Rich Johnston

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Rich Johnston at the 2007 New York Comic-Con.
Rich Johnston at the 2007 New York Comic-Con.

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 daughters, Eve and Alice Johnston.

Contents

[edit] Lying in the Gutters

Johnston's column Lying in the Gutters is currently hosted at the Comic Book Resources website[1], although earlier incarnations of the column have existed under various titles since 1994, when it appeared as postings to USENET. The Comics Journal declared Johnston as having claim to being "the oldest extant comics news reporter on the Internet."[2] He mainly posts stories based on rumours and gossip, with a traffic light icon imparting advisory caution as to the possible credibility of each rumour: a red light denoting the least likelihood of accuracy, a green light for the most credible reports, and a yellow light for those that fall somewhere in between.

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."[2] 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."[2] Johnston sees himself as part of a tradition established by the "British tabloid press, one that seeks to entertain rather than inform..."[2] He cites his biggest influences as Private Eye, The Guardian Diary and Popbitch.

Popular topics include non-payment for work by publishers, swipes of work by creators known as the 'Swipe File', censored work, spoilers for upcoming storyline, creative changes, speculation over 'hot' comics as well as repeated plugs of his own work.

[edit] Comic book work

Johnston has also created comic books, notably Rich Johnston's Holed Up (2004, Avatar Press)[3], The Flying Friar (2006, Speakeasy Comics) [4], Dirtbag (1995, Twist and Shout Comics)[5], The X-Flies (1997, Twist and Shout Comics)[6] and Civil Wardrobe (2006) [7](this last alluding to Marvel's 2006 'event' Civil War).

In 2007 he wrote the IDW trading card set 'George W Bush and the Weapons Of Mass Distraction'[8]

In 2008, publishers Markosia announced a reissue, in colour, of his Flying Friar graphic novel.[9]

Johnston writes and draws weekly cartoons for the UK blogger Guido Fawkes, appearing each Monday, and collected at RichAndMark.com[10]

[edit] Performance work

Johnston has written for the British Channel 4 sketch show Smack the Pony, as well as for BBC Radio 4's satirical sketch-show Week Ending and the stage/TV show The Sitcom Trials. He played a zombie in Shaun of the Dead and was a congregation member in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie [11].

[edit] Journalism

Johnston has written briefly for newspapers like The Guardian[12], magazines like Playstation World[13] and was awarded Punch Magazine's Young Writer of the Year Award in 2001.[14]

[edit] Cultural impact

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[15].

His poster campaign for the Churches Advertising Network in December 2006 caused considerable media interest[16], including a leader in the Times Newspaper[17].

His comics and gossip work has also been referenced in the media, both as a comics commentator[18], a gossip reporter [19] or a comics creator [20]

[edit] References

  1. ^ CBR's Lying in the Gutters Archives. Accessed January 18, 2008
  2. ^ 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. 
  3. ^ Official Holed Up site. Accessed January 27, 2008
  4. ^ Official Flying Friar site. Accessed January 27, 2008
  5. ^ Official Dirtbag site. Accessed January 27, 2008
  6. ^ Official X-Flies site. Accessed January 27, 2008
  7. ^ Civil Wardrobe download. Accessed January 27, 2008
  8. ^ Weapons of Mass Distraction. Accessed January 27, 2008
  9. ^ Flying Friar from Markosia Accessed January 27, 2008
  10. ^ RichAndMark.com site. Accessed January 27, 2008
  11. ^ Rich Johnston at IMDb. Accessed January 18, 2008
  12. ^ The Guardian, Feb 28th, 2001 Accessed January 27, 2008
  13. ^ Playstation World UK. Accessed January 27, 2008
  14. ^ Sequential Tart interview, November 2002. Accessed January 27, 2008
  15. ^ IDW's Dying In the Gutters' site. Accessed January 27, 2008
  16. ^ [http://news.google.co.uk/archivesearch?q=times+churches+advertising+network+beer&um=1&sa=N&cid=8616803907404920 Google News Cache]. Accessed January 27, 2008
  17. ^ Times newspaper, September 15th 2006. Accessed January 27, 2008
  18. ^ Times newspaper, August 20th, 2007. Accessed January 27, 2008
  19. ^ The Village Voice, March 7th, 2006. Accessed January 27, 2008
  20. ^ G2, The Guardian, December 3rd, 2007. Accessed January 27, 2008

[edit] External links