ROK Comics

ROK Comics releases digital edition of STRIP Magazine #2

2011-12-06T09:42:00.001Z

The iPad-only digital edition of STRIP Magazine #2 is now on sale from iTunes - again in advance of the print edition.

Produced by ROK Comics for Print Media Productions, the second issue of the Magazine - available in print from UK comic shops from 14th December - features a

cover by top Tank Girl artist Rufus Dayglo and includes:

• Black Ops Xtreme Part 2, written by John Freeman and drawn by PJ Holden: the team are sent to South America to kill a dangerous terrorist!

• Warpaint Part 2 by Phil Hester and John McCrea: Mia learns more about an ancient war!

• Age of Heroes Part 2 by James Hudnall and John Ridgway: the magician Wex battles for his life against deadly monsters!

• Recovery Inc. by Michael Penick and Dean Deckard: the company is hired to retrieve a top secret stolen prototype!

• Hook Jaw, re-mastered by Jim Campbell and Gary Caldwell: Joy over an oil strike turns sour as the great white shark Hook Jaw attacks!

• 'Cold Hard Facts' - a man from the 20th Century finds the future is not the paradise he expected

• The second winner of our 'Strip Challenge' - "The Citadel Codex", set in ancient Mexico

• An exclusive interview with comic artist John McCrea, British comics news, a competition to win copies of Paul Gravett's new book 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die and the new collection of Alan Grant and Arthur Ranson's Mazeworld; and a sneak preview of Crucible, one of the new strips coming up next year STRIP Magazine.

• Buy STRIP Magazine #2 from iTunes

Steve English wins Bucket Prize with Mobile Phone-inspired comic

2011-11-02T14:07:00.000Z

Steve English with his
'Tartan Bucket'

Steve English, creator of the ROK Comics-published strip Madd Science, has just been awarded the first Tartan Bucket Prize (named in honour of famous Scottish comics character Oor Wullie) organised by Dundee University in conjunction with D C Thomson.

The aim of the competition was to design a cartoon character and story that would be suitable for the likes of weekly print comics Beano and Dandy.

Steve's winning entry, Belle's Magic Mobile, will feature in the Beano in January 2012.

"It's about a girl with a magic mobile phone that she gets from her grandad who looks suspiciously like Alexander Graham Bell," Steve tells us. "I'm hoping there's lots of scope for follow up stories. I'm madly inking some new stories to show the Beano, but time will only tell if they see it that way too.

"They're going to publish it in January," he reveals. "Chris Murray, the guy who organised the Dundee Comic Day, has said he would probably put an exhibition together for that time too."

Madd Science is one of three creator-owned iPhone apps available from ROK Comics, the others being Ligeia the Vampire by Rodrigo Diaz Ricci and The Mobile Gospel by Rich Diesslin.

ROK Comics fans will recall Steve also won our very own comics competition, back in 2007.

In addition to his competition success, his football humour strip Football Earth now features in two more publications, She Kicks published by Baltic Publications and Farnborough OBG matchday programme.

ROK Comics partners with STRIP Comic Magazine for first iPad title

2011-10-28T12:21:00.002+01:00

ROK Comics is pleased to announce the launch of a digital edition of the new UK adventure anthology comic STRIP Magazine, published by Print Media Productions.

Initially only available in print in dedicated UK comic shops, the digital edition of the first issue is now available worldwide for iPad from the Apple iTunes store.

Published by new graphic novel and magazine company Print Media Productions, STRIP Magazine is an adventure anthology comic featuring some great art and stories from some brilliant creators including PJ Holden (Judge Dredd), John McCrea (Hitman, The Boys), Michael Penick (Insurrection), John Ridgway and many more.

Offering a range of strip stories, comics news, interviews and features, plus a fully re-mastered version of the classic British comic strip Hookjaw, this is a first issue you will not want to miss!

ROK Comics partnership with Print Media Productions is one of several new agreements with comics publishers and comic creators. These include the release of an iPad edition of The Iron Moon, a steampunk graphic novel created by acclaimed film writer Stephen Walsh and veteran British artist Keith Page. A special 'prequel' strip for The Iron Moon appears in STRIP Magazine #1.

The opening page of Black Ops Xtreme,
drawn by PJ Holden.
© Print Media Productions

ROK Comics recently launched its first fully originated comic, TEAM M.O.B.I.L.E. which is initially being published as a weekly web comic (at www.theteammobile.com), followed by roll out on iPad and other devices.

An ongoing adventure comic, TEAM M.O.B.I.L.E. centres on the story of teenagers recruited into a secret organisation to battle crime, terrorism and other dangers – some stranger than others – created by ROK founder Jonathan Kendrick.

ROK Comics has previously published creator-owned and licensed strips for mobile, with three iPhone apps – Ligeia the Vampire by Rodrigo Diaz Ricci, The Mobile Gospel by Rich Diesslin and Madd Science by Steve English.

Further iPhone and iPad apps, working with a number of different publishers, are in development.

ROK Comics, part of ROK Global PLC, continues to provide mobile comics content for WAP subscription services across the globe and is currently working with partners in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Listed on the Open Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, ROK Global PLC was co-founded by US Billionaire John Paul DeJoria and UK-based serial technology-specialist entrepreneur, Jonathan Kendrick.

In addition to being co-founder of ROK, John Paul DeJoria is Chairman and CEO of John Paul Mitchell Systems, the producer and manufacturer of Paul Mitchell hair care products and is also co-founder of Patron Tequila, the world’s leading premium tequila brand.

ROK has pioneered many new technologies in the rapidly-evolving mobile and web space, including high quality mass-market Mobile TV

Print Media is a new British company formed by Ivo Milicevic, who has been publishing comics and graphic albums in Bosnia and Croatia for 20 years, working with publishers such as Bamboo, Casterman Dupuis, Les Humanoides Associes and King Features Syndicate. PMP UK plans to publish comics and graphic albums in the UK market, developing their own characters but also working directly with creators and other publishers to create new graphic albums and comic strips. More info at www.printmediaproductions.com

• Visit ROK Comics at: www.rokcomics.com

• STRIP Magazine #1 can be downloaded at: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/strip-magazine-1/id474222695?mt=8

• The Iron Moon can be downloaded at: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/the-iron-moon/id472627046?mt=8

• Read Team M.O.B.I.L.E. at www.theteammobile.com

ROK Comics releases first iPad Graphic Novel, "The Iron Moon"

2011-10-28T11:58:00.001+01:00

Lancaster, England, 28th October 2011: ROK Comics, Britain's dedicated mobile comics publisher, is pleased to announce the launch of a digital edition of the steampunk graphic novel The Iron Moon, a creator-owned comic story by acclaimed Commando comics artist Keith Page and film writer Stephen Walsh.

Described as 'Rorke's Drift in Space', The Iron Moon is a fast-paced steampunk-inspired adventure starring no-nonsense adventuress Charlotte Corday and is now available worldwide for iPad from the Apple iTunes store.

In the story, the twentieth century is just around the corner and Queen Victoria is hale and hearty as she heads into the second century of her reign. The British Empire stretches from the white cliffs of Dover to the red skies of Mars. Go-getting men and women of the imperial dominions flock to the colours, eager to make reputations and fortunes in the wilds of high space.

Take lieutenant Charlotte Corday, for instance. Born in what used to be known as France, she has risen to prominence through the ranks of the Royal Space Navy and now finds herself up to her neck in her greatest escapade yet. Watch as she travels to the mysterious Iron Moon! Marvel as she grapples with a conspiracy that may see the galaxy plunged into war! Goggle as she meets new and strange races, both mechanical and biological! Ponder how she manages to put away so many cups of tea! And prepare to have your brain scrambled as she scoops us up and carries us to the very limits of this universe... and into the next!

ROK Comics partnership with Stephen and Keith is one of several new agreements with comics publishers and comic creators. These include the release of an iPad edition of the first issue of the adventure anthology comic STRIP Magazine, published by Print Media Productions, which includes a special 'prequel' strip for The Iron Moon.

ROK Comics recently launched its first fully originated comic, TEAM M.O.B.I.L.E. which is initially being published as a weekly web comic (at www.theteammobile.com), followed by roll out on iPad and other devices.

ROK Comics has previously published creator-owned and licensed strips for mobile, with three iPhone apps – Ligeia the Vampire by Rodrigo Diaz Ricci, The Mobile Gospel by Rich Diesslin and Madd Science by Steve English.

Further iPhone and iPad apps, working with a number of different publishers, are in development.

ROK Comics, part of ROK Global PLC, continues to provide mobile comics content for WAP subscription services across the globe and is currently working with partners in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

• The Iron Moon can be downloaded for £4.99 at: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/the-iron-moon/id472627046?mt=8

• Visit ROK Comics at: www.rokcomics.com

• A print edition of The Iron Moon is available from Print Media Productions – www.printmediaproductions.com

Praise for The Iron Moon

"Keith Page's artwork here is a joy and a revelation... In recent years his own style has really developed and The Iron Moon is proof of the dedication and hard work he's devoted to his craft. Keith has put an amazing amount of detail into the drawings and the book is a rewarding experience... A refreshing change from all the computer coloured pages usually found in comics these days."
Lew Stringer, Blimey, It's another Blog About Comics

"... Keith Page’s imaginative artwork complements and enhances Walsh’s writing. It brings the fantastic and bizarre world to life, no mean feat considering some of the things that the script has asked him to do. That he has done everything asked of him... and done it with such style is an achievement that deserves all the plaudits it will get."
Gordon Robertson, Comic Buzz

About the Authors

Iron Moon writer Stephen Walsh has written multiple volumes of DC Thomson's Commando Picture Library, as well as the graphic novel The Acid Bath Case (illustrated by Kellie Strom). He co-wrote the feature films How Harry Became A Tree, released in 2001, directed by Goran Paskaljevic and the upcoming Where The Sea Used To Be, directed by Paul Farren. He's currently working on a documentary about John Ford with the director Sé Merry Doyle, as well as preparing further adventures of Charlotte Corday with Keith Page.

Inspired by the great British comics artists of the past such as Frank Hampson, Don Lawrence and Joe Colquhoun, Keith Page has worked full-time in comics and illustration for some 17 years. Subjects have ranged from television-related material such as Thunderbirds, science fiction, and his current war stories of all periods for Commando. A variety of Keith's work can be seen on www.keithpageukcomicsartist.blogspot.com.

About ROK Global

Listed on the Open Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, ROK Global PLC was co-founded by US Billionaire John Paul DeJoria and UK-based serial technology-specialist entrepreneur, Jonathan Kendrick.

In addition to being co-founder of ROK, John Paul DeJoria is Chairman and CEO of John Paul Mitchell Systems, the producer and manufacturer of Paul Mitchell hair care products and is also co-founder of Patron Tequila, the world’s leading premium tequila brand.

ROK has pioneered many new technologies in the rapidly-evolving mobile and web space, including high quality mass-market Mobile TV (which can be streamed, live and on-demand, over mass-market 2.5G as well as 3G and Wi-Fi) as well as mobile security technologies and multi-language text-to-speech technologies.

Cartoonist Callout for The 9th Annual 'The Cartoon Days of Christmas'

2011-10-03T09:12:00.000+01:00

ROK Comics creator Rich Diesslin has just announced the 9th Annual On-line The Cartoon Days of Christmas, which aims to offer cartoonists interested in some free promotional fun.

This year's Cartoon Days of Christmas will begin on 1st December and run until 5th January 5th at www.the-cartoonist.com. Cartoons need to be submitted by 28th November in order to be posted on the web site.

Each cartoonist will have a page featuring two or more cartoons on the theme of humor in the Christmas season.

"It will be G-rated fun for the whole family and help to keep the hustle and bustle of the holidays in perspective," says Rich.

How it's looked in past years can be found at www.the-cartoonist.com/tcdc_july.html

Rich, whose 'Mobile Gospel' is available as a ROK Comics-produced iPhone app, is known for his freelance cartoons and cartoon books on a variety of topics including his recent e-book KNOTS Scouting, Out-to-Lunch general and Gospel cartoons.

"This foray into Christmas humour is one of the ways the cartoonists can draw attention to their cartoons, blogs and web sites," Rich enthuses."It's free publicity for those participating, and this year they will again be able to have two cartoons added to the gift shop to generate a little bit of revenue next year."

What you need to participate:

RSVP e-mail to Rich so you can be kept up-to-date on any developments

Basic stuff needed for your web page:

Two or more cartoons on Christmas (G or PG-rated)
A brief biography (one or two paragraphs)
A banner and/or contact information
E-mail them to Rich by 28th November 2011 via RLDesATaol.com
Promote the event to your contacts
Enjoy the show!

Content will be screened for suitability on a family-oriented web site! Further information is available upon request, including interviews and graphics as needed.

ROK Comics launches Misfits from M.O.B.I.L.E.

2011-09-01T11:58:00.000+01:00

ROK Comics, Britain's dedicated mobile comics publisher, has just launched its first originated comic title – MISFITS FROM M.O.B.I.L.E.

MISFITS FROM M.O.B.I.L.E., drawn by Andrew Chiu, is the first fully originated ROK Comics title and will initially be published as a weekly web comic (at www.misfitsfrommobile.com), followed by roll out on iPad and other devices.

An ongoing adventure comic, MISFITS FROM M.O.B.I.L.E. centres on the story of teenagers recruited into a secret organisation to battle crime, terrorism and other dangers – some stranger than others.

And if you’re wondering why a secret organisation would risk such young lives, there’s a very good reason, and all will be revealed in the coming weeks…

MISFITS FROM M.O.B.I.L.E. is the creation of ROK founder Jonathan Kendrick, a concept he has been developing for several years. Inspired by a love of James Bond and comics, he came up with the back story for the comic, including its top secret 'MindMerge' technology and gadgets.

The strip is written by John Freeman from storylines by Jonathan Kendrick, with art by Andrew Chiu. Kris Carter is colouring the title, with Jim Campbell providing lettering and logos.

John Freeman's credits include work for Marvel, Judge Dredd Megazine and other comics but he's perhaps better known as an editor, for ROK Comics and titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, STRIP Magazine and many others. Andrew Chiu's credits include 2000 AD, the mainstay of the British comics industry, DC Comics, Vertigo Comics and ILEX Press.

Kris Carter is a digital colourist, illustrator and web designer whose credits include Transformers and Doctor Who and Jim Campbell is a professional comic-book letterer and occasional artist whose credits are far too numerous to details but suffice to say, he's worked for pretty much every major British comic publisher and some American companies, too.

ROK Comics has previously published creator-owned and licensed strips for mobile, with three iPhone apps – Ligeia the Vampire by Rodrigo Diaz Ricci, The Mobile Gospel by Rich Diesslin and Madd Science by Steve English.

Further iPhone apps, working with a number of different publishers, are in development.

ROK Comics, part of ROK Global PLC, continues to provide mobile comics content for WAP subscription services across the globe and is currently working with partners in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Listed on the Open Market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, ROK Global PLC was co-founded by US Billionaire John Paul DeJoria and UK-based serial technology-specialist entrepreneur, Jonathan Kendrick.

In addition to being co-founder of ROK, John Paul DeJoria is Chairman and CEO of John Paul Mitchell Systems, the producer and manufacturer of Paul Mitchell hair care products which achieves in-salon retail sales of approximately US $900m annually through more than 100,000 salons worldwide. John Paul is also co-founder of Patron Tequila, the world’s leading premium tequila brand.

• Follow MISFITS from M.O.B.I.L.E. at www.misfitsfrommobile.com

• Visit ROK Comics at: www.rokcomics.com

ROK Comics launches new iPhone Comics Apps: Vampires, Mad Scientists and Scripture!

2011-02-14T11:15:00.002Z

ROK Comics is pleased to announce the launch of three dedicated comic apps for iPhone, working in partnership with three dedicated comic creators whose work reflects three very different story genres.

