Articles on creating comics, how tos, reference information and more
A Short Introduction: Before his unexpected passing in 2016, author Roger Perry – a longtime contributor to this site and veteran of the British comics industry – sent downthetubes a number of articles which we planned to run, working back… Read More ›
London’s Cartoon Museum hosts a Comics Laureate Round Table this Wednesday (13th November 2019), with Dave Gibbons, Charlie Adlard and Hannah Berry. This is a rare opportunity to see all three Comic Laureates on stage at the same time, including the… Read More ›
For British comic fans, the must-read memoir of 2020 is likely to be the fascinating inside story of one of British comics’ biggest movers and shakers – King’s Reach: John Sanders’ Twenty-Five Years at the Top of Comics. It certainly… Read More ›
Several “Mystery Artists” who worked on DC Thomson girls comics for decades, largely uncredited, have been identified, thanks to information received from various sources, including former staff at the Dundee-based comics publisher. Author and artist David Roach is trying to… Read More ›
If you’re a reader of The Big Issue, then you’ll know the latest edition, available from street vendors now, features a comic strip telling the moving story of one of them, adapted by the team who brought us the brilliant, award-winning but harrowing graphic novel of two migrants deadly journey from Africa to Europe, ILLEGAL. I caught up with co-writer Andrew Donkin to ask him about this special project – and he teased me with some great news about another graphic novel he’s working on that I was delighted to hear about…
Picking up on the despair of older downthetubes readers with fond memories of the action-packed adventure annuals they used to get for Christmas – sadly, it seems, now an ever distant memory, if you’ve checked our recently-published checklist – we’ve… Read More ›
Comics Laureate Hannah Berry will be in Lancaster next week, as a guest of Lancaster University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences talk series – a free event taking place at the Cavendish Colloquium on campus, that should prove an… Read More ›
Now open for business, veteran comic artist and illustrator Ian Kennedy – perhaps best known for his work on DC Thomson war comic Commando, but whose credits also encompass Dan Dare, other war comics strips and much more – has… Read More ›
Comic artists, writers, editors, publishers, academics and broadcaster and comics collector Jonathan Ross gathered in person and by Skype at London’s Cartoon Museum this weekend (Saturday 2nd November 2019) to voice support for the preservation of British comics history, and… Read More ›
Comic creators Danny Noble, Esther McManus, Jess Taylor and Zara Slattery – selected from a long list of nominated comics artists as finalists for the first Arts Foundation Futures Awards in Comics – will find out who will be the recipient of… Read More ›
In a pair of recordings looking at how comic creators are inspired by genre and inspiration, guest presenter and comics laureate Hannah Berry talks to Arts Foundation comics prize finalists Esther McManus, Danny Noble, Jess Taylor and Zara Slattery in… Read More ›
This new illustrators Special is for all those schoolboys that have refused steadfastly to grow up and master the art of reading serious works of literature. Do you recall Commando Comics, with those amazing covers and equally amazing interior art and stories?
Starring: Linda Hamilton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mackenzie Davis, Natalie Reyes Directed by Tim Miller Review by Tim Robins Sarah Connor and a hybrid cyborg human must protect a young girl from a newly modified liquid Terminator from the future…. The Terminator… Read More ›
We’re delighted to have been selected as one the final nominations for the inaugural ComicScene Awards 2019. Thanks to everyone who submitted nominations for us in the category of “Best Comic Media” – we’re included among some fantastic great sites… Read More ›
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival 2019 has been and gone, flying past in a speed of light, but their brilliant Podcast team, led by Ian Loxam and Nikki Bates, have loads to report – and gathered some smashing comic… Read More ›
Heading to the Lakes International Comic Art Festival 2019, the event the culmination a year of publicity work for me, and others, and endless hours of hard work and organisation by the dedicated team based largely in Kendal, I couldn’t… Read More ›
Since today is the 40th anniversary of Doctor Who Magazine, what better way for host Jeremy Bement to celebrate than cover the latest news from New York Comic Con on his hugely enjoyable Doctor Who Panel to Panel podcast –… Read More ›
In Week 7 of the digital comics anthology Aces Weekly Volume 41 (just past the title’s seventh birthday), the team are offering you a little party fun! Yes, a competition, like Pin The Tail On The Donkey, except this is… Read More ›
A chat with Staz Johnson, a professional comic artist for more than 30 years
Every year, in the countdown to the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in October, we bring you a series of interviews with guests at the event. This “Festival Focus” for 2019 is with Rune Ryberg, a Danish comic book artist… Read More ›