Friday 9 May 2008

ROK Comics supports new Charity Comic


ROK Comics is backing Floods, a new charity comic created to raise funds for the Red Cross and available now from lulu.com. Initiated by Adam R. Grose, publisher of Clown Press, a wide selection of writers and artists have come together to create this book.

Creators include Ben Womack, Simon Spurrier, Simon Mackie, David Hailwood, Tom Millsom, Nick Miller and others, and features a special drabble -- a 100 word story -- by Doctor Who writer Paul Cornell.

It was Adam who came up with the project last year after parts of Britain were hit by disastrous bad weather. Since then, of course, many places across the globe have suffered devastation from floods and other terrible weather, including Bangladesh, southern Africa and, only this month, Burma.

Adam was moved to try and inspire the comics community to create a collection of one page strips and raise funds for flood relief.

"The UK experienced some of the most horrendous weather, with a month's worth of rain falling in 24 hours," Adam explains. "During this time, many of our fellow citizens experienced flooding, unknown to many of us.

"I decided to put together a comic to help raise awareness of our changing world, the environment and the increasing floods and disasters, that seem ever increasing since the turn of the millennium.

"The book will help raise money for the Red Cross and victims of the floods. Hopefully, this will be available the world over and help to bring more awareness to our world community."

Some of the strips have also been adapted for the ROK Comics mobile format, as a means of promoting the project, with profits from sales going to the Floods cause. (ROK Comics has kindly agreed to do the adaptation work for any creators who would like to see their "Floods" strip in this format. (Contact us if you'd like to do a mobile "Floods" strip, but basically you need to come up with a ten frame strip, each frame 480 x 480 pixel in size, 18 point lettering with a "floods" theme or link).

Adam hopes to add to the existing book with more strips so if you would like to contribute a strip to an expanded edition of the book -- which may eventually see real world publication -- get in touch with him via the Clown Press web site.

• The ROK "Floods" comics can be viewed at www.rokcomics.com/floods.php
Buy the Floods book from lulu.com

Wednesday 7 May 2008

Moon Queen: Jelston's Lesson



Everyone loves our superhero the Moon Queen - but she's blissfully unaware of it! Her best friend is the Bee - the only one who doesn't seem to want something from her. MQ's real name is Agnes Bale, she can fly and has super powers but she is far from invulnerable.

In Jelston's Lesson, the latest Moon Queen adventure to appear on ROK Comics, jealous Blink Bonny makes her life a misery!

Creator Chris Reynolds, who has been publishing Moon Queen on ROK Comics for a while now, created the classic graphic novel Mauretania first published by Penguin Books. His most famous character is Monitor, the strange, helmeted, spaceman aged between about eight and thirty, who had many strange and nostalgic adventures. Now Chris' latest character is the Moon Queen. She's sensitive like Monitor, but her adventures take place in a more colourful, sunny, upland world!

• You can view them all the Moon Queen strips on your mobile by subscribing to our WAP service.

Simply choose a strip you like on the main ROK Comics site, then follow the download to mobile links and choose the subscribe option (or just subscribe right out the door). When you receive a WAP push message to your phone, connect to the site using that link using your mobile, bookmark it, and you'll be subscribed to ROK Comics Mobile for the next month.

This link is exclusive to your phone, so don't lose it!

Italian Vampire Tales



Italian artist Rodrigo Diaz is a new face on ROK Comics, trying out the service to deliver a great looking vampire tale called Ligea. We're looking forward to seeing more soon!

More about Rodrigo on his deviantart web site (in Italian!)

ROK Buys Jalipo Media

ROK Entertainment Group Inc., the global mobile entertainment group and owners of ROK Comics, has announced that it has acquired 100 per cent of the issued and to be issued share capital of Jalipo Ltd for total consideration of 600,000 ordinary shares.

Jalipo Media Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jalipo Ltd and the only operating function therein, is a UK Registered IPTV company which offers live streaming of TV content over the internet. Jalipo is the first online marketplace for TV and video, allowing content owners to
use the internet to offer their channels, video-on-demand and live events direct to viewers around the world.

TV Channels currently featured on the service include BBC World, Sky News, Al Jazeera, and shows such as the anime Paradise Dolls, Cosmo Warrior, Saiyuki, Izumo and many animated short films.

“This acquisition is of great strategic importance to ROK,” commented Laurence Alexander, CEO of ROK, “as it furthers our presence in the mobile TV market. There are significant synergies between Jalipo’s product offering and our own, which we look forward to incorporating within and, as a result, enhancing, ROK’s delivery portfolio.”

ROK Corp Web Site

Sunday 4 May 2008

Free Comic from The Temple

On the weekend of Free Comics Day, we're pleased to report Issue #0 of The Temple Comic APA’s Digital Showcase is now available to download as a free PDF at templeapa.ning.com, featuring a motley collection of strips from some great indie talent.

Showcasing the work of 15 members (mostly from around the UK), this 70-page anthology highlights the diverse nature of the Amateur Press Association, containing humour, horror, slice-of-life, superhero, sci-fi and more (including content of a mature nature).

Creators include ROK Comics creators Paul Harrison-Davies, Paul Eldridge, David Hailwood, Toshiro de Smeyter and Simon Mackie and it's a fab free read!

The Temple is the UK’s longest running comic APA, having run for 12 years and 55 issues before going digital. The aim of the Temple is to learn, improve, collaborate and support each other’s comic projects. Everyone from the rawest amateur to the most seasoned professional is welcome to join.

• For more information check out templeapa.ning.com, or contact John Kirkham at sr-republic AT ntlworld.com