John Freeman (editor)
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John Freeman is a British writer/editor/designer who began his media career editing the Lancaster University student newspaper Scan in 1981.
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.
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 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 scifi community, he is now again based in Lancaster, and after five years as a freelancer he is now working for ROK Media in an editorial and research capacity.
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.
