The GrowlersWorld Interviews

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The GrowlersWorld Interviews are an ongoing quest, bringing you closer to successful and creative people in all walks of life.

Rawle Austin presents...

A conversation with John Freeman - Writer, Editor and Purveyor of fine British Comics and Sci-Fi

Rawle Austin: Could you introduce yourself to GrowlersWorld readers? John Freeman: I'm John Freeman, currently Managing Editor of comics to mobile service ROK Comics (www.rokcomics.com) which has WAP subscription-only partner services in Pakistan, works with UK TV channel ITV, the retailer Claire's, an MMS-delivered comics service in China and upcoming mobile comics services in several other countries including South Africa. The service enables both publishers and independent creators -- and people wanting to publish comics just for fun - to create or adapt existing comics for mobile phones. It's been going for almost a year and it's all pretty ground breaking which is both exciting and scary at the same time. I also write comics features when I get spare time. Before ROK, I was Group Editor at Marvel UK in the 1980s, editing titles like Doctor Who Magazine and comics such as such as Overkill, Meltdown, Havoc and ones US readers may have heard of such as Death's Head II (written by Dan Abnett and first drawn by Liam McCormack Sharp), Warheads, Motormouth & Killpower and others.

I also wrote a couple of mini series at the time, including Gene Dogs, drawn by Dave Taylor and Shadow Riders with Brian Williamson (who's now drawing strips such as Torchwood), which was drawn by Ross Dearsley, who's now a big wheel at EA Games.

My other character, G-Force, had a two-issue run before Marvel UK went under in the early 1990s, but more were planned.

For Marvel UK titles, I wrote for titles like The Real Ghostbusters, Thundercats and others.

Since my Marvel days, I've worked as a freelance writer and run a literature festival. I was Managing Editor of Titan Magazines for five years, directly editing titles such as Star Trek Magazine, Babylon 5, the UK edition of Simpsons Comics, Star Wars Magazine and others.

I've also run a virtual avatar world, [and] run the British comics news site downthetubes.net.

RA: When did you discover your love of comics?

JF: I started out reading, writing and drawing comics as a kid, reading British comics my Grandad had [in] a box on top of a cupboard which we used to bring out on rainy days, and following [the sci-fi (science fiction) comic strip] Jeff Hawke, which ran in the Daily Express which my other grandparents read.

They also had piles of old 1930s annuals -- Pip Squeak and Wilfred, Playbox, that kind of thing, that were simply joyous to read back then.

RA: What were your favourite titles and why?

JF: I was heavily influenced by the UK title TV Century 21, which was inspired by the sci-fi series created by Gerry Anderson such as Thunderbirds, which I watched avidly.

Later on I discovered comics like Wham! and Pow!, Countdown and limited numbers of American comics - Daredevil and Batman in particular.

I say limited because there was never any guarantee you would see consecutive issues of any US titles in the 1970s where I grew up. RA: How did you get into creating comics? JF: I started writing at school -- most of the stories I wrote in primary school were heavily influenced by those Gerry Anderson shows. My first determined attempt to write and draw comics were stories about the Terran Security Organisation, this bonkers, millennia-spanning saga, centring on the survivors of a humanoid race that populated the Earth in the very distant past that was destroyed by the very solar disaster that initiated life on Earth as we now know it. You can blame my love of SF by the likes of Isaac Asimov and EE "Doc" Smith for that. Anyway, some of them survived thanks to the fluke (or curse) of [that] space-time accident and ended up on contemporary Earth battling giant robots and the bureaucrats of the Galactic Federation.

My friends as school seemed to like some of the things I did but I was of course considered pretty weird at times.

RA: What was the story behind your creation of The Really Heavy Greatcoat?

JF: The Really Heavy Greatcoat is a co-creation of mine and a brilliant but constantly modest artist called Nick Miller, who's most recently been drawing a lot of strips for Tom Pomplun's Graphic Classics with his partner, Antonella Caputo.

It was literally born of one of those crazy nights in a pub - we were trying to come up with ideas for a comic for a what's on magazine I was editing in Lancaster and as we were leaving someone picked up my old 1940s greatcoat, nearly dropped it in surprise saying, "God, that's heavy!" - and the rest is history...