The apps are the first 'white label' comics apps created by ROK Comics in partnership with creators or publishers on a revenue share deal - ROK provides the delivery app, the creator or publisher the content.

• Ligeia the Vampire comprises 40 episodes of vampire, zombie and wartime menace, inspired by the story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. Drawn in a style echoing the work of Alex Toth, Frank Miller and Alberto Breccia, the strip pays homage to HP Lovecraft and movies like La Maschera del Demonio.

The creation of artist Rodrigo Diaz Ricci and inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe, many of Ligeia the Vampire's adventures are set in wartime Europe, a time when the lines between good and evil are never clear cut. A graphic designer and comics artist, Rodrigo has worked for US and European comics publishers, including covers for the Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia and also for Mondo Ignoto’s Horror and Forbidden Archaeology magazines.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for a new audience to get to know my characters," feels Rodrigo. "Mobile comics go beyond the comics fans out to the general public who would not, perhaps, buy comics.

"The iPhone is an amazing platform, he added. "It's the natural evolution for the newspaper comic strips."

• Mobile Gospel is a quirky but fun re-telling of the gospel of Luke, the creation of Rich Diesslin, based on the book of Luke from his Cartoon Gospel Series (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).

Rich is is also the creator of the KNOTS or Not Scouting cartoons and a general single-panel cartoon called Out to Lunch. He is also the author and cartoonist of The Cartoon Ten Commandments and the cartoonist of A Journey Through Christian Theology, an anthology of theologians now in its second edition published by Fortress Press.

"It's exciting to be able to deliver a 2100-year-old message using visual parables with cutting edge technology!" says Rich. "In other words, the Gospel of Luke in cartoons as a ROK iPhone app! It's great to be a part of ROK's iPhone apps launch.

"This is a great time to be a comics creator in terms of all the options available to get our work out there - print, computers and now mobile devices," he adds. "ROK continues to be a leader and innovator in bringing comic content to the mobile market and this is clearly a logical next step for them. I am pleased to be part of the ROK Comics iPhone apps launch and hope this proves to be a viable niche amidst the thousands of apps that are on the market."

• Madd Science is a humour strip - the clue to its content is in the title! - by Steve English won the Rok comics competition a couple of years back, judged by the editor of the Beano, so it seemed a no brainer to include it in this first tranche of iPhone releases.

Steve's work has appeared in UK weekly comic The Beano and other publications. He's the author of a number of books including The Potted Guide to Theology with Tony Gray (recently translated into German) as well as Peter's Cat and Two by Two.

Originally launched as a WAP subscription service, ROK Comics has most recently been focusing on delivering subscription services in countries such as India.

All the comics created using the ROK Comics comic creator service (via www.rokcomics.com) have been specially formatted to work on the mobile handset using WAP pages, WAP download or MMS download.

With every new deployment in a territory, existing content is handpicked for suitability. Traditional localised content is also sourced. ROK comics are managed directly from the UK by John Freeman, who has over 25 years experience and knowledge of this industry; having previously been a Group Editor for Marvel Comics UK and editor of magazines such as Doctor Who Magazine, Star Trek Magazine and the UK edition of Simpsons Comics.

"I'm delighted we're launching these comic apps," says John. "The strips will appeal to different markets and we're keen to roll out further projects, working with both publishers and other key creators."

All three comic strip iPhone apps are available from the iTunes store via the links below.

• Ligeia the Vampire: The Treasure of the Vampire on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/ligeia/id409858722?mt=8

• The Mobile Gospel by Rich Dieslin is on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/mobile-gospel/id409877719?mt=8#

• Madd Science by Steve English is on iTunes at http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/madd-science/id409860018?mt=8#

ROK Comic Creator Interview: Rodrigo Diaz Ricci

2011-02-10T15:00:00.000Z

Ligeia the Vampire by Rodrigo Diaz Ricci.
An iPhone app is available

Ligiea the Vampire creator Rodrigo Diaz Ricci was born in Valparaiso, Chile. A graphic designer who worked in cartoons in Chile, he moved to Europe and saw his work published by several Publishing House in Italy and Greece. He now works freelance for digital publishing houses in the United States and Europe.

His first Ligeia the Vampire story is now available as a ROK Comics app.

ROK Comics: Where and when did you get your first comics break?

Rodrigo Diaz Ricci: Well, my first really comic break was Ligeia for ROK Comics when I first published it for mobile, three years ago now. This character has opened several doors in my life.

ROK Comics: Where else has your work appeared?

Rodrigo: Different places: I did some cover illustrations for the supplement Nine on the Elefterothypia newspaper in Greece, and a collaboration for Mondo Ignoto, a publishing house owned by Dario Argento in Rome. Reborn is a science fiction graphic novel that's been published on iPhone by Arrow Publications in the United States and other different Digital Publishing Houses.

ROK Comics: What's your greatest achievement in the comics field?

Rodrigo: Ligeia the Vampire, absolutely.

ROK Comics: How did you discover Rok Comics?

Rodrigo: Three years ago, I started publishing Reborn as a webcomics via Drunk Duck. I have a very good reception and a writer, David A J Berner [publisher of Broken Voice Comics] wrote a positive comment about it. I visited his web site and found the ROK Comics link and searched in my files for an idea that might work on mobile. I found my old comic strip Ligeia, buried in the hard disk in the section "Possible Projects" -- and the rest is story.

ROK Comics: How do you feel about Digital comics over Print based comics?

Rodrigo: Digital Comics is a new experience for me, which has helped me bring my characters to a different public. It's a great opportunity for a new author, who can't easily break into the traditional media.

I would like to see Ligeia on paper at some point, I like the comics in paper -- but I think that digital and print can live together and complement each other.

ROK Comics: Do you think digital comics are reaching a new audience or expanding the existing one for print?

Rodrigo: I think the formula is to publish digitally and afterwards, if the idea is good, put out a print edition. I think there are a lot of people who are happy to read a comic on a screen, but, equally, they'd like a print copy of it too. I think this model of business is a great oportunity for the industry.

ROK Comics: Apart from your digital comics, what other projects you working on at the moment?

Rodrigo: It's a sign of the times but the only I comics I am working on are digital projects - I'm working on a European erotic comic and my own Ligeia stories.

I have a project for paper, a story featuring the Danube Bears, a mercenary group who feature in Ligeia: Treasure of the Vampire. It's a straight action adventure story [in the style of Brtish comics like Battle or Commando], set on the Eastern Front during World War Two, which I hope to publish in the future.

ROK Comics: What's your favourite comics related website?

Rodrigo: I have somany reference websites.In English I read Down the Tubes and sometimes Newsarama, but I read websites from Italy, Spain,Argentina and Chile. At the moment, I'm enjoying a lot of comic podcasts, too.

A sample page of Judge Dredd
by Rodrigo, to experiment with
new techniques

ROK Comics: What comics are you reading at the moment (both web and print based)?

Rodrigo: Well, now that I work in comics, I don't have time to read them! But I do study different comics fron the web and my old paper collection.The last that I read was The Scorpion. I'm a huge fan of French bande dessines, and different European comics like Dylan Dog, Corto Maltese and others.

From the web, think The Abominable Charles Christopher is very interesting. I have to say that I miss Zuda Comics and ROK's original site, which featured a number of new artists.

At the moment I read so many books (more than comics), such as The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Last Legion by Valerio Massimo Manfredi.

ROK Comics: Whose work do you most admire in the comics field and why?

Ligeia the Vampire by Rodrigo Diaz Ricci.
An iPhone app is available

Rodrigo: That's a very difficult question. I admire so many from different periods. Warren publications like Eerie and Creepy, for example. Artists like Will Eisner, Milo Manara, Jodorowsky, Hugo Pratt, Alberto Breccia, Frank Miller, Pat Miles, Dave McKean and many more...

I think I admire all this people because all them were - or are - looking to find new sttyles for comic art. At the moment I think that the new way is the digital, which is offering plenty of opportunities to push the form in terms of storytelling, and surprise the reader.

ROK Comics: What advice would you offer to new cartoonists?

Rodrigo: That's a very difficult question because I still need to learn so many things about this wonderful art yet myself. But the best advice I think is: to be a cartoonist you need to think like a Samurai and concentrate 100 per cent on achieving this. If you can't work very hard, 14 hours a day, seven days a week, you're not made for this job, because this is more than a Job: It's your Life. And like a cartoonist, a life full of sacrifices!

• Buy Ligeia: Treasure of the Vampires from iTunes

• Check out more of Rodrigo's work at: www.ligeia-the-vampire.com

Add caption

ROK Comics Creator Interview: Steve English

2011-02-03T14:43:00.002Z

Steve English

Madd Science creator Steve English was inspired to draw cartoons by copying Walt Disney characters at the age of 5 or 6. Reading comics for himself at an older age inspired him to produce his own simply for fun, and that remained a hobby for many years.

"Although I eventually went on to do A level art I decided to study history and archaeology at university in the late 1980's and early 90's where I produced cartoons for the history society there," he says.

"After graduating I worked for a Christian student organisation, and after that as a church youth worker. However, a friend from university remembered my cartoons and asked me to illustrate a guide to theology. It was my experiences from that that made me want to become a full time cartoonist and I have been freelance for just over ten years."


Madd Science by Steve English

ROK Comics: Where/when did you get your first comics break?

Steve English: I suppose The Potted Guide to Theology and the following book, Peter's Cat (which was completely cartoon strips) could be considered to be the break that inspired me to become a freelance cartoonist. But it's hard work just trying to find the next cartooning job and I'm always looking out for the next break.

ROK Comics: Where else has your work appeared?

Steve: A few years back I did quite a lot of work for The Horrible Science Collection and Scooby-Doo World of Mystery, and I did a couple of spreads for The Horrible Histories Collection. Currently I have a football cartoon that appears in the Non-League Paper and I also do work for the Salvation Army in their children's magazine Kids Alive!.

ROK Comics: What's your greatest achievement in the comics field?

Steve: I am very proud of my current cartoon, Football Earth, which appears in four different publications across two continents. Also winning the 2007 ROK Comics humour competition with Madd Science was a definite highlight. It was great to be recognised like that.

ROK Comics: How did you discover Rok Comics?

Steve: I really can't remember now - it was possibly through a link found on Down the Tubes. Either way I just stumbled on it one day while surfing the net, and I thought it would be an ideal way of promoting Madd Science.

ROK Comics: How do you feel about Digital comics over Print based comics?

Steve: There is something very tangible about holding a printed comic and for me that is hard to beat. But because of the cost, print media and the distribution of it is mostly in the hands of a select few. Digital technology has put comic production into the hands of potentially anyone, at very little cost, and with the rise of portable computers reading a digital comic is going to feel more and more like having a printed comic. This will certainly lead to a lot more expression and creativity. The question is whether or not cartoonists will be able to make a living from it. I guess only time will tell.

ROK Comics: Do you think digital comics are reaching a new audience or expanding the existing one for print?

Steve: I'm sure they must be reaching new audiences, but the great thing about traditional comics is their collectability. So hopefully the market for printed comics will also be expanded by the demand for collecting what is seen on screen.

Samples of Football Earth by Madd Science creator Steve English

ROK Comics: Apart from your digital comics, what other projects you working on at the moment?

Steve: As I mentioned before, I currently draw a cartoon panel called Football Earth, about how animals play football, which features weekly in The Non-League Paper. It also had a short run in the BeanoMAX last year, and appears in a couple of soccer magazines in America. I am constantly trying to get more publishers interested in it and have recently submitted it to the Sports Journalists' Association to be judged for sports cartoon of the year.

In 2009 I produced my own comic, The Dead Sea Comic, which sadly only had a brief run. However I have another publisher interested and I am hoping to resurrect the project later this year.

ROK Comics: What's your favourite comics related website?

Steve: I would have to say Down the Tubes for the simple reason of keeping up to date with news about British comics and potential future work. There has been the odd occasion when I have missed something important so I have now made it my home page.

ROK Comics: What comics are you reading at the moment (both web and print based)?

Steve: I subscribe to the new Dandy for my daughter, but of course I enjoy it too! I regularly plague the editorial team with submissions but so far they have turned me down. I see myself as mostly as a strip cartoonist (the newspaper type) so for inspiration I subscribe to Comics.com. They send me a whole load of newspaper strips by email every day for free.

ROK Comics: Whose work do you most admire in the comics field and why?

Steve: I really admire newspaper cartoonists who can produce something funny and interesting every day of the year. Not surprisingly the really good ones burn out. So it is sad when you have to talk about the likes of Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) and Gary Larson (The Far Side) in the past tense. Those guys have probably influenced me more than any other cartoonist. They were consistently funny and full of surprises.

ROK Comics: What advice would you offer to new cartoonists?

Steve: Get a good computer and know how to use the internet. Get used to receiving lots of rejection letters and just be determined to succeed.

• Buy Madd Science for iPhone

• Check out Steve's Dead Sea Comics

• Check out Steve's Football Earth

• Follow Steve on Twitter

ROK Comics Creator Interview: Rich Diesslin

2011-01-25T12:31:00.000Z

Rich Diesslin is the creator of The Mobile Gospel, one of ROK Comics first 'Creator Comic Apps'), published in partnership with an individual comic creator.

The project is based on the book of Luke from his Cartoon Gospel Series (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). He is also the creator of the KNOTS or Not scouting cartoons and a general single-panel cartoon called Out to Lunch. He is also the author and cartoonist of The Cartoon Ten Commandments and the cartoonist of A Journey Through Christian Theology, an anthology of theologians now in its second edition published by Fortress Press.

ROK Comics: Where/when did you get your first comics break?

Rich Diesslin: In 1990 my first book, The Cartoon Gospel, was published by a small
press. I put a partial manuscript together in 1986 and sent it out to all the Christian publishers I could find. A few expressed some interest and one came back with an offer to
publish it.

ROK Comics: Where else has your work appeared?

Rich Diesslin: Books, local newspapers, magazines, merchandise and greeting cards and my web site: www.the-cartoonist.com.

ROK Comics: What's your greatest achievement in the comics field?

Rich Diesslin: I've had several books published and I'm just now starting to get more active networking with other creators.

Quite a lot of my cartoons are available on merchandise now (t-shirts, mugs, etc.), which is helping to provide some steady income.

ROK Comics: How did you discover ROK Comics?

Rich Diesslin: I believe my first contact was a message sent to me on MySpace from John Freeman. That took me to the company web site and I thought that it sounded like a really good idea.

I started uploading general, scout and gospel cartoons and was very pleased to be a finalist in their big competition back in 2008. I do single-panel cartoons but with guidance from John I was able to turn many into a serialized comics, including what he later dubbed" The Mobile Gospel".

ROK Comics: How do you feel about Digital comics over Print based comics?

Rich Diesslin: As a creator, I view all avenues of publication and good. They all have strengths and weaknesses, but overall it is just a way to deliver a visual laugh. I like digital comics, even though I still prefer to read things on paper, I believe I'm heading more and more digital as time goes on.

I create in Photoshop, so the digital part doesn't bother me at all and I can quickly convert my cartoons to just about any medium. ROK seems like an opportunity to see what the mobile device media will bring, and I was pleased to that the Mobile Gospel was selected as one of the lead-off iphone apps for ROK.

ROK continues to be on what I call "the bleeding edge" of digital comics delivery. Their original concept was good, and with the popularity of mobile, they should be able to smoothly transition over and stay a leader in the field.

ROK Comics: Do you think digital comics are reaching a new audience or expanding the existing one for print?

Rich Diesslin: Studies have shown an increase in the percentage of ebook sales vs. printed books, suggesting that it is increasingly replacing print media. I have no doubt that ebooks and apps are also reaching new audiences as well.

