John Birch works for the National Library of Scotland located in Edinburgh, one of the UK’s five legal deposit libraries, and curated their successful Local Heroes exhibition covering comics and graphic novels last year.
In an interview for downthtubes, he gives Jeremy Briggs the benefit of his experience in organising this exhibition and its related events, as well as the legal requirements regarding archiving small press comics and fanzines for the nation, which some publishers may not be aware of.
• Read the interview on the main downthetubes site
• Discuss the interview and ways to save our comics heritage on our forum
- 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: British Comics, Comic Creator Interviews