RA: How would you describe the series to our readers?

JF: "Worn by a hippy for many years, long-term exposure to illegal substances and general freaky weirdness gave the Greatcoat a mind of its own. Then John found it in a charity shop..." It runs online and in Comics International.

It's been going on and off for 20 years now. We haven't made any money from it directly but we do have our own Wikipedia entry (and boy, did I have to fight to get them to keep it!).

RA: You also write the Ex Astris comic strip. Can you give us a background to the title and why we should be reading it?

JF: Ex Astris is the brainchild of artist Mike Nicholl who draws it, who [has]worked under various pseudonyms for many years, mainly for European adult comics publishers.

He's developed this terrific storyline set in the 25th century where an elite of humans have returned to the Earth they abandoned to environmental disaster and have now returned to find out if the planet is again habitable.

It is, but they're a bit shocked to discover the humans they left behind not only survived but also had children, who are none too pleased with this elite's return. The planet isn't very hospitable for a lot of other reasons but I don't want to say too much at this point.

We're publishing an ongoing strip on ROK Comics and a 10-page 'taster' will appear in the independent anthology Bulletproof #2, which is out I believe in May 2008, and the editor of the Dan Dare magazine Spaceship Away was so impressed by the artwork I sent him for that he's commisioned a three part story from us which will run in the Autumn.

Working with Mike is great -- he's got a boundless enthusiasm for Ex Astris that is positively infectious and I'm just blown away by his art, which is a mix of CGI with a hand drawn finish that removes that sometimes 'artificial' look you get with a lot of "3D" comics. RA: Where do you get your ideas from for your stories? JF: If I knew that, I would bottle it! Seriously, I'd say the best way to learn to write is to read and read plenty and not just comics - books of all kinds. You can't beat the training of working with the likes of great editors like Richard Starkings, the guy who got me a job at Marvel UK and got me into this crazy world of comics in the first place, who taught me a story can always be edited and never be satisfied with your first draft (or at least, try not to be).

RA: Who are your top three comic creators of all time and why?

JF: Mike Noble, who drew strips like Zero X and Fireball XL5 in TV Century 21 because I grew up reading the strips he drew;

Alan Moore for the sheer invention of his many strips and because he was so positive and supportive of my fanzine that helped get me the attention of Marvel UK (he always wanted to know where I got the names of my demons from, who wrote us letters, and never seemed convinced we had made them up).

Finally, Will Eisner, not so much for The Spirit but his beautiful stories that have appeared in books such as A Contract With God.

There are so many people I've been privileged to work with over the years and I'm doing them a disservice by not mentioning that. I've mentioned some of them earlier, but there's alo people like Paul Neary who taught me so much when he came back to MUK, artists like Rian Hughes, who I wroked with on The Science Service, Mike Collins who I've worked with on a number of projects... the list goes on.

RA: You worked at Marvel [Comics] UK for a time. What was your role there and what was your most memorable experience?

JF: I started out as a designer on Doctor Who Magazine and Sindy - yes, Sindy! - thanks to Richard Starkings who got me in the door but was soon promoted to editor of Doctor Who Magazine.

That was my most memorable experience, even though it wasn't the best of times for the TV show -- the BBC cancelled it while I was editor -- but that was actually very liberating for us, because it meant we pretty much had free reign on what we could do on the title when it came to the comic strip.

Lee Sullivan did some stunning Dalek work, I apparently was the first editor to commision Paul Cornell - because he darn well deserved to be commissioned - Mike Collins, Andrew Cartmel, Richard Piers Rayner... it was one of the best times of my professional life, in all honesty. You can't do the same thing forever of course, and when Paul Neary offered me the chance to work on his new US titles like Death's Head II and Warheads, I pretty much bit his hand off to do it. He was incredibly demanding to work with but that was equally rewarding because I learnt a lot in terms of storytelling and scripting that I hope I'm remembering to this day. RA: As a successful writer and former Managing Editor of Titan Magazines, what advice would you give to all aspiring writers keen to start on their own strips and titles? JF: Always be prepared to re-write and always be prepared to be edited. RA: Who inspires you in life and why?