Recently I was pleased to find out that a 4-year-old girl (and her mom) were enjoying the Mobile Gospel. While my cartoons are mostly intended for youth and adults, the daughter really liked any book with cartoons and her mom finds it a good way to cover to bible lessons.

I think there will continue to be a role for print media, but a lot will change in the market place as we find out just what that role will be (also known as at what point the market share will level out). Right now, the trend is toward digital and the risks and costs associated with digital are much more conducive to publishing than tradition forms.

ROK Comics: Apart from your digital comics, what other projects you working on at the moment?

Rich Diesslin: I should be releasing a new work this winter cartooning the Old Testament.

I haven't decided the best form for it, but I'm thinking my web site and an ebook might be the way to go.

Otherwise, I continue to work on Out to Lunch and KNOTS or Not scouting cartoons.

ROK Comics: What's your favourite comics related website?

Rich Diesslin: Other than my own (www.the-cartoonist.com), I find The Daily Cartoonist blog is very good for keeping up with cartooning in the United States. Also, several papers in the US allow you to view comics online, and the Houston Chronicle even allows you to build your own link by selecting from several comics.

ROK Comics: What comics are you reading at the moment (both web and print based)?

Rich Diesslin: Not too surprisingly I like Pearls Before Swine, Zits, Baby Blues, Brewster Rockit, SpeedBump, Dilbert, Agnes, Drabble, among others.

ROK Comics: Whose work do you most admire in the comics field and why?

Rich Diesslin: Bill Watterson (creator of Calvin and Hobbes), Dave Coverly (SpeedBump), Scott Adams (Dilbert), Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), Tony Cochran (Agnes), Kevin Fagan (Drabble) and more ... mostly because they are (were) just consistently funny.

ROK Comics: What advice would you offer to new cartoonists?

Rich Diesslin: Love what you do, do what you love, but don't give up your day job (unless you can)!

• Buy The Mobile Gospel on iTunes

• Check out more of Rich's work at www.the-cartoonist.com

ROK Comics Revamped

2011-01-21T12:21:00.001Z

The ROK Comics web site (www.rokcomics.com) has just been revamped to promote our new iPhone comic apps - check it out now!

The first of our iPhone apps are Ligieia by Rodrigo Diaz Ricci, Madd Science by Steve English and The Mobile Gospel by Rich Diesslin.

Creators can still log in and create comics on the ROK Comics platform using this link: but because we are currently focusing on both paid app creation and delivering comics to WAP subscription services we have, reluctantly, had to 'close off' access to site content meaning they cannot be viewed on site.

The Indian WAP services, which feature a number of the more popular comics on the ROK Comics service along with material purely for the Indian market such as comics published by Raj Comics and ACK, are proving successful.

For Indian customers, Airtel Live now offers a wide range of comics via a dedicated Mobile Comics platform, including recent issues of Raj Comics superhero Nagraj, Doga and the first story in a trilogy of tales of Super Commando Dhruva. There is a daily charge of Rs. 5/- and you can read any comics from a huge selection.

Airtel in India customers may access the Comics Portal service by texting ‘COMICS’ or "COMIC" to 54321 or by directly visiting the Airtel Live portal. This service is compatible with all GPRS-enabled handsets in India.

• Airtel customers should note that Airtel may charge you additional money for the data download and the price for that may vary depending on what plan you have.

ROK Comics Site - Information

2010-07-15T14:42:00.000+01:00

Our apologies to our fans, but for various technical reasons it's currently not possible to view comics on the ROK Comics site.

You can still create comics if you are an existing creator, which will be considered for use on our paid WAP services, but the 'embed' function, to put your comic on a web site, is not working.

It is also possible to create a new account to create comics.

ROK Comics is focusing its energies on its successful WAP subscription services in India at present.

You can still view ROK Comics 'Pro' content on paid services such as the iPhone app.

ROK Acquires Player One

2009-10-02T17:10:00.001+01:00

ROK Entertainment Group, the mobile technology, applications and services company, has today announced the acquisition of leading mobile gaming company, Player One.

Player One, established in 1999, has carved out a valuable niche in the mobile gaming market through the creation and exploitation of its IP and in early 2006, the company launched Player One Sports dedicated to bringing the best sport action and entertainment to mobile phones.

Player One's reputation has been built on securing the rights to high profile, internationally recognised sports personalities and brands, such as Freddie Flintoff’s Powerplay Cricket, Ronnie O’Sullivan’s Snooker, Jensen Button’s Grand Prix Racing, Frankie Dettori’s Horse Racing, and Ernie Els’s Golf, amongst others, and delivering them as mobile games.

Within the last 12 months Player One has launched over 20 mobile games.

Commenting on the acquisition, Jonathan Kendrick, Chairman and CEO of ROK said “Mobile gaming is proving to be evermore popular worldwide, so we are delighted to add Player One to our portfolio of revenue-generating mobile products and we look forward very much to the successful deployment of their existing library of world-class mobile games as well as developing new games, going forward.”

In addition to it’s high quality mobile games, Player One Sports has enhanced its content offering through the development and distribution of sports branded wallpapers, ringtones, video clips and uniquely, the live streaming of key sports events.

“Player One Sports is dedicated to creating the best sport action games for mobile phones and ROK gives us a hugely enhanced sales pipeline to a massive mobile market worldwide.” Added Pete Russell of Player One.

Player One’s games are compatible with most mobile Operating Systems, including the iPhone. Freddie Flintoff’s Powerplay Cricket will launch on Nintendo DS later this year and a range of Sony PSP mini games will be available in early 2010.

ROK Team Pick: The Return of Ugly Fruit

2009-07-01T16:30:00.001+01:00

Curly cucumbers, crooked carrots and mottled mushrooms - odd-looking fruit and vegetables are making a comeback as 20-year-old EU rules are lifted.

Marketing standards for 26 types of produce have been scrapped, in a drive to cut EU bureaucracy, the BBC reports.

Ligeia Goes Rock!

2009-06-30T09:14:00.001+01:00

Comic artist Rodrigo D. Ricci, creator of the vampire horror comic Ligeia which first appeared on mobile on ROK Comics (www.rokcomics.com/ligeia.php), has just released a video single based on the strip via YouTube.

Edgar the Cat is a joint production from Rodrigo and his brother Paulo Diaz Ricci and is the first single inspired by the Ligeia The Vampire comic.

You can view the first full series of the comic - 40 chilling episodes - via www.rokcomics.com/ligeia.php

• LIGEIA THE VAMPIRE and EDGAR the cat is copyright RD.RICCI. Edgar the cat song: Lyrics and Music by All Rights Reserved.

ROK Deploys in India

2009-03-18T20:10:00.003Z

The ROK Entertainment Group, owners of ROK Comics, has announced the launch of its subsidiary office in India.

Tasked with marketing ROK’s suite of revenue-generating mobile applications to India’s leading Mobile Operating companies, ROK Entertainment India Ltd, located in New Delhi, is lead by seasoned marketer Jasjit Puri (Jasjit.puri@rokent.com).

“I am delighted to be equipped with ROK’s portfolio of revenue-generating mobile products at this exciting time in the development of the mobile industry in India” said Jasjit Puri. “ROK is at the cutting-edge in mobile entertainment and services innovation.”

ROK, best known for its award-winning mass-market mobile TV service which streams live TV to mobile handsets over existing 2.5G and 3G mobile networks as well as over Wi-Fi, has created more than 20 leading mobile applications and will soon launch ROK TV, ROK Comics, Mobile Video Messaging and mobile email in India with several of the major network operators.

The mobile industry continues to grow rapidly in India with the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) reporting more than 9 million new GSM subscribers added in February alone to take the total to 277 million, nationwide.

Bharti Airtel cemented its position as the country's biggest operator by adding 2.7 million new users last month, with an overall customer base of 91 million customers and a market share of 32.8%, followed by Vodafone Essar's customer base which stands at 66 million. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) remains in third place with 44 million subscribers. Idea Cellular has a customer base of 41 million while other players such as Aircel, Reliance Telecom, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and BPL account for 13% of the market between.

“Crucially, India’s mobile operators are highly dynamic in their adoption and marketing of new mobile services while mobile customers tend to be hungry for content” added Jonathan Kendrick, Chairman and CEO of ROK Entertainment Group “and with Jasjit leading the deployment of our services, all of which are designed to raise ARPU while preventing churn, we are hugely excited for ROKs continued growth across the sub-continent.”

ROK Comics offered to 'Virtual Operators'

2009-02-12T15:43:00.004Z

ROK Entertainment Group, the mobile technologies, applications and services provider and owner of ROK Comics, has announced the availability of a specially-packaged suite of revenue-generating products designed to enable MVNOs (Mobile Virtual Network Operators) to compete with mainstream Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).

A mobile virtual network operator is a telecoms company that provides mobile phone services without owning its own network, examples being Virgin Mobile in the UK and US, and Call Plus and TracFone in the US. MVNOs essentially buy capacity in bulk and resell it at retail rates, but with what's known as the Average Revenue per User (ARPU) level falling across the mobile industry, it's widely recognized that the business models under which most MVNOs have operated to date need to be changed.

"Until now, most MVNOs have been competing for customers through the only means they have -- that of price-dumping their voice and text service offerings," said Jonathan Kendrick, Chairman and CEO of ROK. "However, with Operator hosts doing likewise, the margins for most MVNOs have been steadily eroding and are, in many instances, unsustainable."

There are currently approximately 360 planned or operational MVNOs world-wide, according to consultancy firm Takashi Mobile, with the UK, US, Germany and France among the countires having the most such networks.

In addition to ROK Comics, ROK's MVNO product pack includes such services as low-cost mobile calling technologies, low-cost SMS technologies as well as ROK TV, Push Inbox mobile email, FreeBe TV, News on Demand and Fonepark Mobile Content.

"Our aim is to level the playing field for MVNOs through offering them a one-stop-shop of relevant and appropriate revenue-generating services designed to raise ARPU, reduce customer churn and enable our partner MVNOs to pro-actively poach customers from rival network operators," added Kendrick.

• MVNOs may request more detail on ROK's suite of products at www.rokent.com/MVNO

Glazed over Gaza

2009-01-09T14:58:00.000Z

Santa Goes Strange in 'Stick-Man'...

2008-12-17T16:07:00.000Z

Courtesy of Scottish cartoonist Malcolm Kirk, whose hilarious Stick Man discovers Santa has gone a bit, well, strange this year...

Check out www.myspace.com/mal_comix for more of Mal's work, and there are more of his Stick Man cartoons here on ROK Comics.

Cartoon Christmas

2008-12-11T12:02:00.000Z

Cartoonist Rich Diesslin, a ROK Comics stalwart, came up with this Cartoon 12 Days of Christmas. You can check out more of his work at the-cartoonist.com

Team Pick: Looking Back... by Raymond Betancourt

2008-11-18T10:01:00.004Z

Here's the latest of US-based artist Raymond Betancourt's "Looking Back" strips, which offer an alternative take on famous historical events. Here at ROK Comics, we think Raymond's on a roll with this one -- just look at the success of book series such as Terry Deary's Horrible Histories.

Brooklyn-based Raymond is a self-taught artist and poet who, in addition to cartoons and paintings has recently written and illustrated a children's book as well as several colouring books. "My work is mostly surrealistic in its subject matter," he reveals on his Artmajeur page. Some of this more surrealist work is being offered by ImageZoo. He's also a contributor to The Dream People, an online literary journal run in association with Eraserhead Press.

Several collections of his Twisted cartoon collections are available via CartooneBooks and lulu.com. You can also view some of them online at www.twisted.dostweb.com.

• To see more of Ray's works visit Breaking Art, Live to Paint, or Now Surreal

Chris Reynolds on Show

2008-10-31T12:08:00.005Z

Moon Queen creator Chris Reynolds has been in touch to tell us that one of his paintings, of Brownsea Island/Poole Harbour has been chosen to be part of the Stuckists Antidote to the Ghastly Turner Prize at the ViewTwo Gallery, Liverpool from 6 - 29 November 2008, part of the Independent strand of the Liverpool Biennial Festival of Contemporary Visual Art.

The infamous phenomenon that is The Stuckists - an international art movement for contemporary figurative painting with ideas, described as "anti the pretensions of conceptual art or Anti-anti-art" - returns to Liverpool for the first time since their major show at the Walker Art Gallery for the 2004 Biennial, which proved hugely popular and very successful.

The Stuckist art group was founded in 1999 by Charles Thomson and Billy Childish, who has
since left, with 13 artists to promote “figurative painting with ideas” and oppose conceptual art.
There are now over 160 sister groups in 40 countries. The name comes from an insult by Tracey
Emin to Childish that he was “stuck”.

The Stuckists have gained considerable media attention for their demonstrations against the
Turner Prize, and also instigated a media scandal about the Tate’s purchase of its own trustees’
work. This led to a Charity Commission ruling that the Tate had been acting illegally for 50
years.

• Brownsea Island, the current location for BBC Autumnwatch with Bill Oddie and Kate Humble. is just one of many paintings by leading British Stuckists that form the exhibition and large (A1) prints of this painting are available in a limited edition of 100 from the Guildhall Gallery, Poole, UK, price £39, Tel: (01202) 673 715.

Hallowe'en Horror Fun: Fone Freaks!

2008-10-30T17:19:00.004Z

Thomas Behe, author of the comic Contraband and artist Chris Walker have launched a new comic strip, Fone Freaks, via ROK Comics just in time for Hallowe'en.

Fone Freaks follows the adventures of Sally Snedley, a wireless scientist who seeks revenge on the nasty corporate criminals who stole her cell phone invention back in the 1970's.

Sally seeks justice by targeting the Fat Cat's cell phone customers by creating a haunted network that enables ghosts to zoom out and make people to do dumb things on their phone.

Illustrator Chris Walker has been creating comics for five years and hopes his new strip will appeal to sequential art fans of all ages. "Each Freak represents a silly, embarrassing or annoying social cell phone habit we all do - or see others doing - at some point in time.

"It's mildly self-deprecating at heart although we hope younger children will enjoy the characters - even if they don't fully understand some of the sometimes twisted underlying message. Most kids seem to have a cell phone now and (the ones I know anyway) really love being on them as much as possible."

• For more information about ROK Comics go to www.rokcomics.com. For more information about the Fone Freaks strip, please go to www.fonefreakscomic.com.

Garfield Minus Garfield!

2008-10-28T20:21:00.002Z

ROK Comics creator David Reddick, creator of Reddickulous, is contributing new "Garfield Minus Garfield" news reports to the official Garfield web site (www.garfield.com). where I interview Jim Davis... minus Jim Davis! Just go to Garfield.com and look at the main video screen at top, and click #3 - and be sure to click it again and again, as there are several different takes! "I went all Stephen Colbert on this," laughs David.

ROK Comics on Now on iPhone

2008-10-24T16:28:00.002+01:00

ROK Comics has launched ROK Comics as an application on the Apple iPhone.

The ROK Comics application, the first of a planned series of applications currently in development by ROK for the iPhone, enables iPhone-owners to read a selection of strips from the huge and fast-growing ROK Comics portfolio, to include such strips as Anomaly (by Kennedy Rose), Crumb (by David Fletcher), Reddickulous (by David Reddick), sci-fi strip Crazy Mary (by Mike Colbert, Edward Woodward and others) and gothic comic Ligeia (by Rodrigo D. Ricci).

"We felt we should offer variety in our comics offering and this selection reflects the diversity of strips available on ROK Comics to include humour, adventure and sci-fi," ROK Comics Managing Editor John Freeman commented. "We will constantly be evaluating, adapting and looking at new features while adding further strips in future versions of the application."

If you already have iTunes installed on your computer, you can view the App on ITunes via: http://tinyurl.com/rokcomicsoniphone

More information about the new application can be found at: www.rokcomics.com/iphone

"The iPhone is having a far-reaching effect in transforming access to - and use of - mobile entertainment," added ROK's Creative Director Graham Baines, "and we at ROK are focussed on deploying ever-more interesting, engaging and easy-to-use content services and applications into this fast-growing channel".

