John Smith - Is he ok?

Rio De Fideldo · 27 August, 2018, 03:02:18 PM

Afternoon

I haven't looked or posted on the forum for years so I hope everyone is doing well.

I'm sure I must have missed the discussion but I was wondering how John Smith was doing considering he is no longer writing Devlin Waugh.

Is he suffering from ill health? Has he retired.

If this is a sensitive issue I don't mind if someone wants to pm me as I don't want to cause upset etc.

Cheers

Jim_Campbell · 27 August, 2018, 03:06:41 PM

It's kinda nobody's business unless John wants to make it so.

JayzusB.Christ · 27 August, 2018, 03:09:20 PM

Last time I checked Facebook regularly (a couple of months ago) he seemed fine.

Hawkmumbler · 27 August, 2018, 03:23:11 PM

I regularly speak with John on Facebook, it's not my place to say how he is, but from our exchanges he is always a delight and a pleasure.

Rio De Fideldo · 27 August, 2018, 03:28:11 PM

Very very glad to hear he's doing well.

Obviously I know it's nobody's business but his own. I think I'd grown accustomed over the years to John writing stuff and then going quiet. I was just checking that whilst I'd been away from the board nothing awful had happened. No offence meant.

Colin YNWA · 27 August, 2018, 03:30:16 PM

Try friending him on Facebook. He's not massively chatty on there but its a good way to keep in touch what he's up to.

Rio De Fideldo · 27 August, 2018, 03:31:56 PM

This is a daft question but how do you search someone with the name John Smith on Facebook?

Richard · 27 August, 2018, 03:46:29 PM

I presume it's this guy:
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=542658033

Hawkmumbler · 27 August, 2018, 03:57:29 PM

Quote from: Richard on 27 August, 2018, 03:46:29 PM
I presume it's this guy:
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=542658033

It is.

Rio De Fideldo · 27 August, 2018, 04:42:54 PM

Brilliant thank you!

JayzusB.Christ · 27 August, 2018, 05:22:42 PM

That's our John, alright. Looking quite sprightly for a droid who's been scripting since the 1980s. His Facebook links are usually darkly entertaining too.

ZenArcade · 28 August, 2018, 01:01:38 PM

Yep he's on FB fairly regularly, top line writer one of the best 2000AD has ever produced. Z

JayzusB.Christ · 28 August, 2018, 03:58:41 PM

Quote from: ZenArcade on 28 August, 2018, 01:01:38 PM
Yep he's on FB fairly regularly, top line writer one of the best 2000AD has ever produced. Z

No arguments here - as I've said to Eamonn on his podcast, John is easily up there with Grant Morrison and Pete Milligan but has somehow never become a global comics superstar.

I also remember Mark Millar's Canon Fodder being a way inferior rip-off of Killing Time; and yet there's Millar striding like a colossus across the comic and movie world (though, of course, Firekind was fairly successful on the big screen too...).

That said, I'm glad he's stuck with Tharg over the years. Also recently learned on this board that he nearly became Tharg himself for a short while.

IndigoPrime · 28 August, 2018, 04:31:14 PM

I still hope bridges haven't been burned. It would be horrible to think John Smith would never again grace the pages of the Galaxy's Greatest, but when Devlin Waugh, Indigo Prime and even Tyranny Rex are now with other writers, I'm not sure how likely that is. Still: fingers crossed at least. (And likewise for that 2000 Ultimate Collection announcement of a Firekind/Leatherjack hardcover that I'm sure's coming any day now.)

Richard · 28 August, 2018, 04:45:03 PM

It would indeed me a great shame if we never saw any more John Smith in 2000AD. I hope he'll understand the reasons why Tharg gave his characters to other writers, and of course he's hardly the first writer that's happened to, so it's not as if he's been singled out.
If he's too busy to do a full series he might hopefully be able to do a one-off now and then, like Blackspot. I'd be happy with that.