JF: My wife keeps me sane and a good story -- be it SF, romance, adventure, whatever -- is always an inspiration. That and the people who care for people and animals above and beyond their own safety.

RA: You started the Down The Tubes website, what’s it all about and why should people check it out?

JF: downthetubes.net is a largely British comics-oriented news and features site (along with its blog) so if you're a fan of British titles old and new you may find something on my site.

There's also a small guide to writing comics based on my experience at Marvel UK and a lots of comics links that I've been compiling for nearly 10 years now. Oh, and it's the home of The Really Heavy Greatcoat online.

RA: You’re currently the Managing Editor of ROK Comics, which produces comics for mobile phones. What does the job involve?

JF: I'm Managing Editor of ROK Comics which involves seeking out possible publishers and creators interested in experimenting with the form, making sure the site works, making sure it gets fixed when it doesn't, working directly with creators when it comes to adding new strips, looking for new markets, publicising the site... all the kind of things I've been doing in all my other jobs for the past 20 years plus, basically!

As I've mentioned, ROK Comics provides the means for publishers and creators to adapt or create comics for mobile, which, thanks to ROK's long standing position as a successful mobile content company, are being distributed direct to key partners worldwide as well as promoted via www.rokcomics.com.

ROK Comics offers partners a 50 per cent revenue share of what it earns on sales of single downloads and page views on its WAP subscriber sites. With mobile there's a built in revenue model, unlike the web, because mobile has largely come at delivery with one eye on financial return whereas on the Net users seem to expect all content to be free, and paid for through associated advertising.

Anyone can use ROK Comics - you can upload comic strip panels or photographs to make strips either professionally, or just for fun. We keep a close eye on what's being published and the professional side of the site is subject to editorial review to try and ensure rights holders copyrights are not being abused.

RA: Why should people start reading comics on their mobile phones, in your opinion?

JF: You know what, I don't think people have to read comics in any form -- but I think they'll get a kick out of reading some of the strips we're publishing that particularly work well in the one frame at a time format -- strips like David Fletcher's very funny Crumb, Charlotte Corday by Commando artist Keith Page, Annie Droid by 2000AD's Ian Gibson, Moon Queen by Chris Reynolds and many more.

Some people, like Thomas Cochrane, are using ROK Comics to promote upcoming graphic novels. His The Fat Man looks superb on mobile because of the style of the work, I think.

RA: What’s your favourite ROK comic strip and why?

JF: I can't possibly tell you that, the other creators would kill me.

RA: How do you keep yourself motivated to achieve your goals?

JF: Just when you think you've run out of steam, something always comes along that puts a new wrinkle in the works and gets you motivated. Right now, besides ROK Comics, it's Ex Astris.

RA: What is your opinion on the state of British Comics and British Sci-Fi today? What can be done so it can gain a wider audience?

JF: People always decry the state of the British comics industry, but the truth is, comics are still selling well - just not the boys' adventure titles many of these people grew up reading -- 2000AD and Commando are the last of these.

But the BBC's Doctor Who Adventures is selling over 120,000 copies and issue, Titan's Simpsons Comics sells the same kind of numbers -- and the BBC have a huge number of pre-school titles.

Unfortunately, many teenagers aren't reading comics - some people blame that on increasing illiteracy, but I think it's also down to a lack of good marketing and good storytelling (of course you can't have good storyteling without the comics, but creativity is buzzing in the UK small press in titles like Zarjaz, Futurequake, James Turner's Beaver and Steve, and others).

I'm disappointed the success of Doctor Who hasn't inspired more British Sci-Fi TV, other than Primeval, which has been a bit disappointing for the most part. You'd have thought someone at ITV would be looking at reviving The Tomorrow People by now.

RA: As a freelance editor, writer and creative consultant, what is your ultimate ambition in this creative field? Where would you like to see it take you?

JF: It's always great to see something you've written published and you always hope something that's been published goes 'big', but it's also a pleasure to see a series or story you've been involved with do well and the creators involved get the credit and limelight they deserve.

RA: And finally, what words of wisdom would you like to leave us with?

JF: Always respect your audience, and try to treat everyone you work with dignity and politeness. It's not always easy but it's worked for me. Saying thank you never hurt anyone.

All images copyright © John Freeman

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