Mark John Hibbett (born 19 June 1970) is an English academic in comic book studies and is also, when performing as MJ Hibbett, a guitarist singer-songwriter who has often been compared to

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...

Web Watch
Dave Green, The Guardian, 21 August 2003.The Fuzztival: Oh, what a night!
Alex Hodgson, BBC South Yorkshire, 15 November 2003
Archive
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Richard Digance Richard Digance (pronounced DYE-jance; born 24 February 1949) is an English comedian and folk singer. Early life Digance was born in Plaistow, East London. After his family moved to nearby East Ham, he attended Vicarage Lane Primary School ...

Music

With his band The Validators, Hibbett came to widespread online notice in 2000 with "Hey Hey 16K", an ode to the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

and other home microcomputers of the 1980s. The song, one of the "first-ever viral videos", gained larger acclaim when an animated music video for the track, created by

Rob Manuel Rob Manuel (born 5 December 1973) is the English co-founder of the website B3ta (where he is affectionately known as "the Ginger Führer"). Work Manuel is responsible for numerous quizzes and Flash animations. He has also collaborated with Joel V ...

, was released in 2004.''Hey Hey 16K''
song, video and history. Hibbett later collaborated with Manuel, who directed the music video for his song "The Gay Train". In 2004, Hibbett gained national exposure in the United Kingdom, on the

Steve Lamacq Stephen Paul Lamacq (born 16 October 1964), sometimes known by his nickname Lammo (given to him by John Peel), is an English disc jockey, currently working with BBC Radio 6 Music. Lamacq was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire ( ...

show on

BBC 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

, by regularly performing "The Fair Play Trophy (Again)", a song whose lyrics were updated for each rendition to reflect the then-ongoing events of that year's UEFA European Football Championship. In 2009, Hibbett and his band released their fourth album ''Regardez, Ecoutez et Repetez'', with lyrics formed from Hibbett's wry observations, often of the trivial. Critical reviews indicated the songs could be "catchy-as-hell", such as "Red Black Gold", however that repeated listens did tend to "dull the humour". Hibbett and his band often appeared at the

Indietracks Indietracks was an annual indie pop music festival at the Midland Railway – Butterley, Midland Railway in Butterley, Derbyshire, England. The main site was located at Swanwick Junction railway station, Swanwick Junction. Bands played in variet ...

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

music festival. His songs have mostly been released on his own record label, Artists Against Success. Hibbett is an advocate of the

ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

, which he has used for solo performances and in his song and album ''A Million Ukeleles''. The noted misspelling is characteristic Hibbett.

Research in comics

Hibbett earned a doctorate in philosophy in

comics studies Comics studies (also comic art studies, sequential art studies or graphic narrative studies) is an academic field that focuses on comics and sequential art. Although comics and graphic novels have been generally dismissed as less relevant popular ...

Central Saint Martins Central Saint Martins is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of short ...

in the

University of the Arts London The University of the Arts London is a public collegiate university in London, England, United Kingdom. It specialises in arts, design, fashion, and the performing arts. The university is a federation of six arts colleges: Camberwell College of ...

. This is the world's only doctorate on

Doctor Doom Doctor Doom is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in '' The Fantastic Four'' #5 in April 1962, and has since endured as the arch ...

, and was later published in book form. Hibbett has since used his expertise to comment on developments with Doom and on

Superman in film DC Comics's ''Superman'' franchise, based on the character of the same name created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in June 1938, has seen the release of various films since its inception. The character debuted in cinemas in a series of ani ...

. He also hosts the Funny Comics Fanclub podcast alongside John Dredge.

Personal life

Hibbett lives in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and works at the University of the Arts, where he uses his experience as a

database administrator A database administrator (DBA) manages computer databases. The role may include capacity planning, installation, configuration, database design, migration, performance monitoring, security, troubleshooting, as well as backup and data re ...

. He holds master's degrees from City University and

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body ...

, and attended

Deacon's School Deacon's School was located in Dogsthorpe, Peterborough, England. In 2007, the school was demolished and replaced by the Thomas Deacon Academy. History The school opened in 1721 as Mr. Deacon's Charity School in Cowgate. In his will, Thomas D ...

References

External links

* * * 1970 births Living people English bloggers English male bloggers Alumni of Central Saint Martins Alumni of the University of the Arts London Alumni of City, University of London Alumni of De Montfort University People educated at Deacon's School Musicians from Peterborough English pop guitarists English rock guitarists English male guitarists English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters 21st-century English singers 21st-century English guitarists 21st-century English male singers {{England-musician-stub