This week, the New York Times reported that Apple sold 6.9 million iPhones in the last quarter in the US alone and has already surpassed its goal of selling 10 million iPhones during 2008, according to Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs.

"This is an exciting development for us," said ROK’s Group CEO, Laurence Alexander "and reflects our ongoing commitment to develop and deploy engaging entertainment services to mobile phones globally."

ROK Comics (www.rokcomics.com) provides comic publishers and creators to reach a worldwide audience by delivering comics to mobile phones, either by WAP subscription of Pay Per Download via Multi Media Messaging (MMS) with creators receiving up to 50% of the available revenue on every sale.

• If you already have iTunes installed on your computer, you can view the App on ITunes via: http://tinyurl.com/rokcomicsoniphone

• More information about the new application can be found at: www.rokcomics.com/iphone

YuuROK Mobile Social Community Hits 300,000 Users

2008-10-16T10:47:00.001+01:00

ROK Entertainment Group, owners of ROK Comics and the YuuZoo Corporation, the global mobile media company, have jointly announced their mobile social network service, YuuROK, has passed the 300,000 registered user milestone and is on target to generate one million users within the next few months and three million users worldwide within 12 months.

Juniper Research predicts the number of active users of mobile social networking sites is expected to rise from 54 million in 2008 to nearly 730 million in 2013.

Advertising-funded, YuuROK is free to use providing the user has a data package in their mobile tariff. YuuROK is available from www.yuurok.com/web.

YuuROK is currently generating more than 20,000 new sign-ups a day worldwide through integrated promotional campaigns and through existing users notifying the existence of the service to their friends and families, virally.

“YuuROK not only delivers Blackberry-like mobile email functionality to mass-market WAP-enabled mobile phones at no cost to the user, it also provides a unique mobile social network service with several value-added applications such as ebooks, daily news and sports news feeds, daily comics and jokes all designed to encourage uptake and use of the service.” said Ron Creevey, Group President of YuuZoo.

It is the email utility aspect of YuuROK which generates repeat usage which enables YuuROK to launch a multitude of additional services into the community.

“Mobile email is a very fast-growing service worldwide and YuuROK is a mass-market, all-devices capable mobile email service” said Laurence Alexander, Group CEO of ROK “but YuuROK is much more than just a mobile email service and we will shortly be adding our GeeSpark mobile social network application which allows people to communicate virally and send images and YouTube videos to each other from their mobile phones.”

• YuuROK is available from www.yuurok.com/web

Secrets of Ligeia Revealed

2008-10-15T12:55:00.004+01:00

With a new episode of Ligeia now available on ROK Comics, creator Rodrigo D. Ricci has revealed more about the background to the character in a posting for the strip's Facebook page. What follows is a translation/adaptation of Rodrigo's posting, which is in Spanish...

Ligeia was created in the summer of 2006 in Italy, inspired by the story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe. The plan was that this vampire "with a touch of irony", drawn in a style echoing the work of Alex Toth and Frank Miller, would be the kind of work an Italian publisher interested in publishing a graphic novel by Rodrigo would like.

Unfortunately, neither of the two projects were realized and have been buried on Rodrigo's computer for some time. Then, when he put some of the pages of comicspace.com, a lot of people told him that they liked the character.

Ligeia is inspired by various sources. Poe first, mainly to capture as much as possible the environment with the use of black and white in high contrast. There's also elements of the Lovecraft, especially his lesser known work "Medusa's Coil" ( by Lovecraft and Zealia Bishop, read it online), more than anything because Ligeia's hair moves in a lively, bizarre way.

The strip also pays homage to movies like La Maschera del Demonio), directed by Lamberto Bava, more than anything because of the use of black and white in that film.

Physically, Ligeia is a blend between Barbara Steele and Edwige Feneche and other actresses of the Golden Age of film.

Rodrigo decided to make Edgar a pet cat to avoid the horrible cliches of Igor in some bad movies. As a character it works well: cats have an extraordinary personality. "They do not need to interpret any role, since they are the role," he says.

The story comes with the Nazis after reading the book Hanussen, a Jew in the court of the Third Reich. Rodrigo was astonished by this bizarre character, a Jew who was the magician of many senior Nazis, but hated by Gobbels who considered him a charlatan. Hanussen believed in The Temple of the Uunseen, but made the mistake one night at a party having a vision and predicting that a building would be burned, causing a major sea change in the Weimar Republic.

One day later someone set fire to the Reichstag and Hitler came to power. Shortly afterward, Hannusen was found shot dead in a park. (more about Hannusen here on Wikipedia. Werner Herzog made a movie about him in 2001 starring Tim Roth, and there have been others).

There is a definite morality to the comic although Rodrigo leaves the reader to choose whose morality they favour. Ligeia is a vampire, so in theory, evil. On the other side are the Nazis sent by Himmler, and those who might be the traditional heroes are a band of mercenaries, all united bya desire to loot the gold of the vampire.

"This series was born at time of many changes," says Rodrigo. "Gradually, publishers are leaving paper behind and transferring their attention to the massive audience potential of the web cell phones and the iPhone."

Any decision on the quality of the strip Rodrigo leaves in you hands, cordially inviting you to read... Ligeia!

Temple Digital Showcase launched

2008-10-10T15:34:00.001+01:00

The first edition of British Amateur Press Association group The Temple's digital showcase is now available online from their web site to download as a free PDF.

The 36 page magazine contains contributions from 10 members, including the likes of ROK Comics creators such as David Hailwood, Paul Harrison-Davies, Simon Mackie and Malcolm Kirk.

Inside you'll find cartoons, full strips, previews of soon to be released small press comics, work in progress, and a behind the scenes look at making a webcomic.

If you're a comic artist/writer who's interested in joining the Temple APA, then more details are available on the site (it's as simple as clicking 'join'). Although this is the first digital issue (apart from Issue 0, which is also available on the site), the Temple's been running for more than ten years now and seen a wealth of talent come and go. Everyone's welcome, from the rawest amateur to the most seasoned pro.

It's a good place to learn from each other and hone your skills, or simply draw more attention to upcoming projects.

Web Link: www.templeapa.ning.com

Fav Strip of the Day: The Norm

2008-10-09T17:02:00.001+01:00

Fav ROK Comic of the Day: Joe's Blunder

2008-10-07T13:53:00.000+01:00

ROK Launches GeekSpark

2008-10-03T13:23:00.002+01:00

With the mobile social network market predicted to grow from 54 million users in 2008 to 730 million user in the next 5 years, ROK Entertainment, owners of ROK Comics, has announced the imminent worldwide launch of GeeSpark, the world’s first mobile viral messaging service.

The fastest growth in the mobile social networking market will come from the Far East and China, according to Juniper Research in a report published this week. In addition, Juniper predicts it will be advertising-funded mobile social networks which will drive the revenue growth of user-generated content from $1.1 billion in 2007 to $7.4 billion in 2013.

 Following the hugely successful adoption of broadcast messaging on computers, where users share messages with multiple friends at the same time, GeeSpark will enable users to chat, share messages, images and YouTube videos on their mobile phones and forward these to their friends and groups, in a viral fashion.

 GeeSpark has been developed by ROK’s Finland-based mobile services development company, Geniem. GeeSpark is currently in invitation-only Beta mode and will be advertising-funded. The service is free to join from www.geespark.com and is free to use providing the user has a data plan in their mobile tariff.   

“In the past few years, there has been a phenomenonal uptake in, and migration from, the use of email onto instant messaging and now onto multi-person ‘broadcast’ messaging using PC-based social networking services" said Tuomas Kumpula, Managing Director of Geniem, “and we believe the next evolution in the networking space will be through mobile phones wherein GeeSpark users can share messages, images and videos from YouTube with all of their friends at once, on a viral basis, through their mobile phones."

 Commenting on GeeSpark, Laurence Alexander, Group CEO of ROK said “To be launching the world’s first mobile viral messaging service is tremendously exciting and is another major milestone in the development and deployment of our suite of revenue-generating mobile services and technologies.” 

ROK And A Hard Place Comics Competition Winner

2008-10-02T12:04:00.004+01:00

ROK Comics is pleased to announce that the winner of its 2008 ROK and A Hard Place Comics Competition, run in association with the Birmingham International Comic Show, is British comics artist Ian Stacey.

Ian’s entry, titled “Noah and A Hard Place” was a stand out winner for the BICS team and wins him a Nokia 95 mobile worth almost £500.

The BICS judges also spoke highly of John Maybury’s “SpaceBabe” entry and Ian’s other shortlisted entry, “Crossroads and A Hard Place”.

You can view all the winners at here on www.rokcomics.com.

Working in partnership with BICS (www.thecomicsshow.co.uk), ROK Comics threw down the challenge to creators to create a comic revealing a life changing moment.

“The Noah strips works on every level,” felt James Broxton, who judged the winners from a high quality shortlist along with indie comics distributor Shane Chebsey, owner of Smallzone Comics, and also a BICS organiser. “It’s a nice job, and Ian is a deserved winner.”

“It’s fantastic news,” said Ian on learning of his win, “Thank you very much and thanks also for finding my work a new home.”

Freelance cartoonist and illustrator Ian Stacey had already won high acclaim for his ongoing strip Wet Paint before taking the plunge and bringing it to ROK Comics for web and mobile distribution. “There’s some very funny material that made me laugh out loud,” says Monty Python team member Terry Jones, while top comic creator Alan Grant has described Ian as “an exceptionally funny cartoonist.

“He aims at just about every target under the sun, from genetic modification to Batman, and hits the mark in every case.”

Ian recently began offering a collection of many of his Wet Paint cartoons for sale via his web site (www.ianstacey.net), with all proceeds going to the Big Issue Foundation.

“When we first discussed the idea of a competition to tie in with BICS we were determined to stretch comic creators from the get go,” says ROK Comics Managing Editor John Freeman. “The cartoonists rose to the challenge, with some great entries.”

“We wanted comics with someone telling the story of a difficult choice they've had to make in their life,” said Shane. “It certainly made a change from superheroes.”

"We at BICS love the way that ROK Comics is so accessible to both creators and readers,” Shane adds, “and feel that working together we can help to bring the wonderful medium of comics to a wider readership. Mobile phones are now the most widely used method of communication in the world, so it seems the perfect way to present new comics to more people than ever before".

ROK Comics delivers the means for both comic publishers and creators to reach a worldwide audience by delivering comics to mobile phones, either by WAP subscription of Pay Per Download via Multi Media Messaging (MMS).

Creators publishing professionally via ROK Comics will receive up to 50% of the available revenue on every sale, with full access to sales statistics, viewings and more.

• The Birmingham International Comic Show takes place this coming weekend, Saturday – Sunday 4 -5 October 2008 at the ThinkTank, Birmingham.

ROK Comics 2008 Humour Competition Winners

2008-10-02T11:17:00.005+01:00

ROK Comics is pleased to announce that the overall winner of its 2008 Humour Comic Competition is David Fletcher, for his strip featuring Crumb, his crazy, ever-hungry blackbird character.

David’s entry, titled “Pitter Patter” was a stand out winner for the editorial team at top Egmont comic TOXIC, who were the external judges for the competition which ran through August this year on the ROK Comics web site, and wins him a Nokia 95 mobile worth almost £500.

TOXIC editor Matt Yeo describes the strip, which stars Crumb and his rat friend as “A punchy quick-fire gag, with simple yet effective illustrations!”

Runners up were ClownoSaurus by Peter Coupe (“The ancient tale of a bizarre clown-based dinosaur. What’s not to like?!” says Matt) and Meteoro by Puerto Rican comics creator Vicente Aviles (“Classic euro-art, backed with madcap energy!”) starring El Profe.

Vicente, who has been publishing strips to ROK Comics since it started last year, originally published the strip in English, but has recently added Spanish versions at the suggestion of the ROK Comics team, and this entry qualified for consideration for the competition.

Responding to Matt’s comments, Vicente says “I'd say that I always liked the European comics style, and is the style which I've always trying to emulate, so... I have accomplished it! I wish someday I have the opportunity to publish a comic book.” (you can read more El Profe at www.rokcomics.com/elprofe.php)

Crumb is just one of top New Zealand-based cartoonist David Fletcher many cartoon creations. David’s cartoons are published in over 30 newspapers worldwide including New Zealand’s top-selling TV Guide (which has some 800,000 readers a week), the New Zealand Herald and the Australian Daily. The strip is now available in Chinese and through the whole ROK Comics mobile and online distribution network.

“It's great to have all the long hours slaving over a graphics tablet recognised by someone of Matt Yeo's standing,” says David. “My fourteen year old son's eyes lit up at the thought of getting his hands on the Nokia. No chance! Crumb's become very much part of my life and I'm still hoping one day he'll be able to support me into my old age.”

ROK Comics delivers the means for both comic publishers and creators to reach a worldwide audience by delivering comics to mobile phones, either by WAP subscription of Pay Per Download via Multi Media Messaging (MMS).

Creators publishing professionally via ROK Comics will receive 50% of the available revenue on every sale, with full access to sales statistics, viewings and more.

“We were delighted with the quality of entries for the competition and pleased the shortlisted entries tickled the fancy of the demanding TOXIC team, who were our external judges,” said John Freeman, ROK Comics Managing Editor and former editor for titles such as the UK Simpsons Comic, Doctor Who Magazine and Star Trek Magazine.

Scattered Comics Contest

2008-10-01T10:30:00.006+01:00

To celebrate the release of the first issue of its full-colour comic Scattered, Scattered Comics, the publishing house featuring the work of Night Owl artist Jason Dube, have created a cool cover contest.

Your challenge is to create an original, cool, jaw-dropping cover art as inspired by Scattered #1.

(Follow this link to see pages from the comic for you to use as inspiration)… the rest is up to you and your creative artistic minds!

Submit entries to Jason Dube at scattered_catATyahoo.com

The Winner of the competition will have their cover used as a variant edition cover for Scattered#1 and you will receive 10 Free copies of that issue to show off or sell. Scattered Comics will also run a bio feature about the winner inside the comic itself and the Scattered website(s).

The runner ups will have their submission in the comic with name and contact information.

RULES:
• You must be 13 years or older to participate
• This is a worldwide contest.
• The art can be created by using any media.
• You may submit more than one entry: online entries only, hardcopies not accepted;
Entries are to be inspired by the linked comic book. (See: www.scatteredcomics.com/id46.html)
• Entries must be submitted before 11:59:59 PM (PST) ON November 15th, 2008. Entries after this date will not be accepted
• All entries must be 11” x 17” and at least 360dpi
• Acceptable file formats: TIFF, PSD, EPS, PDF, JPEG
• The Work (i) may not have been previously published or won any other prize/award, (ii) must be the exclusive original work of the entrant, (iii) must be in keeping with the Sponsors™ image, (iv) may not be inappropriate, offensive, libelous or defamatory, pornographic, sexually explicit, unlawful or plagiarized, as determined by the Sponsors in their sole discretion, (v) must not be harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, profane, obscene, excessively violent, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable or offensive in any way, as determined by Sponsors in their sole discretion, (vi) may not violate or encourage others to violate any applicable law, statute, ordinance or regulation, (vii) may not defame or invade publicity rights or privacy of any person, living or deceased, or otherwise infringe upon any persona’s personal or property rights or any other third party rights, (vii) may not contain commercial/corporate advertising, including but not limited to corporate logos, brand names, and slogans, other than those relating to the Sponsors and (ix) may not include any viruses, worms, corrupt files, Trojan horses, or other forms of corruptive code or content that may harm or compromise the Contest Site and/or the proper conduct of the Contest.
• All Works submitted will remain the exclusive property of the entrant, provided that:
(i) entrant will not acquire any ownership or other interest in any and all trademarks, logos and other intellectual property of the Sponsors (collectively “Sponsors Marks”) contained in the Work;

Contest entries will be judged based on Technical Skill (25%), Originality (25%) and Creativity (50%). The more creatively you can capture the themes from Scattered, the better your score in Creativity.

