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.
-
Avoiding the World Cup – Day Six
Hmm. I find the wording of this press release from my local council highly suspicious… The England flag will be flying from the roof of Lancaster and Morecambe Town Halls on Thursday in support of our boys playing in the… Read More ›
-
Meow Mix: Cat Big Brother
(Old post reinstated, ignore if RSS checking) Maybe they’ll use famous cats like Data’s Spot, from Star Trek, eliminating the opposition with a well-pawed phaser… ANIMAL PLANET TO LAUNCH CAT BIG BROTHER SHOW A US cable network is hoping to… Read More ›
-
Official: Cats are harder than bears
Caught this pic in one of the tabloids while on a bacon bun run, of Jack, a 15-pound orange-and-white cat, who’s sitting under a treed black bear in a backyard in West Milford, New Jersey, Sunday, June 4, 2006. Jack,… Read More ›
-
Avoiding the World Cup Day Four
World Cup 1, Avoiding It, 1 It should have been easy to avoid the World Cup yesterday; but I actually found myself filling in the scores on the free Broadcast-provided wallchart. It was just like being an 11-year-old kid all… Read More ›
-
World Cup 1, Avoiding It, 1
I felt really sorry for the teenager on the checkout at Sainsbury’s by the time we’d trekked its near deserted isles yesterday afternoon. He was missing the first England game. He’d missed the first goal. And when my wife asked… Read More ›
-
Avoiding the World Cup: Day Two
World Cup, 1, Avoiding it, nil. Wouldn’t you believe it, now it’s in my mailbox. I’ve just been sent a link to The Baarmy World Cup Sheep song, their version of “Land of Hope and Glory”. It’s bloody awful, frankly,… Read More ›
-
Avoiding the World Cup: Day One
Well, actually, that’s a lie, I’ve been trying to avoid it for weeks. But really, what’s all the fuss about? If I hear any more about Wayne ‘Shrek’ Rooney’s bloody meta tarsel I swear I’ll put a brick through the… Read More ›
-
Catching up with the past: how Igor Goldkind helped me get my break into the comic industry
Been busy this week — stuff for ROK Media (animation, mostly), Star Trek Magazine and some news items for downthetubes.net. One of these is mention for an interview on the 2000AD Review site with Igor Goldkind, who used to work… Read More ›
-
London Calling – Part Three
Walk in the park, breakfast at the Honest Sausage in Regent’s Park, lunch at the Richaux in St Johns Wood, where they have their own brand of tea bags and the three men on the next table are discussing £100… Read More ›
-
London Calling – Part Two
Explored Regent’s Park yesterday, blown away by the surrounding architecture and the sheer variety of wildlife, so many herons it’s amazing. Read an article in Daily Telegraph later suggesting grey squirrels may be responsible for predation on song birds eggs…. Read More ›
-
London Calling May 2006 – Part One
Old entry added, Saturday 27 May 2006: Holiday weekend – various parties and a West End show, which is an unusual event for us. Journey ok on train to London. Marvelled as gran succeeded in marshaling five kids successfully from… Read More ›
-
I think I’ll take the stairs
Inspired by the human cannonball of circus fame (or some super heroes, perhaps), US defence researchers have patented a device to fire police officers, fire-fighters or special forces to the top of a five-storey building, New Scientist reported earlier this… Read More ›
-
Scary nuclear stuff
Ooh, this is cheery: a dynamic map showing Chernobyl fallout applied to your choice of UK nuclear power stations (you can change the wind direction too). I remember when Chernobyl went up and it raining buckets in Morecambe (as usual,… Read More ›
-
Beaver and Steve
Ages ago, possibly even on this blog, I raved about Beaver and Steve, an online strip from the superbly talented James Turner (a fellow 20sixer, he of Erudite Baboon). Anyway, he’s only gone and had many of the strips collected… Read More ›
-
The Doctor Sings
This is a labour of love: “The Doctor Sings” will I’m sure eventually fall foul of both Tom Baker and BT, but someone has taken advantage of Tom Baker’s use as the company’s voice of text messaging (well, until recently,… Read More ›
-
Going Underground
This web site is occasionally visited by people seeking more information about London’s Tube, and leave disappointed, so I’m happy to report the ongoing success of a site that is actually about London Underground, written by friend, Mecca Ibrahim: http://london-underground.blogspot.com…. Read More ›
-
Darfur is Dying Game Launched
US MTV Networks’ mtvU college TV network has launched Darfur is Dying, a Web-based game created by students at the University of Southern California. It rapidly brings home the hopelessness of Dargur’s refugees without outside help, offering users real world… Read More ›
-
New technology may be changing the human brain
Thought-provoking article in The Guardian yesterday (and even more thought-provoking responses from readers) about expert warnings about the potential impact of digital communication on how people think and learn: is technology changing our brains? Could digital comics be warping out… Read More ›
-
Secret Wars Re-enactment Society
Priceless tomfoolery at the expense of Marvel’s now ancient 12-part mini series…
-
Battler Britton Returns!
Battler Britton is the next IPC character to see revival through DC Comics Wildstorm imprint, in a five-issue mini series from writer Garth Ennis, illustrated by Colin Wilson, with painted covers by Garry Leach. The first issue will go on… Read More ›