John McShane

John McShane is one of the founder members of one of the longest running comics societies in Europe, which still meets every month in Glasgow and Edinburgh. The group spawned the acclaimed and much quoted magazine AKA, regular comic marts, and a comic convention among whose guests were Marv Wolfman (creator of Blade) and Will Eisner (creator of The Spirit). With his business partners, John went on to create AKA Books & Comics, the shop Mark Millar (Wanted, Kick Ass) says got him completely addicted to the medium. The shop continues under the name A1, whilst John now co-runs Plan B Books, Glasgow's first dedicated graphic novel shop. John and George Jackson (of the group Ossian) created Fat Man Press to publish the ever-popular The Bogie Man by John Wagner, Alan Grant, and Robin Smith. This was made into a TV Movie starring Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter series), Midge Ure (Ultravox, Live Aid), Fiona Fullerton (James Bond: A View to a Kill), and Craig Ferguson (The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson). John was later appointed publisher of Trident Comics and helped found the original Toxic. Along with film-maker Jerry Brannigan, John founded Scottish Screenwriters in 2006. Many short movies have been made which were first workshopped at this group. He is also the creator of the comic strip Jimmy the Zombie and has written a number of essays, reviews, and short stories, as well as several short films including The Real Thing and Echoes. John's collection of books on the comics medium started one day in Greenock when he discovered the original Penguin Book of Comics. After that he purchased many books on the subject including the infamous Seduction of the Innocent by Fredric Wertham. John's friendship with comics historian Denis Gifford was intrumental in his research into The Glasgow's Looking-Glass, arguably the world's first comics periodical.