• Visit the official Scattered Comic web site: www.scatteredcomics.com
• Visit the Scattered Comic Stuido web site: www.scatteredcomicsstudios.com
• Read Night Owl on ROK Comics

Virunga National Park Promo

2008-09-30T23:29:00.005+01:00

If you're a fan of mountain gorillas (and who isn't?) then you might like this unofficial promo I worked up for the new Virunga National Park web site using pics sent in an email...

Check out the web site at: www.gorilla.cd

80% of World's Population on Mobile by 2013

2008-09-30T14:55:00.000+01:00

Despite turmoil in world financial markets over the last year, the $1 trillion mobile industry continues to confound expectations, with spectacular and accelerating growth, says Portio Research in its report, 'Worldwide Mobile Market Forecasts 2009 – 2013'.

The report, published this week, reveals that over half the world now uses a mobile phone and predicts that 80% of the world's population – 5.8 billion people - will be doing so by the end of 2013.

Put into perspective, 5.8 billion mobile phones represents more than twice the total, combined, number of TV sets and PC’s globally.

Among the top 20 growth markets there are few surprises, the report says. China wins the top spot, just ahead of India. These two countries alone are expected to contribute over 1 billion additional mobile phone users in the next 5 years.

Africa, the Middle East and Latin America are also expected to experience high growth, estimated at 13.3%, 10.7% and 9.9% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate), respectively.

Meanwhile, despite rising mobile data revenues, mobile ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) continues to decline, and is predicted to fall from $23.20 in 2005 to $15.80 by the end of 2013, largely because the additional subscriber growth is likely to come from low per capita income markets.

Nokia, the world’s leading handset manufacturer, shipped 437 million handsets in 2007, while Samsung has displaced Motorola from the number 2 spot. In the first two quarters of 2008, LG displaced Sony Ericsson from the number 4 spot.

Commenting on the report, Laurence Alexander, Group CEO of ROK said “We are enthused by the Portio report as it highlights not just the staggering and continuing growth of the mobile industry, but also the increasing need of operators and manufacturers alike to develop non-voice revenue streams, which is exactly what we offer”.

ROK Entertainment Group Inc., (OTCBB: ROKE) founded in 2004 and owners of ROK Comics, is a global mobile entertainment group. With approximately 200 staff worldwide, ROK has filed more than 40 international patents for its suite of innovative mobile technologies.

With 3.3 billion mobile handsets in use worldwide, the mobile entertainment industry is a multi-billion dollar business.

ROK TV enables the streaming of live and on-demand TV to mobile phones over mass-market 2.5G, as well as over 3G and Wi-Fi.

More Info: www.rokent.com

Mind Reading Mobile!

2008-09-26T10:15:00.003+01:00

The future (of playing games on your phone) has arrived. San Jose-based company Neurosky Inc. has developed a prototype of a mobile phone which reads brain waves and uses them in its applications. Premiered at a technology exhibition in San Francisco a week ago, web site TechOn reports the headset-shaped system consists of a sensor to read brain waves, digital signal processing part and so forth. The sensor contacts with a point on user's forehead.

By reading brain waves such as α and β waves, the system can roughly measure the degrees of brain's relaxation and concentration, NeuroSky said. The data of brain waves can be displayed on the screen of a mobile phone by using a visualizer or can be used to control the movement of a video game character.

By concentrating on objects and entering a zen-like state, attendees at the Game Developer's Conference in managed to push, pull and even burn on-screen objects.

NeuroSky has already sold development kits to home game console makers and game software developers, and they can now develop systems that use brain waves for operations. The company says it already has more than nine corporate customers.

The company exhibited the new system to show the usefulness of mobile phone application software developed by the kit.

"We prototyped and demonstrated the system to make it possible for our customers to imagine headset-like products," the company told Tech-On. For the future, the company is considering developing not only the systems that control home game consoles and mobile phones by brain waves but also those that control home-use audio-visual equipment.

"Project Millennia" is a multi-biosensor headset, initially targeting the gaming and market research industries and NeuroSky has teamed with technology partners Ascend Visual Systems, Inc., Eye-Com Corporation and Memsic, Inc. to support their phase-one objectives. These include the integration of brainwave (EEG) translations, 2-D accelerometer motion, eye-tracking and 3-D surround sound into a single headset.

The technology will be utilized to control various aspects of an avatar's movement and demeanor.

"NeuroSky´s breakthrough technology is creating a new dimension in human and machine interaction," said Ascend CEO Chern Lee. "Built with Essential Stereo technology, we are excited to incorporate the surround sound audio module with NeuroSky´s headset to create very natural sound effects while also offering comfort and reducing ear fatigue for gamers".

"Eye-Com Corporation envisions that the jointly developed Project Millennia by Eye-Com and NeuroSky will greatly change the way end-users interact with the simulated and real worlds. The integration of optical and neural sensory data has the opportunity to open doors that we have never considered," said Eye-Com CEO Dr. William Torch. "Think about how interactive games will change by giving the end user another tool to play the game – with and without manual dexterity! Think about how the games themselves will change 2008 and the future!"

"Memsic is excited to be working with NeuroSky to incorporate our proprietary accelerometer technology into their next generation gaming headset," says Dr. Yang Zhao, CEO of Memsic, Inc. "Moving forward I believe that there are many additional areas our companies can collaborate to create other groundbreaking applications and products".

Celebrating Talk Like A Pirate Day...

2008-09-19T15:44:00.000+01:00

ROK Comics Goes Free To View!

2008-09-12T15:05:00.004+01:00

ROK Comics is pleased to announce many of the comics published on the service are now Free To View on the web in an ad-supported format.

Marking a major change in the way ROK Comics promotes its comics to mobile service, almost all the comics on the web site (www.rokcomics.com) are now Free To View online.

ROK Comics, which offers comic creators and comic publishers the means to create comics in a format suitable for mobile phone presentation via WAP sites, is also making strips viewable via its web site in an ad-supported format.

The online versions of the strips can be embedded on almost any web site using players similar to many video sharing sites such as ROK’s own Newsjack.tv service or sites such as YouTube.

“We have allowed limited viewing of Pro Comics online since the service began last year,” explains Managing Editor John Freeman, “but an opportunity has arisen for us to promote the service in an ad-supported format on the web, and we’ve chosen to try that route.

“We think this is an appropriate move for ROK Comics,” added ROK Media CEO Graham Baines. “It enables full promotion of most of the comic brands we feature.”

There will be some territorial and contractual restrictions on certain strips being published under license but top independent creator strips such as David Fletcher’s humour strip Crumb, Ian Gibson’s quirky Annie Droid, Chris Reynolds’ superheroine series Moon Queen, Rich Diesslin’s Mobile Gospel, Kennedy Rose’ hilarious Anomaly, Rodrigo Ricci’s vampire tale Ligeia, John Maybrury’s SpaceBabe and Josh Alves’ Tastes Like Chicken are now viewable in full online.

“Reaction to the change has been positive,” says John. “From the outset, we knew ROK Comics was at the forefront of a new development for comics, bringing them to mobile, and the past year has been a tremendous and exciting learning curve.

“Many creators have been very positive about comics on mobile, recognising the potential of a huge market that big comics publishers are just beginning to wake up to. Like us, they see mobile comics as a way of raising awareness of their creations in a format that reaches many new readers, and the potential, ultimately, for making money from this new form.

“Many see mobile a great way to promote their characters and strips, complementing their other distribution methods.”

Creators and publisher will share in any paid-for ad revenues generated by the online presentation, just as they already share revenue on WAP subscription page views from ROK’s mobile subscriber services operated in partnership with key telecoms such as Telenor, Exact Mobile and retailers such as Claires.

Hand in hand with the mainly behind the scenes changes noted above, the ROK Comics design team have transformed the main WAP site (wap.rokcomics.com). For pricing details in your country go to www.rokcomics.com/subscribe.php.

In the UK, for a free trial of the service on your mobile, text COMIC to 83736. For a full subscription text COMIC SUB to 83736. The UK subscription price is just £3 a month.
Don't forget to bookmark the site when you follow the link you are sent!

ROK’s Fun Little Movies Now Available on MSN Mobile Video

2008-09-12T11:35:00.002+01:00

ROK Entertainment Group's made-for-mobile comedy channel, Fun Little Movies is featured as a new MSN Mobile video channel currently available to millions of viewers on mobile phones and PC’s.

MSN Mobile offers a broad lineup of premium, branded video programming to include Fun Little Movies for people to watch on PC’s, free of charge, with the service being entirely advertising supported. Advertising will be incorporated into the mobile stream service in the near future.

In addition to Fun Little Movies and ROK Comics, ROK develops and delivers a portfolio of revenue-generating mobile applications, content, services and technologies including streamed mobile TV, push email services and data compression technologies, to mobile operators and handset manufacturers alike.

Commenting on the initiative, Laurence Alexander, Group CEO of ROK said “To be working with MSN Mobile on this highly innovative initiative is fantastic and we are delighted to continue our global push of mobile entertainment services in this way”.

• Fun Little Movies are also available via newsjack.tv

Machinima Comics?

2008-09-12T10:26:00.002+01:00

The comic, right, is a concept I've been thinking about for some time now as a way for games companies to promote their games as a ROK Comic.

The art of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, a nifty looking First Person Shooter inspired by the 2007 Shadow of Chernobyl release from Koch Media caught my eye so I decided not just to run a press release on one of the web sites I write for, SciFiPulse in my spare time, but make something more of the stunning PR imagery available.

You can view the comic on the ROK Comics site itself and, since the comic is Fee to View online, grab the embed code and put it on other web sites, just like a YouTube video.

This is my first "Machinima Comic" -- a tip of the hat to the fabulous "computer game videos" fans of many games have created, which you can see on sites such as machinima.com. Admittedly, creating a comic from computer game renders is not as clever as some of the best Machinima, such as the Halo-inspired Red versus Blue, PEDS, based on Grand Theft Auto, or stunning projects such as The Dumb Man (created within Second Life), but the beauty of a ROK Comic based on game scenes is that it is of course much easier to create than machinima!

"Machinima Comics" could easily be used by games companies to promote their wares as well as providing an avenue for comic writers to create comics without (hem ham!) the need of an artist, offering a way for them to hone their scripting skills.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is a survival FPS game for PC based on a 'what-if' scenario of the second Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident. The game is created as a warning to mankind against mindless play with technologies.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky is the official prequel to the renowned S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game created by the Ukraine-based GSC Game World studio, released in 2007. The game is set in 2011 and brings forth the events to have preceded the third campaign of Strelok to the Zone centre.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky introduces an alternative look onto the events of the original game and offers the player to try himself out as a mercenary s.t.a.l.k.e.r. in search of his own path in the world of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

• Official game site: www.stalker-game.com
• More information about the game is available on the official S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/stalkerofficial

Birmingham Gets Watchmen Fever

2008-08-28T15:07:00.000+01:00

The Birmingham International Comics Show returns to Millennium Point in Britain’s second city for second year running in October and has a distinct Watchmen flavour to proceedings with the inclusion of co-creator Dave Gibbons to the growing guest list and a range of panels and other events, including a special ROK Comics tie-in.

One of the most anticipated movie adaptations of all time will be the 2009 release of Watchmen, the best selling graphic novel which made the Sunday Times bestseller list and was named as one of Time magazine's top 100 most influential books since 1923. Along the way, the book has gathered a whole plethora of awards for both its creators, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons and despite it being 22 years since the series finished, DC Comics have printed one million copies of the collected edition in 2008. Such is the demand before the Watchmen movie is even released, the trailer for the movie is already one of the most downloaded and viewed on the internet ever.

Dave will be appearing at the show this year to discuss the book and answer questions.

Also on the guest list are Paul Cornell, writer top Marvel Comics title Captain Britain, who will be signing at the show for both days; V For Vendetta co creator David Lloyd; comics legend Michael Golden and fan favourite John Cassaday, who will be flying over from the USA for an exclusive weekend appearance at the show.

“BICS – as the show has become known among regular visitors – is much more than just a giant comic mart”, explains co-organiser and independent publisher Shane Chebsey. “The show acts as a gateway for both seasoned fans and those just developing an interest in the medium of comics, and enables fans to find out more about the creators behind all the big characters like Batman, Spiderman and Hellboy.

"Visitors can find bargains amongst the collectors items and discover the next big thing amongst the varied selection of publishers and artists exhibiting.”

As well as an exciting event schedule running all weekend long at the show, there will be competitions, portfolio reviews with top editors, signings, and exclusive book launches from some of the UK’s most respected publishers.

The winner of the ROK Comics-BICS co-organised competition, ROK And a Hard Place, will also be announced at the event with a Nokia 9500 mobile phone worth almost £500 up for grabs.

So whether you love Manga, web comics, superheroes, or you just want to find out more about the unique and powerful storytelling medium that is comics, the Birmingham International Comics Show 2008 is one event not to miss!

The show offers great value, with special weekend family tickets, which allow up to 2 adults and 3 children costing only £35 including all events and signings, and under 5’s go free. There are also the options of a single weekend ticket or a one-day ticket for only £16 and £10 respectively.

• Visit the official web site: www.thecomicsshow.co.uk
Show Times are: 10.30am – 5.30pm both days.
• For exhibiting enquiries email: shaneATthecomicsshow.co.uk or telephone: 01952 770013

ROK's Fun Little Movies and Monkey With A Shotgun Team-up for Worldwide Mobile Content Distribution

2008-08-20T12:22:00.002+01:00

Fun Little Movies, a subsidiary of ROK Entertainment Group Inc. which owns ROK Comics, has announced that it has teamed up with award-winning comedy collective Monkey With A Shotgun to create an original comedy series for its global mobile distribution network.

The new series, titled The Learnin’ Place, will launch later this month with short video clips available to download and watch for free on iPhones and from Sprint and Verizon Wireless ‘Rhythm Video’ services across the US.

The Learnin’ Place is a satirical look at the proliferation of adult education classes, taken to the extreme and will be advertising-funded.

“We are thrilled to be working with creative talent like Monkey With A Shotgun,” said FLM's President and Chief Creative Officer Frank Chindamo. “Our global audience expects great content from FLM and this deal is part of our ongoing strategy to reach out and work in co-operation with the best creators in the business to deliver instantly engaging mobile content.”

FLM, based in California, specializes in the development, production and distribution of original video content for global distribution to mobile network operators. It has distribution deals with Sprint, Verizon and ATT as well as several handset makers and overseas partners, from China and Japan to Europe, Africa and South America.

Monkey With A Shotgun is a collective of writer/directors (Padraic Culham, Cher Lytle, Rod Ramsey, Debra Stolberg and Kip Stolberg) who teamed up in 2007 to prove that online comedy content could be hilarious and still maintain high quality production values. Their vision has paid off with millions of views of their comedy shorts since the collective began. Monkey With A Shotgun shorts, including the mega-hit Spanish for Your Nanny and the cult favorite Tales from the Laundry series, have been awarded featured status on the front pages of Yahoo, MySpace, Revver, SuperDeluxe and College Humor.

• More information can be found at www.monkeywithashotgun.com

ROK Entertainment Group Inc. Reports First Quarter Results for Fiscal Year 2009

2008-08-16T20:17:00.002+01:00

ROK Entertainment Group Inc., the global mobile entertainment group and owner of ROK Comics, has announced its financial results for the first fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2008.

