John Freeman (editor)

John Freeman
File:John freeman today.jpg
Nationality	British
Area(s)	writer and editor
Notable works	Doctor Who Magazine The Really Heavy Greatcoat

John Freeman is a British writer/editor/designer who began his media career editing the Lancaster University student newspaper 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 , and comics titles such as Death's Head II , Warheads , Overkill 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 the animated series), 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 , 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

• Doctor Who
  • Planet of the Dead (in Doctor Who Magazine #141-142 1988)
  • Emperor of the Daleks (with co-author Paul Cornell, in Doctor Who Magazine #197-202)

• 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)

References

• John Freeman at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• 2000 AD profile

External links

• Down The Tubes, John Freeman's official web site
• Star Trek Magazine
• ROK Comics