• The animated feature based on Neil Gaiman’s Coraline is now on release int the US and seems to be doing well both critically and at the box office. “A lot more people than anyone expected are going to see it,” Neil notes. “…Which is good for Coraline, and good for Laika, and good for the Portland animation world, and good for [director] Henry [Selik], and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t good for me.”
• IDW has announced it to publishe a new ongoing Doctor Who title by Tony Lee, which will launch in July from IDW. The first two issues will be set in 1920’s Hollywood.
• Fans of US comics will adore the concept behind Covered, a blog where people redraw famous comic covers. The results are mixed but have prompted Paul Harrsion-Davis, one of the artists involved in the upcoming TOXIC Comic Supplement (see news story), to come up with his own interpretation of a Blue Devil cover.
• Graeme Neil Reid is finishing his illustration work for The Dangerous Book of Heroes, a new follow up to The Dangerous Book for Boys that became a massive hit for the authors Conn and Hal Iggulden back in 2006. There will be around 100 of Graeme’ s illustrations in the book and Graeme has posted a marketing sampler for the new title on his blog.
• Talking of books, Lee O’Connor has posted his latest book cover commission, Short Stories from a Troubled World, soon to be published by Iconoclast Publishing. The book is a collection of the beautiful thoughts of one Tony Paul “who takes ‘a Humorous, yet heard-hitting swipe at some serious issues. Among the book’s targets are Ruling Elites, Globalisation, Dumbing Down, Think-Tanks and the unholy alliance between government, Big Business and the media,” Lee notes. Check out the cover on his LiveJournal and if you can guess who all the personalities are in the drawing ” you get a fictional prize!”
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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: Doctor Who, Tube Surfing
Tube Surfing: Autumnal art, Beano shorts, Buck Rogers revived, Dalek delights, and recalling Dandy Xtreme 
Tube Surfing: Marvel UK Memories, Alan Moore, Gene Ha – and Captain Pugwash! 
Tube Surfing: Sequential Birthday Competition, Doctor Who and Lenny the Lettuce!