Wikipedia:
Rich Johnston |
Rich Johnston (born 21st November 1972, in Gloucester, England) is an online columnist who writes about the comic book industry. Johnston grew up in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, and later attended the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne where he studied Politics. Johnston is based in Soho, London, and works as an advertising copywriter. He currently lives in Kingston Vale, London, with his wife, Janice Hodgson, and their young daughter, Eve Johnston.
Johnston's column Lying in the Gutters is currently hosted at the Comic Book
Resources website, although earlier incarnations of the column have existed under various titles since 1994, when it
appeared as postings to USENET.
Johnston's column does not often impart sources, Johnston noting "I often obfuscate sources to hide their identity -- even deny that a story has sources on many occasions."[1] However, his column has reported first on many topics of note regarding the comic book industry, something The Comics Journal attributes in part to "Johnston's discerning intelligence and an attitude that sometimes approaches iconoclasm."[1] Johnston sees himself as part of a tradition established by the "British tabloid press, one that seeks to entertain rather than inform..."[1] He cites his biggest influences as Private Eye, The Guardian Diary and Popbitch.
Johnston has also created comic books, notably Rich Johnston's Holed Up (2004, Avatar Press), The Flying Friar (2006, Speakeasy Comics), Dirtbag (1995, Twist and Shout Comics), The X-Flies (1997, Twist and Shout Comics)and Civil Wardrobe (2006). He has written for Smack The Pony, Week Ending and The Sitcom Trials, played a zombie in Shaun of the Dead and was a congregation member in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie[citation needed].
In 2006 he appeared as a character in the comic book CSI: Dying in the Gutters, which uses Johnston's notoriety in the comics community as a source of "inside joke" humour by featuring him as the victim in a murder mystery set at a comic book convention, featuring other notable real-world comics creators as suspects in the crime.
In 2007 he wrote the IDW trading card set 'George W Bush and the Weapons Of Mass Distraction' and publishers Markosia announced a reissue, in colour, of his Flying Friar graphic novel.
References
- ^ a b c d Dean, Michael (2005). "Online Comics Journalism: Does It Exist? Part 3: Rich Johnston's Honest Lying". The Comics Journal (266): 21–23.
External links
- Lying in the Gutters Johnston's online column.
- 2002 Interview
- 2005 Interview by Jim Lee
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