Rich's Revelations was originally a simple relisting of British magazine comics news.[4] Johnston began writing gossip on USENET newsgroups in 1994 as Rich's Ramblings.[5] He then took the column, around onto the burgeoning World Wide Web, with "Rich's Revelations" on the now-defunct Twist And Shout Comics website.[6] He later started the comics gossip column "All The Rage" for Silver Bullet Comic Books, later Comics Bulletin.[7]
Johnston wrote the column "Lying in the Gutters" for Comic Book Resources,[8] posting 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 writing does not often impart sources. About that, Johnston said, "I often obfuscate sources to hide their identity—even deny that a story has sources on many occasions." Johnston sees himself as part of a tradition established by the "British tabloid press, one that seeks to entertain rather than inform."[2]
Bleeding Cool
On 27 March 2009, Johnston announced his launch of the website BleedingCool.com.
Bleeding Cool was nominated for the "Favourite Comics Related Website" Eagle Award in 2010[9] and 2011 and won in 2012. It was named as one of PC Magazine's top blogs of 2010.[10] and Technorati gave it a perfect 1000 score for influence in the comics category.[11] Johnston was awarded the Shel Dorf Award for Best Comics Blogger for his work on Bleeding Cool in 2012.[12]
In 2007, he wrote the IDW trading card set George W. Bush and the Weapons of Mass Distraction.[18][19]
He wrote and drew a number of pages for the Popbitch book and curated the Harrods Comic Timing exhibition of original comic book artwork.[20]
In 2009, he had a story scheduled for the Spearmint anthology from Image Comics with Sleaze Castle writer-artist Terry Wiley.[21] He wrote a short story, "Rustlin Up Business," for the second volume of Outlaw Territory, published in February 2011.
In 2012, he wrote a comic serialised in Dark Horse Presents entitled The Many Murders of Miss Cranbourne, with art from Simon Rohrmüller. He also wrote a series of parody comics for Boom! Studios, taking on Marvel Studios films, with Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, and The Avengers reinterpreted as "Iron Muslim", "Scienthorlogy," "Captain American Idol," and "The Avengefuls," respectively.
Johnston writes and draws weekly cartoons for the UK blogger Paul Staines, appearing each Monday and collected at RichAndMark.com.[23]
He wrote and directed a series of radio advertisements for telecommunications company TalkTalk starring Mark Heap. [31]
Parodies
In 2006, he appeared as a character in the comic book CSI: Dying in the Gutters as a source of "inside joke" humour by featuring him as the victim in a murder mystery set at a comic book convention and using other notable real-world comics creators as suspects in the crime.[32] He also appeared as a character in the Jodie Picoult novel, The Tenth Circle[33] and made a more major appearance in the Leverage novel The Con Job.[34]
^Johnston, Rich (2 December 1998). "What is Ramblings 98?". Rich's Ramblings '98. Archived from the original on 2 December 1998. Retrieved 14 May 2021. Ramblings 98 has had a number of forms. Originally a simple relisting of British magazine comics news, Rich's Revelations, it has been praised, condemned, exhalted and threatened with libel suits. This culminated in a series of targeted attacks that led to the author conducting a vote. The final tally was 104:5 in favour of the continuing of the column with an advisory label, written by Greg Morrow and a name change to Rich's Rumblings. But that was then.
^Johnston, Rich (10 October 1999). "Rich's Ramblings 1999". Twist and Shout Comics. Archived from the original on 12 October 1999. Retrieved 14 May 2021. Archives: Feb 1998 to Sep 1999 (Rich Johnston is an advertising copywriter, co-self publisher of Twist And Shout Comics, BBC comedy writer and comics columnist. He currently lives in South London, England.)