ROK has continued to develop its revenue-generating mobile product portfolio, comprising over 40 applications, from high-quality mobile TV streamed live and on-demand over mass-market mobile networks and the internet, to the storage of copy-protected video content for play on mobile devices, through mobile Voice over Internet Protocol (mVoIP) technologies, mobile social networks, data compression services, mobile conference-calling services and an advertising funded e-mail service for mobile users. It currently has corporate operations in the United Kingdom, the Peoples Republic of China, the United States and South Africa which are all active, as well as joint ventures in Russia, Brazil and Pakistan.

Since inception, ROK has concentrated on developing a broad portfolio of mobile technologies, services and applications and, as an expected result, has had limited revenue from the sale of products and services. Revenues for Q1 2009 are $1.0m (2007: $0.6m), representing an increase of 73%. Its net losses for the quarters ended June 30, 2008 and 2007 are $20.9m, of which $14.6m was a charge made during the quarter for stock-based compensation in accordance with US GAAP, and $4.5m, respectively, and its accumulated deficits as of June 30, 2008 and 2007 are $98.9m and $78.0m, respectively. ROK expects to increase its spending significantly as it continues to expand its infrastructure and its sales and marketing efforts, and continue research and development. As a consequence of this, ROK expects to raise additional financing to achieve its operating goals.

The Group experienced strong operational performance this quarter, alongside the focus on the current funding round. Notable developments include the acquisition of IPTV company Jalipo, which offers live streaming of TV content over the internet; the addition of its mobile TV service, ROK TV, and its mobile conference-calling service, ROK Talk, to Telenor’s ‘Playground’; offering the works of Spike Milligan to mobile users via www.spike-milligan.com and the Group’s subsidiary, ROK Comics, adding Roy of the Rovers to its comics for mobile download; and partnering with South African Airways, Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation, Vodacom and Motorola in the search for a Global Soccer Star in Tanzania, which by July 29 had conducted trials with 10,000 aspiring football players in Tanzania with thousands more lined up.

During the quarter, the Group’s subsidiary, ROK Diamonds Limited, entered into a letter of agreement with Australian-listed Mineral Commodities Ltd for the purchase of Kariba Kono diamondiferous gravel dump in Sierra Leone, which would represent the first stage in the divestment of ROK Diamonds from ROK. The Group also disposed of its interest in Rock Group plc, a manufacturer of laptop PCs and TV/PC screens.

A key agreement entered into this year and implemented this quarter is for the provision of white-label mobile TV services, including content, for America Movil, which has mobile carrier operations in 16 territories across the Americas including Mexico. This should start commercial operations in Q4.

There have been several significant developments post period-end, including the deployment of ROK’s News-on-Demand mobile video service through Ufone in Pakistan, and the launch of ROK’s Push-In-Box mobile email service via its distribution partner YuuZoo, with the service being co-branded YuuROK. Delivering regular news updates via MMS, Ufone’s Video News Service is already seeing substantial subscriber uptake whilst in just six weeks to the end of July, YuuROK had achieved almost 100,000 sign-ups. Advertising revenues are expected to grow considerably in Q3.

As a result of these acquisitions, agreements and extensions to its product and intellectual property portfolio, management believes that ROK is well-positioned for expansion over the rest of this year and beyond. The Group’s achievements were recognized when its California-based subsidiary, Fun Little Movies, won the Content Award at the prestigious Mobile Entertainment Forum in Cannes, against competition including BBH, MTV Networks International, Orange Israel and Donna Productions.

Laurence Alexander, Group CEO, commented: “This quarter has witnessed continued momentum in operational performance and we have built upon the foundations laid last year. We have again increased our revenues like-for-like, established and furthered relationships with key global players in the telecommunications sector, enhanced our product and service offerings, which was helped by our strategic acquisitions, and strengthened our intellectual property portfolio. Our achievement is reflected in the Group receiving industry recognition in winning prestigious awards, launching new services and substantially growing our subscriber base organically. As a result, ROK is well-positioned for long-term growth with strengthened foundations from which we expect to continue to rapidly expand our user base worldwide. We look forward to the future with confidence.”

• Read the full press release on the ROKCorp web site

Charlotte Corday: The Hampstead Horror Part 3

2008-08-13T17:20:00.003+01:00

Keith page's fab adventure strip set in 1950s London continues. The delay is completely my fault -- we've been having a big promotional push for ROK Comics recently and that's cut into my new strip work. Apologies...

Glorious Twelfth?

2008-08-12T11:25:00.001+01:00

Joe Gordon warns that Scottish grouse could get nasty over the next four months over on the FPI blog...

Nokia Phones Must Be Won!

2008-08-08T15:51:00.003+01:00

ROK Comics is pleased to announce we have not one but two great competitions to tell you about – open to everyone using the ROK Comics comics-to-mobile service, so pass it on!

Both offer the chance to win a top of the range Nokia 9500 phone, worth nearly £500 ($1000 US). It’s a great mobile phone with high memory capacity, a full set of applications, and versatile network connections so you can keep in stride while on the go.

The 2008 ROK Comics Humour Competition: We’re running another Humour Competition through to 1st September 2008 after last year’s proved such a success. Any humour comic created on the ROK Comics platform – Pro or Freefall and assigned as “Fun” - qualifies for entry. The winner and runners up will be published on a special page on the ROK Comics site, just as we did last year (www.rokcomics.com/winners2007.php).
• For full details of this competition, go to www.rokcomics.com/humour_competition2008.php
The ROK and a Hard Place Competition: We’re delighted to be partnering with the Birmingham International Comic Show (www.thecomicsshow.co.uk) on this, Britain’s premiere comics event, which takes place on 4-5 October. The winner of this competition will also get free entry to the event (travel and accommodation costs not included). While it’s yet to reach the giddy heights of the incredible San Diego Comic Convention, the organisers fully expect over 4000 fans to plough through the doors and they have a terrific line up of creators to see, including the legendary Michael Golden, Hellboy artist Duncan Fegredo, Thor artist Olivier Coipel, V For Vendetta co-creator David Lloyd and Watchmen co-creator Dave Gibbons and many more.

Our ‘ROK and a Hard Place’ competition challenges comics creators to come up with a comic featuring a life changing moment. It could be your life changing moment or someone fictional... Even an animal or robot! What you come up with is up to you.

The theme was the idea of Shane Chebsey, one of the co-runners of BICS and a long-time supporter of Britain’s huge indie comics press. We think this challenge will appeal to many creators worldwide, and we're looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

"We at BICS love the way that Rok Comics is so accessible to both creators and readers,” says Shane, “and feel that working together we can help to bring the wonderful medium of comics to a wider readership. Mobile phones are now the most widely used method of communication in the world, so it seems the perfect way to present new comics to more people than ever before".

• For full details of this competition, go to www.rokcomics.com/bics_competition2008.php • For terms and conditions of both competitions go to www.rokcomics.com/competitionTerms.php

New Anti Doping Comic from UNESCO

2008-08-05T16:09:00.002+01:00

Just launched on the UNESCO Social and Human Sciences website is a new weekly comic by Mychailo Kazybrid which aims to promote the battle against doping in sport.

Published by UNESCO in partnership with EDGE G3 Ltd., The Case of the Spoilsports, published in English, Spanish and French, stars Rattus Holmes and his assistant Dr. Felis Watson and dramatizes UNESCO's anti-doping role and explores the importance of the International Convention against Doping in Sport, adopted by UNESCO's member states in 2005.

The characters come from the pen of Sheffield artist, Mychailo Kazybrid who has been involved in the cartoon and comic book industry for over 30 years, with work covering a variety of licensed characters from Shaun the Sheep, Wallace & Gromit, The Tick to Duckula, Dangermouse and the Bash St. Kids, to name but a few. He also publishes his own strip, Do-Do Man, on the comics-to-mobile service ROK Comics.

"When Ed Chatelier of EDGE G3 Ltd, provided the script, he wanted something different, and the idea was to take a new approach to something that was already well known." Mychailo explains. "So we came up with the pets of the famous having an encounter with pets of the infamous, with my partner, Sarah Sier naming the characters. When the rat and cat belonging to Holmes and Watson have to take on the evil bird of Moriarty, anything could happen!"

With the colour work produced by fellow artist Richard Thomas the story is in five chapters, published weekly.

Inspired by the famous detective stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, it will trace how twin athletes react differently to the pressures of competitive sport. One gives in immediately to the pressure put on him by his trainer and teammates, while the other athlete suffers as a result of the use of performance enhancing drugs by his competitors. From one sports event to the next, the plot will lead us to the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing, China.

Having also produced Rattus Holmes and the Case of the World Water Crisis, artwork is already being put together for the character's third adventure.

• View the strip on the UNESCO Social and Human Sciences website

Spooky Tales...

2008-07-25T23:40:00.002+01:00

British comic creator Malcolm Kirk has used ROK Comics to promote an appeal for creators for his new Scream-inspired project... and a fab little story it is too!

• Check out the Back from the Depths web site

Weird Web Finds

2008-07-25T14:02:00.001+01:00

Weird Web Finds: Chinese Toilets

2008-07-21T11:39:00.000+01:00

How to Draw a Cartoon Cat

2008-07-19T22:33:00.003+01:00

Esbjorn Jorsater, who runs the Comic Art School forum on Ning, has come up with a novel use for ROK Comics -- as a way to deliver tutorials!

Esbjorn has created this simple guide to creating a cartoon cat, which can be viewed in full above. To get the embed code to put the tutorial on your own site, visit this page on ROK Comics!

Josh Alves' Saturday Morning Show!

2008-07-18T16:53:00.002+01:00

... well well, not exactly, but ROK Comics creator Josh Alves (check out Tastes Like Chicken here) has been experimenting with animation. "One of the things I always thought would be cool, would be to have my comic animated," he enthuses on his blog devoted to another of his creations, The Araknid Kid.

"A couple weeks ago, I started playing around with Anime Studio and quickly assembled this (while I learned the ins-and-outs of the software... that’s my disclaimer):

• Check out the first eight pages of his new Araknid Kid story on Zuda!

Creepy Curtain Crawlers!

2008-07-17T14:34:00.000+01:00

Comic creator Chris Reynolds, the groundbreaking talent behind the classic Mauretania graphic novel, has just added a new Moon Queen adventure to the comics to mobile service ROK Comics.

Titled Curtain Crawlers, the spooky tale is different to the previous run of Moon Queen stories, which feature Chris' very own take on superheroes and superheroines, for a number of reasons.

"Because of their content, the previous Moon Queen stories all use ROK Comics' 'R' rating," Chris explains. "Curtain Crawlers is the first Moon Queen story I felt could take the 'U' rating without bowdlerising it into nothingness."

The story also markes the first Moon Queen story where Chris has taken 'as read' the previous body of stories as knowledge that, really, is required of the reader - so if you want to catch up with what has gone before your best bet is to subscribe to the WAP subscription service for just £3 for 30 days, and then you can read all the earlier Moon Queen stories on your mobile.

"I wanted a to go back to a story like my prose novels that's a bit more than just one, however interesting, incident from Moon Queen's life," says Chris of the haunting 24-episode tale. "In Curtain Crawlers, I wanted to write more of a novel-length type of thing – to cover that sort of ground - even if the final story isn't actually very long.

My inspiration for this is the amount of content they fit into the 45-minute episodes of post-Eccleston Doctor Who," he reveals. "I sometimes think some of these these zip by too quickly for me to get a proper grip on them, but that's where comics have a unique advantage shared with text novels - that you can take them at your own pace and re-read at will!"

There are more developments in this story, further expanding the Moon Queen mythos. "By now, I wanted to link the stories a bit with the world and the journey of Mauretania Comics," says Chris, "from which so far Moon Queen's been at arm's length. So Garnet Ross from 'Pure Holiday' makes a cameo appearance (at quite an important moment) and the themes and the concerns of the whole story are quite Mauretania-like, connecting with 'Pure Holiday' again in using audio recordings as an element of the plot.

"I've even re-used one of the imaginary locations from 'How To Do Your Own Dentistry' for the place where 'our' Moon Queen is held while the story unfolds."

Chris was one of the first creators to give ROK Comics a try when it comes to bringing comics to mobile and has some useful tips on developing new comics for the young medium.

"I found 'mobile storytelling' simple to get into because I nearly always draw strips using a uniform panel size anyway," he says, "and my scenes are generally quite short, so the translation to 'page-by-page' format is straightforward.

"The most recent thing I've learned, in correspondence with [ROK Comics Managing Editor John Freeman], is that it's best to have very brief episodes starting with a one-panel recap using the final panel of the previous episode."

At present, Moon Queen stories can only be found on mobile and on Chris' official web site MetroPoppyfield. While there are no plans for a print edition just yet, Marc Baines at Kingly Books, who, among other titles, also pulished The Dial by Chris and Voice of the Wilberforce by Ed Pinsent, is planning a new edition of the Penguin Mauretania.

• You can view all the comics on ROK Comics on your mobile by subscribing to the WAP service for a small monthly fee - $4 in the US, £3 in the UK, other countries also served. Simply visit this page on the ROK Comics site and choose the subscribe option. When you receive a WAP push message to your mobile, connect to the site using that link using your browser, bookmark it -- and you'll be subscribed to ROK Comics Mobile for the next month.

BBC throws down a comics challenge

2008-07-16T07:18:00.003+01:00

(with thanks to Robin Ashwell): The BBC online News Magazine has just published an article on newspaper comic strips -- and is challenging readers to send in their own four panel creations.

The article, published to publicise self-taught artist (and occasisonal DJ, raconteur etc) Phill Jupitus' documentary Comic Love on Radio 4 (available at Radio 4's Listen Again site), notes that for as long as there has been the concept of daily newspapers, there has been the political cartoon. And in the 20th Century there has been a natural symbiosis between the modern newspaper and one particular form of cartoon, the four-panel strip.

The article notes the work of the creators of the Daily Telegraph's Alex strip, the controversy caused by Gary Trudeau's Doonesbury - including audio interviews with the US cartoonist - and features an exclsuive strip by Phil Jupitus himself (first panel above).

Readers -- and several have already commented on the article noting their favourite strips -- are also challenged to send in their own four-panel strips:

Email: yourpics@bbc.co.uk, subject CARTOON
MMS from UK: 61124
Int MMS: +44 7725 100100
Click here for terms and conditions

Shatner on Your Mobile...

2008-07-15T10:16:00.000+01:00

Thanks to a deal between ROK Media (publishers of ROK Comics) and top Hollywood photographer Sue Schneider, you can now buy wallpapers featuring some top SF TV and film stars -- along with other celebrities -- for your mobile.

Mobile service Fonepark is offering a number of 'wallpapers' for mobile featuring the likes of William Shatner, Jeri Ryan, Robert Picardo and many others, along with TV theme ring tones and more.

More SF celebrities will be added to the service in coming months.

Fonepark is also set to add wallpapers by top comics artists already creating comics for mobile, complementing existing comics and magazine-sourced imagery from titles such as Look and Learn and The Bible Story.

New Animation from Michael Jantze

2008-07-10T11:19:00.003+01:00

The Norm Creator Michael Jantze is the man behind a new video outlining the way YouTube works.

"It's a project I've been working on for six months," says Michael. "It took five
scripts and hundreds of drawings to get the story and characters just right. And it's also my first "talkie" cartoon. And yes, even after a very wide casting for voices, the client went with the 'scratch tracks' ... my son and I. It's been a real fun project."

Check it out on the YouTube site

Deadman Goodies On Sale

2008-06-25T15:28:00.005+01:00

Chillin With Dreadman Fans can now buy merchandise from the Chillin With Dreadman Headshop on CafePress.

There's a big range of stuff on sale, from t-shirts to mugs and more.

Satirist David Fennoy recently started adding some of his hilarious jabs at US politics and celebrity to ROK Comics, which you can check out in full if you subscribe to the WAP site!

