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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ComicSpace up and (fully) running
The new online comics community ComicSpace, described as “MySpace for comics creators and fans” is now fully up and running and if you’re so inclined, there are now some fantastic samples from many British artists on the site, including Bill… Read More ›
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Brilliant European Comics Reference
I just found this great European comics site – Strip-encyclopedie Zilveren Dolfijn – while doing some research on an Albion feature that should be up on downthetubes soon, centring on new interviews with Leah Moore & John Reppion, and IPC’s… Read More ›
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BeanoMAX and Roy of the Rovers
Just posted a couple of news on the main site about the new BeanoMAX – I’d say DC Thomson have noted the success of TOXIC, Wallace & Gromit and the clear ABC sales figure records that have been racked up… Read More ›
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WebFind: SuperThunderStingCar
Who remembers this the first time around?
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Building shaped like Godzilla…
What a fab idea to improve the Tokyo skyline over at the Ironic Sans blog I’ve just found — a building shaped like Godzilla. There’s even artists impressions to enjoy. Genius!
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Media Placements on offer in the North West
This is one of those press releases that come across because of Virtual-Lancaster, which I thought I’d repost here for info. Wednesday 31st January is the deadline for the Media Foundation Placement Scheme – a chance for 20 individuals to… Read More ›
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Eagle Times Volume 19 Issue Four
The latest issue of Eagle Times, the quarterly journal of the Eagle Society, came out just before Christmas. Volume 19, issue 4 is 50+ A4 pages and includes articles on Frank Hampson’ Southport, a PC49 Christmas story, 1950s pop music and Dick Barton…. Read More ›
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New Issue of Jeff Hawke: Cosmos Released
(with thanks to Richard Sheaf and William Rudling): The new issue of the Jeff Hawke fan magazine has just been published and includes two complete stories from the Daily Express — “The Gamesman” and “Sitting Tenants”. Every issue of Cosmos… Read More ›
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Horror Artists Wanted
Horror artists and writers are needed for a demonic new comic experiment! BackfromtheDepths.co.uk, the long running tribute site devoted to the 1980s classic IPC horror comic Scream!, is looking for writers and artist to contribute fresh material for a new… Read More ›
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Animated Doctor Who
After all the recent excitement over a possible new Star Trek animated show, the BBC is reporting that David Tennant and Freema Agyeman will carry their roles as The Doctor and Martha over to The Infinite Quest, a 13 week… Read More ›
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Doctor Who – Phobos airs this weekend
Writer Eddie Robson has just dropped me a line, to plug the first of three episodes he’s written in BBC7’s Doctor Who radio series, entitled Phobos. If you can get digital radio through a DAB radio, a Freeview box or… Read More ›
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Spaceship Away On the Approach Run
Issue 11 of the original Eagle-inspired title Spaceship Away is now at the printers and should be available in 10 days time. This latest issue of the critically acclaimed magazine is another 44 page issue, featuring all the regular strips and items, plus… Read More ›
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Steve Jobs Reinvents…
After the latest MacWorld Expo, I began to wonder what else Apple boss Steve Jobs might reinvent, now he’s reinventing the mobile phone…
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Eagle Award Nominations Sought
Introduced in 1976, the Eagles are the comics industry’s longest established awards. Acknowledged as the pre-eminent international prizes, they have been featured on the covers of leading US and UK titles across the last 30 years. Unique in that they… Read More ›
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Alan Moore talks new League of Gentlemen project
(with thanks to Matthew Badham): Alan Moore has just been interviewed about his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier project over on World Famous Comics. “There’s an immense amount of stuff in the Dossier,” he outlines, revealing the book spans… Read More ›
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In Memoriam: Joe Gill
(Thanks to Shaqui): Joe Gill is probably not a name most of British comics fans will be familiar with, but Joe Gill was one of the most prolific US comic writers, mainly for Charlton, and contributed strips to their Space:1999… Read More ›
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Computer Woes
My laptop keeled over and died last Thursday, its logic board giving up the ghost. Although fixed thanks to some amazingly speedy service from Apple I now have to reinstall everything so if you’re looking for UK comics news from… Read More ›
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In Memoriam: Bryan Pearce
I was very sorry to hear about the passing of artist Bryan Pearce, who died 11 January. My late father was the vicar of St. Ives Parish Church in the 1970s and I recall meeting Bryan as a child on… Read More ›
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40 Years of Spider-Man in the UK
It’s an incredible 40 years this week since Spider-Man first made a regular appearance in a British comic, so cartoonist Lew Stringer has done a little tribute to that title, POW!, on his blog. There’s a few entries about the… Read More ›
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Comics designed in CBR format
Interesting development on the digital comics front: a group of creators including Pierre Villeneuve and Jim Shelley have begun releasing their comics in CBR format online at Flashback Universe. As I’m sure folk reading this know, CBR is the file… Read More ›