John Freeman (editor)

Infobox Comics creator
name = John Freeman

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nationality = British
area = writer and editor
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notable works = "Doctor Who Magazine"
"The Really Heavy Greatcoat"
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John Freeman is a British writer/editor/designer who began his media career editing the Lancaster University student newspaper "Scan" [Lancaster University Library and Lancaster University Students Union hold copies of SCAN] in 1981.

Biography

After University he launched "On the Beat", a listings magazine for Lancaster, England, which eventually morphed into "Off the Beat" - not to be confused with the a cappella group at the University of Pennsylvania - which was run by a co-operative after he left the city (to work for "Marvel UK" in 1988 before returning to Lancaster in 1993 and being asked to take up the editorial reins of the title, turning into a monthly free publication with the help of artists and designer Graham Baines.

His first professionally published comics work was "The Science Service", drawn by Rian Hughes, which Knockabout reprinted in 2007 as part of a larger collection of work by Hughes titled "Yesterday's Tomorrows".

While working for Marvel UK between 1988 and 1993 he designed and then edited "Doctor Who Magazine" [See Doctor Who Magazine staff credits ] , and comics titles such as "Death's Head II" [ See Death's Head II issue credits] , "Warheads" [ See Warheads issue credits] , "Overkill" [ See Overkill issue credits] and others.

John became group editor on Marvel UK's superhero range while Paul Neary was editor-in-chief at the company. The first of these was "Death's Head II", written by Dan Abnett and initially drawn by Liam Sharp was a recreation of Simon Furman's cyborg bounty hunter who first appeared in the "Transformers" comic.

The titles were set in the existing Marvel Universe - Marvel US editors were expected to approve submitted plotlines and some, such as "Bobbi Chase" were more responsive than others.

As well as editing some of the titles, John also wrote issues of "Warheads" and "Motormouth and Killpower". He also write "Shadow Riders", with Brian Williamson, and "Gene Dogs", drawn by Dave Taylor and the mini-series "G-Force" (not to be confused with ), as well as several "Doctor Who comic" stories.

He left the company before the implosion in the comics market that effectively brought an end to Marvel UK.

After returning to Lancaster, he worked as a freelance writer; then publicity officer and, eventually, director of the Lancaster Literature festival, now known as litfest.

In 1995, London beckoned once more after five years' absence and returning there, he helped established Titan Magazines as its first Managing Editor as well as editing "Star Trek Magazine" [ See Wikipedia Star Trek Magazine entry] , "Star Wars Magazine" and others.

After leaving Titan in 1999 to work for the UK arm of avaterra.com, establishing its avatar-based sci-fi community, he is now again based in Lancaster, and after five years as a freelancer he is currently working for ROK Media, whose projects include a comics to mobile service, Rok Comics.

Apart from his Marvel UK work, Freeman's comic writing credits include "The Really Heavy Greatcoat", "The Science Service", "The Real Ghostbusters", "Galaxy Rangers", "ThunderCats", "Beyblade", "Judge Dredd Megazine" and others.

Freeman's website, Down The Tubes, is a frequently-cited source of breaking comics news, particularly for the UK comics scene.

Bibliography

Comics he wrote include:

* "The Real Ghostbusters" (with various artists including Anthony Williams, Marvel UK, 1988-1992)

* "Doctor Who"
** "Planet of the Dead" (with Lee Sullivan, in "Doctor Who Magazine" #141-142, 1988, reprinted in "Doctor Who Classic Comics" #14, Marvel Comics, 1994)
** "Follow that TARDIS!" (with Dougie Braithwaite, Kev Hopgood, John Ridgway, in "Doctor Who Magazine" #147, 1989)
** "Stairway to Heaven" (with co-author Paul Cornell and pencils by Gerry Dolan and inks by Rex Ward, in "Doctor Who Magazine" #156, 1990)
** "A Glitch in Time" (with Richard Whitaker, in "Doctor Who Magazine" #179, 1991)
** "Emperor of the Daleks" (with co-author Paul Cornell and art by John Ridgway, in "Doctor Who Magazine" #197-202, 1993)
** "Once in a Lifetime" (with Geoff Senior, in "Doctor Who Classic Comics" #21, Marvel Comics, 1994)
** "A Switch in Time!" (with Geoff Senior, in "Doctor Who Classic Comics" #25, Marvel Comics, 1994)

*"Warheads" #3, 12 (with Geoff Senior (3) and pencils by Craig Huston and inks by Adolfo Buylla (12), Marvel UK, 1992, 1993)

*"Motormouth and Killpower" #8-9 (with Del Barras, Marvel UK, 1993)

*"Shadow Riders" (with co-author Brian Williamson and art by Ross Dearsley, Marvel UK, 1993)

*"Gene Dogs" (with Dave Taylor, 4-issue mini-series, Marvel UK, 1993)

*"Die Cut vs. G-Force" (with pencils by John Royle and inks by Tim Perkins, 2-issue mini-series, Marvel UK, 1993)

*"Judge Karyn" (with Adrian Salmon):
** "Skinner" (in "Judge Dredd Megazine" #2.56-2.61, 1994)
** "Concrete Sky" (in "Judge Dredd Megazine" #2.67-2.72, 1994)
** "Beautiful Evil" (in "Judge Dredd Mega Special 1994")

*"Cabal" (with Adrian Salmon, in "Judge Dredd Megazine" #3.07-3.08, 1995)

*"Ex Astris" (with Mike Nicoll, in "Spaceship Away" #18 -, 2008 and on "ROK Comics")

Notes

References

*comicbookdb|type=creator|id=4134|title=John Freeman
* [http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=droid&page=profiles&choice=JOHNF 2000 AD profile]

External links

* [http://www.downthetubes.net "Down The Tubes, John Freeman's official web site"]
* [http://www.titanmagazines.co.uk/startrek "Star Trek Magazine"]
* [http://www.rokcomics.com "ROK Comics"]