David is relatively new to the comic world. While you may not know his face, you likely know his voice from dozens of TV shows, commercials and award shows like Showtime at the Apollo, as well as some of the most popular video games on the market.

So how did he get into comics? "I spent many years as a radio personality, able to comment and joke about what was going on in the world," he told ebonyjet. "I've been off the air for a number of years now and think I finally just needed an outlet for what I see and feel about the world we live in with out having to actually write a book that no one would read.

"I have to give a nod to Barack Obama also. His victory speech after winning Iowa inspired the first Chillin With Dreadman comic that I sent out to a few friends who were foolish enough say that they liked it and that I should do more. Since then I've created almost 200 cartoons and see no end in sight."

Josh Alves Interviewed

2008-06-23T15:55:00.002+01:00

ROK Comics creator Josh Alves has just been interviewed by web blog Parable, talking about his new story, Thistles, reveals he is trying to get his comic Tastes Like Chicken, syndicated and updates fans on his progress on DC Comics Zuda platform.

In addition to other projects he reveals he's working on the first full-size Araknid Kid story for Sugary Serials and sketch cards for the Marvel Masterpieces 2 set from Upper Deck.

Mobile Comics Market Grows

2008-06-23T12:32:00.003+01:00

Mobile comics seem to be growing in popularity worldwide, bouyed by better screen resolutions and the growing number of comic creators experimenting with the form. Further growth in the market might come from the increasing sales success for mobile comics (ketai) in Japan, a country which has already successfully exported manga print comics worldwide.

Reuters reported today that the Japanese love of mobile comics - which is already huge - could grow further with the arrival of Apple's iphone next month. Analysts claim the device's touch-screen will make it easier and more appealing to read comics on handsets.

With the number of mobile phone subscribers close to 108 million, or 85 percent of Japan's population, carriers there are already finding e-mail, music downloads and web surfing hugely popular, and are looking for new opportunities to make money in a highly competitive market - and that includes comics.

Mobile Comics led the size of the Japanese mobile publication market to double in the last business year to 22 billion yen ($204 million), according to Internet and media research firm Impress R&D, almost three times bigger than the e-publication market for PCs.

"Until now, users had been extensively using mobile phones for email," Shinko Securities analyst Tomohiko Okugawa told Reuters. "Now that's shifting to games and comics ... This is the area that's going to be very interesting."

"The importance of content has been growing," agreed Toshitake Amamiya, general manager of telecom KDDI's content and media division. "It's crucial to pursue what we can do in this market where each adult always carries around a mobile phone and uses it as a life tool."

The Mobile Comic phenomenon is not restricted to commuters aboard trains into Tokyo or Osaka. Comics on mobile aren’t just proving popular in Japan," argues John Freeman, Managing Editor of comics-on-mobile service ROK Comics. "Translations of strips first published on ROK Comics for China have proven very popular in recent months.

"Selling comics on mobile to traditional comics readers is, surprisingly, a hard sell," he acknowledges. "It's hard to beat the beauty and versatility of the printed comic page either online or on mobile. But reaching a new, wider audience who have always read newspaper cartoons but never set foot in a comic shop is proving the key to making mobile comics a success.

"Webcomics creators argue a hardcore fan set of a couple of thousand readers is enough to turn a profit online (largely through sales of strip-related merchandise such as collections, t-shirts etc.) so the potential revenues are strong," he argues.

"What we’re finding is that mobile comics are popular even in countries where there is no traditional print-based or web comic industry, and mobile reaches far more people than even web comic creators reach via PC delivery.

ROK Comics provides both a platform for licensed comic content including Andy Capp, Roy of the Rovers and Garth, and the tools for independent comic creators to upload their own comics, promoting their characters on mobile using a comic creator tool which also enable web blog and web site publication. The sale of downloads and WAP page views are creditted to creators' accounts, with profits on sales shared equally between ROK and the creator.

"Delivering comics on mobile in the West is achievable - we’ve been doing that for over a year," says Freeman, "but creators and publishers do need to take on board the creative challenges imposed by small screen delivery."

• More about creating comics for mobile on the ROK Comics web site

Crazy Mary goes Wow

2008-06-23T10:03:00.004+01:00

ROK Comic creator Mike Colbert - despite juggling his work behind the scenes on My Name is Earl and home life as a new dad ("My baby is 3.5 months old and I'm amazed I'm able to get this e-mail off to you," he tells us) - reports he's busy with several comics projects.

ROK Comics strip Crazy Mary is now available on www.wowio.com for free download (US only) with the four-issue story The Hunt for Dano Corvair being coloured now with an eye on a July release, also on wowio.

"Federico Zumel (Crazy Mary - Chase) did the pencils," syas Mike, "Larry Brown is colouring, Nathan Kroll is inking and E.T. Dollman is lettering."

Mike's also had time to revamp his web site (www.whoiscrazymary.com), with more on the way, and has been writing comic reviews for www.comicsbulletin.com.

"I've also written a story for William Blankenship's comic series Special Edition, he reveals. The story is called "Spak Daxler: Hero of the Ages!" and it's a big dumb superhero fight with a giant mutant cybernetic lizard and all that implies. William has the pages inked and is heading into the coloring stage now. Release is TBD."

"I sold a story to Darkslinger Comics for their series Ghost Assassin called "Unfinished Business". An artist is being chosen now."

In more Crazy Mary-related news, artist J.K. Woodward, who drew the first two stories and Fallen Angel, will see his Marvel debut, X-Men Origins - Beast released as a collection in September. "Yours truly rocks a cameo in it as a jock who teases Hank McCoy," says Mike.

As for season four of My Name is Earl, Mike tells us "So far, we've had Seth Green and Jerry Van Dyke as guest stars, made Randy a cheerleader and blown up Pigsquatch!"

Lloyd's Highgate talk

2008-06-23T09:04:00.002+01:00

Kickback and V for Vendetta artist David Lloyd is giving a talk at the Highgate Library in London at 7.15pm on Wednesday, 25th June. Admission is fre but to book a place call 020 8489 8772

David will be talking about his latest work Kickback, and the experience of being a graphic novelist.

Highgate Library is at 1 Shepherd Hill, London N6 5QJ

Admission is free and refreshments will be available.

• A four-part free preview of Kickback is available via ROK Comics

Vampires descend on ROK Comics!

2008-06-19T11:55:00.003+01:00

Rodrigo Diaz Ricci's new Liegia comic strip is proving quite a hit: a Spanish language site, vampioros.cl, has just posted an interview with the creator which may be of interest (if you can read Spanish!)

Ligeia, created by Rodrigo is a vampire living in Rumania, and the strip can now be downloaded on any cellphone in the world. You only need to have a connection WAP.

"I created Ligeia in the summer of the 2006 in Italy," says Rodrigo. "I was inspirèd by Edgar Allan Poe: I needed a vampire with a certain touch irony. Originally pitched as graphic novel to an Italian publisher Liegia has since, incredibly given the strip's popularity on ComicSpace, been "buried" on Rodrigo's computer until it found its new ROK Comics home.

• Read Liegia on ROK Comics

Creating WebComics: A Brief Guide

2008-06-19T11:20:00.002+01:00

An article on creating WebComics has just been posted on downthetubes.net, which includes information on creating strips for comcis-to-mobile service ROK Comics.

It includes some other links which may be of interest to would be or indeed existing webcomic creators.

If you've got any thoughts on the subject yourself, please feel free to leave your comments here.

And talking of webcomics, what better moment than to mention Ian Stacey's arrival on ROK Comics, a much-praised cartoonist with a great eye for fun. Welcome aboard, Ian!

Win Roy of the Rovers Books!

2008-06-13T12:03:00.003+01:00

Note: This competition has now closed

The UK’s teams may be missing out Euro 2008 this summer, but Titan Books is bringing football home with the publication of a new series of books collecting the comic strips of Britain’s most famous fantasy footballer: Roy Race.

The Best of Roy of the Rovers: The 1980s [Titan Books, 13 June 2008, £9.99] is the first in a brand new series of bumper volumes collecting Roy’s thrilling comic strip escapades. Featuring some of Roy’s greatest matches and adventures from the early 1980s, this incredible collection is a must-have for footie fans of all ages. Thrill once more to the roar of the crowd, as Roy and Melchester Rovers face trials and tribulations on and off the pitch, including the threat of relegation, Roy’s marriage troubles, and an assassin’s bullet!

Collected together with an introduction from Gary Lineker, these are the tales that endeared Roy of the Rovers to a generation.

• For information on Roy of the Rovers visit the official website www.royoftherovers.com

• Roy of the Rovers: England Manager is also being serialized via ROK Comics

Weird Web Finds...

2008-06-12T14:33:00.000+01:00

Charlotte Corday: The Hampstead Horror

2008-06-10T12:49:00.006+01:00

Here are the first two 'chapters' of a new Charlotte Corday story, The Hampstead Horror, created by Commando, New Eagle and Spaceship Away artist Keith Page specifically for mobile. (Read more about the project here)

Charlotte returns in a new feature-length adventure battling an alien menace in 1950's London. Ably assisted by Sergeant Maxfield and a selection of North London gangsters and Teddy Boys, Charlotte manages to save the Capital. The ethereal and mysterious Dennis the Donkey lends a hand too, while the British Secret Service proves to be worryingly inept...

Written by screenwriter Stephen Walsh, Charlotte Corday of the Surete: London Calling is set in London in the early 1950s will also be a full length graphic novel, with a few surprises.

You can view all the comics on ROK Comics on your mobile by subscribing to our WAP service for a small monthly fee - $4 in the US, £3 in the UK, other countries also served.

Simply visit this page on the ROK Comics site and choose the subscribe option. When you receive a WAP push message to your mobile, connect to the site using that link using your browser, bookmark it -- and you'll be subscribed to ROK Comics Mobile for the next month.

Yes, it's really that simple. Please note, the link we send is exclusive to your phone, so don't lose it!

Keni's Booklands Trailer

2008-06-10T10:17:00.004+01:00

ROK Comics creator and MuseToons creator Keni -- also a gifted animator who has also worked as a set painter and scenic artist -- has just published an excerpt of his new animation Booklands on YouTube.
"
The animation features characters seen in MuseToons and was created in a variety of programs including Lightwave and Final Cut Pro.

Keni has strong views on art of any kind. "Art is a process more than a product," he feels. "It doesn't start with the paint, nor does it end with the picture. The process starts in the heart of the artist and continues in the viewer where spirits, minds and emotions interact through the body of work; testifying to the notion that paint, pastel, bronze, and now, digital art, are indeed mediums.

Art can be a powerful force for social change," he adds. "Knowing this, I tend to create work that revolves around personal and global matters of concern. It’s my way of enlightening, while creatively promoting an awareness in my viewers that hopefully inspire to take action."

• View the animation on YouTube
• Read MuseToons on ROK Comics
• Visit the official MuseToons web site

Highway Robbery Comics!

2008-06-06T17:29:00.001+01:00

ROK Comics creator David Hailwood (Drink Like A Fish, Ups and Downs and more) and artist Tony Suleri Cosmogenesis) have a a new webcomic online via British comic site Bulletproof Comics (www.bulletproofcomics.co.uk).

Highway Robbery features the adventures of ape bounty hunter Pubba Gintaro, as he defends the population of Hounddog City from its tyrannical Elvis fixated bovine oppressor... King Burger! (who first appeared as a character for the Rok Comics Mobile Combat game, designed by Stu Smith).

"The strip is exclusive to Bulletproof and will be updated every weekend," says David. "If you get the chance, pop along and have a look and tell us what you think!"

• Comment on Highway Robbery on the downthetubes forum (membership required)

Father's Day Problems...

2008-06-05T11:13:00.002+01:00

Cartoonist Rich Diesslin just posted this gem of a cartoon on the impending celebrations...

ROK Drops Crumb Into China

2008-06-04T10:22:00.004+01:00

ROK Comics, a subsidiary of the ROK Entertainment Group Inc., the global mobile entertainment company, is pleased to announce that several top comic creators are having their work translated for distribution in China as part of the company’s ongoing development with over 30,000 downloads delivered in one weekend!

Crumb, created by top cartoonist David Fletcher whose cartoons are published in over 30 newspapers worldwide including New Zealand’s top-selling TV Guide (which has some 800,000 readers a week), the New Zealand Herald and the Australian Daily. The strip is now available in Chinese and through the whole ROK Comics mobile and online distribution network.

As previously mentioned here, David has developed his new strip, Crumb especially for mobile, which centres on the antics of an ever-hungry blackbird.

“Comics for mobiles seems to me to be the future for cartoon strips and comics,” David says of ROK Comics. “Readers can now choose which comics they want to read and not be told by an editor which comics they can read.

“I love the fact that the mobile cartoon strip is no longer restricted to the usual number of three or four panel, which allows the cartoonist far more freedom to express his idea. Comics for mobiles has come as a breath of fresh air for the comics industry.”

“Several comics artists have started to create comics for mobile format and David’s at the forefront of a whole new way of reaching his audience,” says John Freeman, Managing Editor of ROK Comics. “We think mobile comics have huge potential to reach a worldwide audience who may never see the print editions of some of the comics we’re publishing, which offers creators huge potential in promoting their work.

David’s commitment to Crumb, updated regularly, meant the title was an ideal choice for translation and re-publication in China and initial reaction has been excellent.

Other strips ROK Comics are offering to partners in China include Michael Colbert's Crazy Mary, Look and Learn's Robin Hood, Anomaly by Kennedy Rose and Team Sputnik's Fret for the Day.

Bo Diddley 1928 - 2008

2008-06-03T10:55:00.001+01:00

Top ROK Comics Referrers May 2008

2008-06-02T20:58:00.002+01:00

Here are the top referring sites to ROK Comics for May 2008. Special thanks to all those who helped drive traffic!

1) downthetubescomics.blogspot.com
2) www.downthetubes.net
3) myspace.com - links from creators' MySpace pages
4) scifipulse.net - Top British SF news blog with a 'Floods' embed
5) sean-michael-wilson.blogspot.com - Boychild Productions
6) rokcomics.blogspot.com
7) www.myspace.com/whambangcomics - the creators of Night Owl
8) www.impulsecreations.net
9) user.drunkduck.com/DAJB - Broken Voice Comics
10) crumb-blackbirdblog.blogspot.com - David Fetcher's tongue in cheek Crumb blog

Also featured in the top 20: Beano creator Kev Sutherland (www.myspace.com/kevfdrawsthecrowds) and indie artist Paul Harrison-Davies (paulhd.blogspot.com

Which just goes to show how effective the ROK Comics embeds can be on web sites

Pig Brother: Never Quit

2008-06-02T09:41:00.001+01:00

Pig Brother Returns

2008-05-28T12:37:00.000+01:00

Legend of Bill Begins

2008-05-28T09:55:00.004+01:00

ROK Comics cartoonist David Reddick has unveiled his new webcomic and labour of love, Legend of Bill.

"It's a series set in a realm of swords, sorcery and stupidity!," says David. The series centres on Bill, a man who tires of his 9 to 5 office job as a file clerk intern at the local castle. So he quits and sets out on adventures with Frank, his faithful lil’ blue dragon friend. But no one said it was going to be easy...

"Bill and Frank are a couple of characters fed up with their everyday existence and desiring something more out of life," says David. "Something I think we can all relate to in one way or another."

David Reddick is a professional cartoonist and creator who, in addition to Legend of Bill, also draws "The Trek Life" for the official Star Trek web site www.STARTREK.com, "Gene's Journal" and "Rod & Barry" for www.Roddenberry.com, and is a staff cartoonist at Paws, Inc., where he works on the Garfield comic strip (also offered in key territories via ROK Comics).

