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.

  • Prince Caspian at Comic Con

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    Walt Disney Pictures is joining the throng of film producers at this year’s San Diego Comic Con at the end of this month to offer exclusive footage and panel discussions with the filmmakers of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian… Read More ›

  • Who Artist Interviewed

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    Doctor Who and Dan Dare illustrator Andrew Skilleter is the focus of a 15-page, full colour, highly illustrated, wide ranging interview covering highlights of his career, in the August edition of Book & Magazine Collector, a glossy pocket size monthly… Read More ›

  • Dirk Gently heads for Radio 4

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    The BBC has announced that Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency will make his UK broadcast debut on BBC Radio 4 this October, with Harry Enfield in the starring role. The show is an Above The Title Production for… Read More ›

  • Dandy – weekly no more

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    Over on the official DCT website there is confirmation of a recent rumour, yes the Dandy is going from being a weekly comic to a fortnightly one…. http://www.dcthomson.co.uk/subscriptions/default.asp?pageName=productDetails&productID=62 While the Dandy has been fortnightly before (during WWII) it’s a slippery… Read More ›

  • More fantasy films on the way

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    Everyone seems to be chasing the next Harry Potter, and Warner Bros., who produce the box office-busting films (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix took in an estimated $44.2 million in its first full day in the US… Read More ›

  • Tin Tin under fire again

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    I don’t understand why there’s all this sudden fuss about Tin Tin in the Congo from the Commission for Racial Equality. I’m all for racial equality, but it’s not as if this book has just gone on sale, and it’s… Read More ›

  • Doug Marlette killed in car crash

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    The Pulitzer Prize-winning and sometimes controversial cartoonist Doug Marlette, who the Washington Post reports recently turned his incisive wit toward a budding career as a novelist, died on Tuesday 10 July in a car accident in Mississippi. Marlette, who was… Read More ›

  • Art Attack TV show cancelled

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    Art Attack, the long-running children’s ITV show, has been cancelled after an 18 year run – which could be bad news for Panini UK’s tie-in magazine which has been a staple of the company’s line for a long time. UK… Read More ›

  • New fantasy dramas on BBC3

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    BBC3 has just announced six new drama projects, two with comics and SF TV connections. Being Human, by Doctor Who and Torchwood writer Toby Whithouse, centres on three young flatmates – a vampire, a ghost, and a werewolf. Produced by… Read More ›

  • James Reddington dies

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    I was very sad to hear of the death of British small press activist and Portent Comics activist James Reddington, who died last week aged, I’m told, just 28. I met him only a couple of times, but he came… Read More ›

  • FAB Makeover

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    The new issue of Fanderson’s fanzine FAB, (Number 57), has just been released. With Chris Bentley’s retirement as editor, Fanderson have taken the opportunity to redesign the 56 page glossy colour A5 zine and bring in new features, intended to… Read More ›

  • Omnivistascope Hat Trick

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    It has been available for a while, but SFX have just made Omnivistascope 3 their Fanzine Of The Month, giving Paul Scott’s big 78 page A4 zine a hat trick with each of the three issues receiving the title. His… Read More ›

  • It’s grim being a writer

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    Well, that explains a lot… apparently, clinical depression and the prospect of a shortened lifespan are some of the joys successful scriptwriters are more likely to face, according to TV psychologist Raj Persaud. UK media magazine Broadcast reports that speaking… Read More ›

  • Captain Jack Is Indestructible…

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    …you are not. Do not attempt to imitate him. With all this talk of “homage” in New Who perhaps one has been missed – the juvenile Face Of Boe himself. To misquote the voice over from the original Captain Scarlet… Read More ›

  • Who’s bothered by homage?

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    There’s been plenty of debate about this elsewhere, much of it far more erudite than anything I could contribute. But now they’ve been drawn to my attention, I’d just like to say how much I’ve enjoyed spotting the television and… Read More ›

  • Alice In USAland

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    Ansible 240 reports that the Dark Horse version of Bryan Talbot’s excellent Alice In Sunderland has been nominated in the Graphic Novels section of the American Quill Book Awards “the only televised literary prizes”. More details and a full listing… Read More ›

  • Paul Gravett Interviewed

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    Web site Broken Frontier has published the first part of a detailed interview by Dave Hine with London-based freelance journalist, curator, lecturer, writer and broadcaster and comics guru Paul Gravett, one of the creators of the ground-breaking indie comics magazine… Read More ›

  • Upcoming British Comic Collections

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    Just a quick look at a few of the titles that we can expect to see over the coming months… First up is Charley’s War Volume 4, subtitled “Blue’s Story”. Continuing the story of World War One, this time the… Read More ›

  • The Super Six

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    Hard on the heels of 2D, the Northern Ireland Comics Festival in April, comes another Northern Ireland comics project, The Super Six, published by OFMDFMNI:CYPU. Okay, so it doesn’t quite trip off the tongue like IPC or DCT and I… Read More ›

  • For Action And Adventure

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    Those who still labour until the mistaken belief that Commando only covers the Second World War could do worse than checking one of the latest issues. Commando 4015 : Wolves At War concludes the “Log Of The Lairds” sequence of… Read More ›