Happy Holidays!

A quick line to offer all our readers plenty of seasonal cheer and wish you all the very best of the season and a Happy New Year. Thank you all for your tremendous support for the ROK Comics on mobile project in our first few months of operation for what has, for us, been very much a "behind the scenes" beginning, with the hard work starting to bear fruit.

In addition to the main ROK Comics sites (www.rokcomics.com and wap.rokcomics.com) we now have partnership mobile comics service live in Pakistan via Telenor.

Translation work is proceeding apace on our service for China. Several creators' strips, including David Fletcher's "Crumb", Chris Reynolds "Moon Queen", David Hailwood's "Ups and Downs", Mike Colbert's "Crazy Mary" Markosia's "Dark Mists" and Nick Miller's "Fret for the Day" are in the process of being translated for the first round of ROK Comics publishing to mobile there, with potential readership in the hundreds of millions.

We also have partner services close to announcement in India and Africa, and several strong partnerships developing in the UK. If you've been reading our ROK Comics Blog, you'll know that we provided a comics service for ITV's "I'm A Celebrity" web site and to mobile this year, and we'll be delivering similar services with other content providers for 2008 worldwide.

None of this early success would have been possible without the support of numerous publishers, independent creators, ROK staff around the world and our early readers, so thank you, one and all.

The very best of the season to you -- and here's to a busy and rewarding 2008...

Compress This!

ROK Entertainment, owners of ROK Comics, have announced the launch of an upgraded software compression application for digital images – Blubox V4.0 – by its subsidiary, Blubox Software Ltd,

Blubox V4.0 offers compression of digital photograph images as well as supporting all non-proprietary ‘zip’ formats, thus ensuring complete compatibility.

It's designed for the digital camera and internet consumer market, allowing a user to dramatically improve the digital photo sharing experience over the Internet and ensuring the protection of private and personal information.

The unprecedented growth of digital image file sizes over the last three years has been partly driven by the consumer’s desire for higher mega pixel CCD capacity for their personal digital cameras and mobile phones.

“‘Zip’ provides acceptable compression for text-based files, but has been unable to cope with the demands of the modern file formats," says Laurence Alexander, CEO of ROK. "There's a massive gap in the market for software that can offer compatibility with existing ‘Zip’ products, but go much further by providing the user with the ability to significantly shrink their digital photos without sacrificing the Hi-Resolution quality of the original image file. This is the premium that Blubox offers.”

Using a blend of the most advanced software compression algorithms Blubox V4.0 provides a unique solution for optimizing digital images. Designed to support all non-proprietary ‘Zip’ formats Blubox V4.0 by being able to create, read and extract from existing ‘Zip’ archives, however this is where the similarities between Blubox and ‘Zip’ starts and ends as it is able to offer unprecedented compression of digital photograph formats.

• Download a free trial (PC only at present) from www.blubox.com

Night Owl Comes to ROK Comics

New to ROK Comics this month is Night Owl, just one of several heroes from US independent publisher Wham Bang Comics - the humorous creation of an imaginative teenager, with help from his father.

Night Owl, a 12-year-old superhero from Texas, holds the mantle of "Earth Shaman," the most powerful mage on the planet, and is charged with protecting the balance of the universe. A daunting task for a youngster!

Secretly Zack Finley, a seventh grader from Fort Worth, Texas, Night Owl is the child of divorce who spends weekends with his father and the rest of the time with his mother. He inherited his power -- derived from earth energy, the life force of the planet -- from his grandfather, Mack Finley, after the elder shaman was murdered.

Night Owl is still trying to full understand and utilize his powers. He knows he can fly, has super strength and limited invulnerability. He occasionally has prophecy dreams that come true, and he can use the staff left him by his grandfather to commune with the universe. His power animal, Grandfather Owl, is a constant ally in his fight against injustice.

Night Owl is an advocate for human rights and the rights of crime victims. He lives a lonely life, as he must keep his identity secret from even his mother, fearing that her life would be in danger if she knew who he was. (Plus, she'd be so worried for his safety she'd make him stop!)

Night Owl is written by 13-year-old Jake Tinsley (pictured) with help from his father, veteran journalist Ben Tinsley. Art is by rising manga star Jason Dube and colours are by Kristoffer Condes.

Publisher Ben Tinsley formed Wham Bang Comics, based in both Galveston, Texas and Las Vegas, Nevada, to showcase the adventures of Night Owl. Along the way, other writers climbed on board and Wham Bang's first comic, Two-Fisted Adventures, ended up as a 52-page anthology comic, available via their main online site: www.myspace.com/whambangcomics.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

John Townley, our office Christmas sprite, who has kindly been sharing "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" and "I Wish it Could be Christmas Every Day" with us for, well, whenever he thinks he can get away with it, took a break from formatting new Roy of the Rovers strips to give the ROK Comics site a bit of festive cheer...

Cheers, John - and a happy festive season to you from all of us at ROK Comics!