Leah Moore and John Reppion are two talented and, usually, hard working British comic book writers, perhaps best known for their work on 2000AD, their Sherlock Holmes titles for Dynamite Entertainment and Damsels – but right now, they could do with an urgent assist from the comics community.
Recently, they have been beset by brutal circumstances, the most recent, the shocking news that Leah sustained a severe and degenerative brain injury at the Download festival, and almost died.
She’s had an operation to remove a blood clot that almost killed her, but while the good news is that she’s out of hospital, it will be some time before she’ll be fully back in action.
The pair have a number of projects on the go – Leah recently wrote the “Judge Death” story for the new 2000AD Sci-Fi Special (drawn by Xulia Vicente, ironically it’s set at a heavy metal concert, which she talks about here). Sherlock Holmes: The Vanishing Man #1 is out now and Conspiracy of Ravens launches Dark Horse, out in October.
But what’s happened, including recent family loss for John, has knocked them sideways, which is why their friend Andrew Neill has mounted a JustGiving campaign to help raise funds to help them through the next couple of months.
“Needless to say, John and Leah’s already fragile and insecure method of putting food on the table for themselves and their three kids is going to be impossible while Leah recovers and John looks after her,” he outlines.
“As an artistic community and bunch of pals, let’s raise some money to help them through, (and then we can use our generosity later on as leverage for favours and cake).”
Fans and friends have already rallied round, raising nearly £5000 in the opening hours of the appeal.
Even if you can’t afford to donate, you can help by sharing the link to the campaign, so please, do what you can to help.
• You can contribute to the JustGiving page here
• Follow the work of Leah and John at www.moorereppion.com
- 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: Comic Creator Spotlight, Crowd Funding Projects, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News