John’s a Record Breaker!

By John Freeman on 1 April 2010

Congratulations to downthetubes’ head honcho John Freeman on becoming a Guiness Record Breaker!

Doctor Who Magazine has been named the Longest Running Magazine Based on a Television Series. John edited 49 issues of DWM from 1988 t0 1992. He was the third longest-running editor.

John’s time on DWM was hugely important. He was the first person who had to edit the magazine when the show went off the air in 1989. He built on the good work of his predecessor Sheila Cranna, revamping the design of the title and improving the factual content by bringing Who experts such as Andrew Pixley onto the team.

Doctor Who Magazine began as Doctor Who Weekly way back in 1979 under the editorship of Dez Skinn. Whilst factual content now dominates the magazine, the comic strip has continued to be a central part of it. Early contributors to the strip included Pat Mills and Dave Gibbons. John himself has written for the strip.

Well done, John – we always knew you were a legend but now it’s official.

About the Author
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John Freeman

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.