Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett, once described as enfant terribles of the comics community, co-creators of a huge range of utterly silly but memorable comic strips, are heading back to bookshelves with not one, but two new collections of their craziest works.

For a twenty year period from the 1970s to the 1990s,Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett churned out more comic book pages than McDonald’s turn out hamburgers. Their work appeared in the UK and the US in publications as diverse as Whoopee! to Club International.

“Even we no longer have a clue just how many pages we produced,” says Tim. “The closest number we can come up with is … lots. One of our regular strips ran for almost 15 years, in the celebrated Doctor Who Magazine.”

Now, thanks New Haven Publishing, also publishers of the graphic novel, Only Death Can Save Us and Argh! (the ups and downs of a comic creator), Tim and Dicky will have two bumper books of their work hitting the presses this year.

Part of New Haven’s recently-announced Viking Press Comics line, Who’s 60? A Celebration of Whos will mark the 60th anniversary of a certain Doctor(s), and include new material, as well as archive cartoons and strips.

The other is a book featuring their creation of the world’s largest super-hero team – 400 super-heroes in one book! Count ’em!

Tim Quinn should need no introduction to British comic fans. A writer, editor and raconteur, he started his career as a Ringboy/clown at Blackpool Tower Circus, then leapt back in time to work on BBC TV’s The Good Old Days music hall series where he started writing scripts for top comedians.

It was a small jump into the world of comic books where he spent many happy years as scriptwriter, illustrator and editor on such noted titles as The Beano, The Dandy, Sparky, The Topper, Buster, Whoopee!, Bunty, Jackie, TV Comic, Doctor Who Magazine and Whizzer & Chips and served as an editor at Marvel UK on numerous titles before heading Stateside to work for the mighty Marvel Comics Group on the world famous Spider-Man, X-Men and the Incredible Hulk.

Tim has also worked as a writer for the Guardian newspaper, editor for United States’ oldest publication The Saturday Evening Post and producer for LWT’s The South Bank Show (amongst others, producing a show on the history of Marvel Comics). These days, he gives lectures on the humour and nostalgia of comics, runs a management company for recording artists, and conducts workshops on cartooning.

Dicky Howett pursued a lifelong love fascination for television technology by working for BBC Television in the film department·at Ealing Studios, as well as cartooning for Marvel UK and other companies for many years, working on titles as diverse as the Daily Mirror, Men Only and more. He’s broadcast his own short stories on local radio and has written many articles on media developments, including a book, Television Innovations: 50 Technological Developments, published back in 2006.

Although he retired from cartooning for cash over twenty years ago, Dicky is still busy, running Golden Age Television Recreations, a large classic camera prop store whose equipment has featured in shows such as Doctor Who: An Adventure in Space and Time, in which he made a cameo as a walk-on technician.

• Tim Quinn is online at mightyquinnmanagement.com

• New Haven Publishing – bookmark or visit for details of their book titles

John Freeman

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, British Comics - Collections, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: Dicky Howett, Doctor Who, Doctor Who Magazine, downthetubes News, Humour Comics, Marvel UK, New Haven Publishing, Tim Quinn, Viking Press Comics