A bit of self-promotion: artist Bill Stories (aka Mike Nicoll) is at work on a ten page Ex Astris strip of mine, “Homecoming” which will appear in black and white in UK Indie title Bulletproof #2, which is edited by Egmont editor Matt (TOXIC) Yeo in his spare time (check out the web site at www.bulletproofcomics.co.uk). Mike’s also working up a colour version of the same strip and there’s an early draft of a panel of the opening page here, right.
The good news is that the early visuals for this so impressed Spaceship Away editor Rod Barzilay that we are now also working up a three part story for that Dan Dare-inspired prozine, which will run from Issue 16, on sale Autumn 2008.
Mike and I are also contributing a three page story to the next Misty special, an anthology inspired by the 1980s British girls title. This is being published with the full blessing of Misty copyright owners Egmont. Check out the official web site: www.mistycomic.co.uk
ROK Comics, the comics to mobile project I am Managing Editor for, is going very well. We ‘ve now had initial sales figures from China where strips such as Garfield, TMNT and Crazy Mary are appearing on mobile in translation and these are looking good: we’re about to publish a lot more strips in Chinese there including David Fletcher’s Crumb.
ROK Comics now has partner WAP subscription sites in Pakistan, South Africa and the UK via retailer Claire’s as well as the main site (www.rokcomics.com) and more are in the pipeline: we’ve had interest from elsewhere so the future for mobile comics – already huge in Japan, where they are known as ketai – looks very encouraging.
- About the Author
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “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.
Categories: downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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