John Edward Barker (31 May 1950 – 18 April 1997) was an English cartoonist, best known for his work in International Times and The Observer in the late 1960s and early 1970s, including the comic strip "The Largactilites" (later renamed "The Galactilites").
He moved, with friends from Midlands Arts Centre to a house in Muswell Hill where they tried to succeed in the pop world, Barker playing tablas.
[2] In 1970, he was offered the opportunity to draw the series for The Observer, but faced immediate criticism over its title – Largactil (also known as chlorpromazine or Thorazine) being a drug used clinically to treat mental illness.
However, after a few weeks Barker was released from his contract after submitting a four-frame strip which consisted solely of four horizon-lines, becoming the first cartoon to appear in Private Eye's "Pseuds Corner".
[3] Barker and Farren also organised the 1970 Phun City free festival and co-published Watch Out Kids (1972), "a handbook of youth rebellion tracing the rise of youth culture from Elvis and James Dean through to the MC5, the White Panthers and The Angry Brigade".