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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2D Artist and Web Comic Tips
Couple of quick links: Anyone interested in creating comics for web (or perhaps mobile) might be interested in this feature by Scott “Understanding Comics” McCloud: www.scottmccloud.com/makingcomics/five_half/00.html. Some useful tips and tricks for getting the best out of online presentation of… Read More ›
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Farewell to Fluff
He may not have been as influential as John Peel, but I was sorry to hear that DJ Alan Freeman (no relation) has died at 79. It was Freeman – and school friend Tony Corden – who introduced me to… Read More ›
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Taking on modern technology
You know, for someone who has been the subject of every “miserable failure” search on Google since 2003, I almost feel sorry for George W. Bush after his latest admission to not being that technologically savvy — check out this… Read More ›
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HammerWeb Lives Again!
The official Hammer Films web site which I was involved in re-designing some years back is starting to be updated after a long period of hibernation — welcome news for Hammer Film fans. In the last few days though, it’s… Read More ›
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See this band at your peril…
Compering the local Spotlight Club’s Gong Night — 18 excellent contestants offering performances mix of stand up, poetry and song in a bid to win a £50 first prize — was great fun on Friday night, but I have to… Read More ›
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Keeping comics in newspapers
Interesting piece in The Baltimore Sun over the weekend on the future of newspapers — well, US newspapers, although the issues they’re facing as new media gains in popularity across all age bands is affecting all print media. Howard Weaver,… Read More ›
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Wikipedia Illustrated
Here’s a good one. Greg Williams, a designer and illustrator for The Tampa Tribune in Florida has begun providing comic-styled versions of Wikipedia articles. His contributions to the Doctor Seuss entry spark it up nicely, but I enjoyed his “pet… Read More ›
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Marvelman Ownership issues resurface
Steve Holland has reported over on Bear Alley on an interview by Alan Moore questioning the original relaunch of Marvelman in the 1980s. Steve’s news item outlines the current debacle very well, so go and have a look for yourselves:… Read More ›
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Spring Heeled Jack
Writer and artist David Hitchcock has released a hardback edition of his Eagle Award winning series Springheeled Jack. The Victorian gothic fantasy series received much high praise from readers and comic professionals in its initial three issue run and this… Read More ›
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All Change!
Over on the main site, I’ve just uploaded a cleaner ‘new look’ which affects all my pages. Let me know what you think, and if it’s causing an display issues. Thanks! Some pages are still in the old design but… Read More ›
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Westcity Link
You know, sometimes it’s worth actually checking some of the ads Google’s putting on your site because some of them are gems. Case in point is the “Science Fiction Info” line ad that was on here this mroning, wich links… Read More ›
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Anti Smoking Ads: A Shock for Bully Brown
Talk of banning smoking completely in West Lancashire council offices — no more fag breaks etc. — prompted memories of anti-smoking campaigns in 1960s comics, and the image here from TV21 #21 coincidentally arrived in my mailbox this morning. Of… Read More ›
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WebFind: Calvin and Hobbes spoof
The wonders of dabble and youtube turned up this segment from the US comedy show Robot Chicken. I love Calvin and Hobbes, but this is very funny… but wasn’t Calvin taller in the strip?
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Tenacious D storm downthetubes
Over on the official web site for the new Tenacious D movie (Titan Books has some tie-in books on the way), there’s an option to “overhaul” a “lame” web site, using some fun flash screengrabbing and animation. Clever, with quite… Read More ›
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More manga from Harrison Davies?
I bumped into artist Paul Harrison Davies yesterday, looking a bit knackered from the recent happy birth of his daughter but still bubbling at reaction to his fab strip in Constable and Robinson’s recently-published Mammoth Book of Best New Manga,… Read More ›
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Hollywoodland
Heading for UK cinemas 24 November is Hollywoodland, which centres on the mysterious death of George Reeve, the man who played Superman. The trailer looks slick (but as others have pointed out, does it give too much away?) Ben Affleck,… Read More ›
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Special
Okay, this one passed me by. I need to read more dreamwatch (unashamed plug). There’s a new film bearing down on us called Special, centring on Les Franken (played by Michael Rapaport), who leads a painfully unremarkable life as a… Read More ›
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The Host
Anyone who’s feeling intrigued by the new monster movie The Host might find the official Korean web site interesting (www.thehost.co.kr). Entertaining use of Flash… make sure you allow pop-ups on the site.
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Cat Tracking into parallel dimensions
It’s a well known fact that many SF and comics writers own cats. Don’t ask me why, it’s just one of those weird rules of the universe. Of course many freelancers work from home, but even they must sometimes wonder… Read More ›
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Is The Eagle a British icon?
Having just received a “Media Advisory” from icons.org.uk celebrating Guy Fawkes’ nomination as a national British icon, I thought I’d check to see who else was up for this “celebration of British culture”, backed by Culture Online, part of the… Read More ›