Crucible Comic Press publishes projects created by John Freeman and others.
We launched in 2018 with the publication of Death Duty: Renegade, a collection of the strip written by John Freeman & Dave Hailwood, drawn by Brett Burbridge, lettered by Ken Reynolds. We are working on other projects.
The Adventures of Charlotte Corday
Charlotte Corday is a multiverse-spanning adventuress created by Keith Page, some stories written by Stephen Walsh. You’ll find many of her adventures here, including “Witchcraft Street” and some on the web comics site, Tapas.
Crucible
A science fiction adventure… with dwarves, created by John Freeman, with stories drawn by Nick Miller and Smuzz. Find out more here. The first episodes of this strip featured in early issues of the comics anthology, SHIFT.
Death Duty
Death Duty is one of several WarWorldz projects set in a shared universe. Death Duty: Renegade was first published in the digital anthology 100% Biodegradable, and Skow Dogs also appeared in the title.
We hope to publish collected editions of Crucible and Skow Dogs in the near future, alongside other projects.
• Read more about the Death Duty: Renegade collection here | Buy it from DriveThru Comics | Read more about the Death Duty project
Ex Astris
A SF strip conceived by Bill Storie, with input from john Freeman, Ex Astris featured in Issues 16-18 of the Dan Dare-inspired comics magazine Spaceship Away
The Grand Tour
In 2003, Italian publisher CJL published a magazine designed to teach English to Italians using comic strip and text stories, which includes a strip based in England.
Written by John Freeman and drawn by Mike Collins, The Grand Tour: The Tower of London Affair features a group of time-traveling tourists whose guided exploration of the metropolis proves more trouble prone than trip fantastic. Unfortunately, the strip was not finished.
Quatermass – The Quatermass Continuum
A proposed Quatermass comic, art by Bill Storie. I came up with the story after readers of Spaceship Away suggested Quatermass might be a good fit for the title, complementing other 1950s characters in the magazine. You can read a four-page trailer here
The Really Heavy Greatcoat
The Really Heavy Greatcoat is a cartoon strip created by John Freeman and Nick Miller revolving around a sentient Greatcoat and its owner(s). The strip began in 1987 and first ran in the Lancaster UK listings magazines On the Beat and Off the Beat, online on virtual-lancaster.net and an archive of the strips feature on Tapastic.
Return to Planet Earth
A science fiction comics project from Wamberto Nicomedes, Rodval Matias and John Freeman. Find out more here
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- About the Author
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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.