His work can also be seen worldwide in newspapers, magazines, on products and Websites for clients like CBS Studios, Paramount Pictures, Roddenberry Productions, Nickelodeon Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, New York Times UpFront, NCAA, Canson, Inc, CBSMobile, ROK Comics and Artizans Syndicate to name a few.

• New strips will be published on the Legend of Bill every Tuesday and Thursday.

Let's Hear it for Stick Man!

2008-05-21T10:37:00.003+01:00

Malcolm Kirk has been publishing his madcap Stick Man on ROK Comics for a while now. Check out the strip via this link -- they're all free to view online and on your phone.

The strip has progressed from black and white to vivid technicolour and continues to hit my humour bone! (But I am odd). Here are just three examples...

• Check out Mal's official web site at: www.myspace.com/mal_comix

Liega Begins!

2008-05-19T15:13:00.003+01:00

There's a new vampire story on comics to mobile service ROK Comics. You may have already seen the free sample (right), but now comics artist and writer Rodrigo Diaz Ricci has begun his fantastic looking horror tale Liegia in earnest.

Rodrigo was born in Valparaíso, Chile, in 1971 but later adopted Italian nationality. A graphic designer, after working in cartoons, publishing fanzines and comics he moved to Europe where he published covers for the Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia in Athens and for the horror and forbidden archaeology magazines produced by the publishing house Mondo Ignoto, owned by Dario Argento and Luigi Cozzi.

This year, he has published two stories (which he has both written and drawn) in the Italian comic book El Italiano (The Italian), based on the horror film Currículum by Patricio Valladares. It is currently being published by Nicola Pesce Editore.

He's working on several other projects and one of these is Liegia, now appearing on British comics to mobile service ROK Comics.

"Ligeia is about a Vampire and her cat, Edgar," Rodrigo explains. "They're evil beings who use human beings to satisfy their purposes. The first series is centred in Transylvania and is set during World War II when the Nazis' Paranormal Office sends some men after Ligeia the vampire and a faboulous treasure."

Michael Jantze goes to Cannes!

2008-05-17T07:41:00.004+01:00

Michael Jantze, creator of the internationally-syndicated comic strip The Norm, whose outlets include ROK Comics (see www.rokcomics.com/thenorm) has had his animated short accepted into the Short Film Corner at Festival de Cannes 2008.

Mr. Lux: At Your Service, Jantze’s first animated short, will be part of the Short Film Corner at Festival de Cannes this month. The animation is a fast ride of traditional animation utilizing both pencil to paper animation and the latest in computer software.

A new character from Jantze, Mr. Lux is only happy when he delivers five-star service to his hotel guests.

Jantze’s script was brought to life by a story team consisting of himself, David Andrews and Kelly McNutt. Jantze created the layouts and designs as well as directed McNutt’s animation. Jory K. Prum provided the Sound Design and Jared Emerson-Johnson wrote and performed the Mancini-esque soundtrack. Nicole Jantze served as Executive Producer.

Michael and Nicole Jantze will be in the Short Film Corner at the Festival de Cannes between 19 and 21 May to speak with interested buyers. The four minute short can be viewed on the Cannes Short Film Corner website or at Jantze.com (www.jantze.com/animation) along with other recently finished shorts. There's also a clip on YouTube, linked below.

• In related news, Michael Jantze's The Norm web site has just had an extensive makeover: not only can you read about the character but related merchadinse and other many gems are now on offer. Check it out at www.thenorm.com

ROK Signs Roy of the Rovers

2008-05-16T16:24:00.009+01:00

ROK Comics, a subsidiary of ROK Entertainment Group Inc. the global mobile entertainment company, is pleased to announce the addition of the legendary Roy of the Rovers comic to its stable of classic comics for mobile phones, in partnership with Egmont UK.

(To view a free sample, please visit www.rokcomics.com/royoftherovers.php)

Arguably the most famous British comics character of all, 'Roy of the Rovers' forty-year playing career began on the cover of top-selling weekly comic Tiger in September 1954. Since then, the phrase 'Roy of the Rovers stuff' has become part of the English language, regularly invoked by pundits to describe the essence of footballing dreams.

Working closely with Egmont and its Roy of the Rovers archivist Mark Towers, keeper of the official website, ROK Comics has begun its run of ROTR by serialising the 1970s story in which Roy is offered the opportunity to become England manager. Already a successful player-manager of Melchester Rovers, will he accept the demanding role?

Roy of the Rovers joins a growing number of classic and ongoing British comics being published in the ROK Comics format via www.rokcomics.com and telecom partners in countries such as China, India, Pakistan and South Africa. "British comics have been exported worldwide for decades," says ROK Comics Managing Editor John Freeman. "Now they're being exported digitally over the internet and to mobile phones!"

In addition to Roy of the Rovers, ROK is also publishing Egmont characters such as the secret agent Dredger from Action!, the classic humour strip Faceache and others.

"We're delighted to be working with Egmont on bringing their classic characters to a whole new generation," added Laurence Alexander, Group CEO of ROK “and we’re looking to score big time – home and away - with Roy on our hugely popular ROK Comics service.”

ROK Comics also has agreements with publishers such as the Daily Express (Beau Peep, Jeff Hawke and others), Look and Learn Ltd. (Robin Hood), Markosia (Dark Mists, The Lexian Chronicles) and others. Garfield, which appears in the Daily Mail and Doonesbury, which appears in The Guardian, are also being offered for download and on subscription in key territories.

ROK's Fun Little Movies wins MEFFY Award

2008-05-14T08:33:00.003+01:00

ROK Entertainment subsidiary, Fun Little Movies won the Content Award for its Fun Little Movies Channel at the prestigious 2008 Mobile Entertainment Forum (MEF) in Cannes last week.

Fun Little Movies, based in California, specializes in the development, production and distribution of original video content for global distribution to mobile network operators and was the first US company to produce comedic films for mobile phones worldwide, when it launched as a channel on Sprint TV back in in 2004. Shows include the animated series such as Hoota N Snoz, Doodlez (above), Ms. Rabbble and more.

The Meffy awards, which received applications from 21 countries across four continents, are judged by an independent panel of national media and leading trade journalists and analysts. The Content Award shortlist, which received the third highest number of entries, included FLM, MTV Networks International, and Orange.

This isn't the first award for the company: FLM's "Fun Funny Phone Films" have won 22 awards to date, including CTIA's "World Smallest Film Festival" and two Golden Eagles at the American Cine' Awards, as well as The Content Award at Cannes in 2008, over MTV and Orange. FLM was also a finalist at the Cannes Film Festival for Best Short Film and the 2008 Mobile Content Award in London.

Commenting on FLM's success, Rimma Perelmuter, MEF Executive Director, said "With distribution from Brunei to Bethlehem to Burbank, Fun Little Movies' collection of funny, short, made-for-mobile comedy films has proven the universal appeal of laughter and snackable content."

"Our gratitude goes first to ROK Entertainment Group," said FLM's President and Chief Creative Officer Frank Chindamo, "who, since acquiring FLM in 2007, have supported and helped enhance our product offering, such as in partnership with ROK Motion.

"We would also like to thank the MEF, our own creative staff, and all the filmmakers with whom we have partnered or whose work we have licensed. In fact, look for our latest production, HighSpeed Dating, written and directed by Terry Rossio and Jocelyn Stamat. Terry wrote and/or produced the Shrek, National Treasure and Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and we have high hopes for the series release later this year."

"We're delighted to have won this award and congratulate the FLM team," added Laurence Alexander, Group CEO of ROK. "This award demonstrates the success of ROK's growth strategy as well as recognition that the creation and delivery of relevant, funny and fast-paced mobile content is great for mobile consumption. FLM faced tough competition and this award is proof of their position in the market for the production and delivery of mobile content."

Fun Little Movies have played on numerous US TV networks worldwide including HBO, Showtime, CBS, Playboy, MTV and Comedy Central. FLM's mobile comedy can be watched on Sprint, Verizon, Nokia, Motorola and ATT mobile phones, on Veoh.com, Revver.com, Vuze.com and many other top video sites, and on other mobile and Internet platforms. FLM also has distribution deals with several handset makers and overseas partners, from China and Japan to Europe, Africa and South America.

• Visit the Fun Little Movies website

ROK Comics supports new Charity Comic

2008-05-09T16:10:00.004+01:00

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

Moon Queen: Jelston's Lesson

2008-05-07T12:08:00.003+01:00

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

2008-05-07T11:07:00.004+01:00

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

2008-05-07T08:58:00.005+01:00

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

Free Comic from The Temple

2008-05-04T20:48:00.001+01:00

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

Milligan comes to Mobile

2008-04-25T12:04:00.003+01:00

The work of writer, poet, musician and comic genius Spike Milligan, who revolutionised comedy after the Second World War, is now available on the web and for mobile phone users through ROK Entertainment, the global mobile entertainment group, owners of ROK Comics, via www.spike-milligan.com.

Norma Farnes, Spike's agent and manager for 36 years said “Ironically, Spike, born in India in 1918, distained all gadgetry, including radios that didn’t have just three knobs – one to turn it off and on, one for tuning and one for volume – together with cars that had automatic gears, computers and mobile phones, but he would have been delighted that his work was being made available to a wider audience”.

Spike is famous for founding The Goon Show which he wrote and then performed with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe.

Now for the first time Spike’s work can be downloaded and mobile phone users can purchase The Goon Show tapes and songs as well as the hilarious seven volume War Memoirs including Adolf Hitler My Part In His Downfall, Rommel? Gunner Who? and Monty: His Part In My Victory as audio books.

Spike’s original drawings which were turned into Greetings Cards, the biggest sellers in the UK, are also available in animated form from www.spike-milligan.com and are priced at £1.50 per ringtone or realtone and £4.50 per audio book. The animations were designed by the team behind the ROK Comics site.

“Spike was a truly unique comedy genius and much of what he created is timeless,” commented Jonathan Kendrick, Chairman of ROK “so I’m delighted we’ve been able to work with Norma on creating this service for all his fans worldwide and to help showcase his brilliance to a whole new generation by packaging it for mobile and the web.”

Jason Dube's New Projects

2008-04-24T10:17:00.005+01:00

ROK Comics Night Owl artist Jason Dube tells us he has a bunch of new items just released that fans might want to track down.

His Scattered Soundtrack comic collection has been just been re-issued and spruced up with new artwork and a fold out cover. It's now being offered on createspace and Amazon.

Also on sale now is his new comic book creation Caffeine Poisoned #1 is now available. If you've ever had trouble sleeping, then spare a thought for someone ho has not slept a wink for the last 12 years?

Protagonist Jason has that exact problem, and worse than that... his waking dreams materialize into our world and run wild!

Working in a 24-hour coffee shop, Jason must deal with the insanity of the coffee-drinking crowd, and at the same time battle to control his physical dreams.

Written by Jason Dube and drawn by Braedon Kuts this 20 page black and white comic is available from Comixpress, price $3.25.

Jason is also of course drawing the new Night Owl comic boook for Wham Bang Comics featuring international model and character LouLou von Brochwitz! This 22-year-old willowly blonde modeling sensation struts her way into Night Owl’s life when she finds herself threatened by a mysterious villain in Las Vegas! How will Night Owl react? The latest full colour edition of Night Owl is also available from Comixpress.

And talking of Night Owl, as we reported earlier this month, the Wham Bang Comics team recently published a special Origins of Night Owl story on ROK Comics - available to read online or on WAP subscription worldwide. Here's a direct link to the Night Owl strip on ROK Comics.

Finally, don’t forget that 3rd May 2008 is Free Comics Book Day and if you're in the Sacarmento area (USA), stop by Heroes Alley, as Jason Dube and the rest of the SCCG (Sacramento Comicbook Creators Group) will be there networking, doing free sketches, reviewing portfolios, and just chatting with the fans. The event starts at 10am! The address is: 3501 Sunrise Blvd. #3, Rancho Cordova, CA 95742.

Dave draws for The DFC

2008-04-22T13:27:00.004+01:00

ROK Comics creator Dave Windett tells us he's drawing Lazarus Lemming, a new comic strip for the new British weekly, subscription-only title, The DFC.

Dave's credits include Simpsons Comics, Korky the Cat for The Dandy, and, on ROK Comics, The Wacky World of Animals, written by John Gatehouse, who is also writing Lazarus Lemming. John's credits include the Cheeky Mouse & Cool Cat books and Shelltown.

Dave also provided some of the fabulous characters and backgrounds used in the ROK Comic Creator Tool, which enables you to create comics even if you can't draw (Dave did all the hard work for you)>

Dave can't tell us much about the strip at this stage: watch out for more news as the publication date draws ever nearer.

• The DFC launches in May and ‘Early bird’ subscriptions are available now at www.thedfc.co.uk.

David Fletcher in Shrewsbury

2008-04-16T11:32:00.000+01:00

Shrewsbury will be invaded by all manner of cartoonists this coming weekend (18th - 20th April), intent on enjoying themselves to the maximum at the Shrewsbury International Cartoon Festival. Guests include David Fletcher (creator of ROK Comics "Crumb", all the way from New Zealand), Guardian cartoonist Steve Bell, Steve Bright, Ian Baker, Bill Stott, John Roberts, Roger Penwill and Andy Davey, with support from The Cartoon Club of Great Britain, the Professional Cartoonists Organisation and more.

"It's the fifth of these annual events, and very popular among locals and visitors alike," says Steve Bright. "The sun has never failed to shine (that's the kiss of death now), and there are loads of events and exhibitions planned throughout the weekend."

Steve will be found in the town square (weather permitting), drawing gigantic cartoons. There will also be cartoon workshops and clinics for the public to participate in, and a plethora of caricaturists drawing all-comers - absolutely free.

• More information at: www.shrewsburycartoonfestival.com

Legends of Bill in Print

2008-04-09T13:17:00.002+01:00

Head out to your local comics shop or gaming store and check out the brand-spanking new issue of Knights of the Dinner Table magazine (#137), featuring the first print installment of ROK Comics creator David Redick's comic strip Legend of Bill!

Legend of Bill is David's new weekly webcomic over at SoulGeek.com, and he's also inviting folks to head on over to LegendofBill.com to sign up for the LOB newsletter - and when you do, you'll get a special greeting page with a sample strip and a few sketches!

"I'm very happy to be in the mag, as KODT has been a staple of my reading for some time," says David, whose Reddickulous strip appears on ROK Comics. "Jolly Blackburn and friends sure run a fine mag over there at Kenzer & Co., and really know how to pack a lot of fun into it. And while you're thinking about it, visit their website too! There's loads of stuff to see and do!"

Flantoons

2008-04-07T10:14:00.007+01:00

ROK Comics creator Mike Flanagan sent us one of his regular reminders about his fab work, which we thought we'd share with you here as it tickled our funny bones in the office.

Mike has several of his risque but funny "Sez" strips on ROK Comics and you can view them all 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!

• Mike is available for cartoon work, check out: www.flantoons.btinternet.co.uk

We hear The Sound of Drowning...

2008-04-06T22:04:00.002+01:00

The Sound of Drowning #11 from ROK Comics creator Paul O'Connell is out now and available from his eponymous web site priced just £3.

The issue includes strips such as 'The Optician', 'Mexican Surgery' and Daze: The Post Apocalyptic Avon Lady in Happy Daze, among others.

Also on sale from the same site is the beautifully drawn She's Leaving Home Mini Comic, featuring art by Lawrence Elwick.

She's Leaving Home is also being serialised for mobile and published via ROK Comics. Paul kindly agreed to try the strip on ROK Comics as part of our drive for more strips that would fit with ROK Comics newly-launched WAP subscription site for the UK arm of international women's retailer Claire's, part of a package of mobile products for the company that includes virtual pets and various text feed services. You can pick up a leaflet instore at any Claire's shop - the Claire's web site includes a store locator.

Always busy on the comics front, Paul tells us he's currently accepting submissions for the second Soda anthology of illustrated song lyrics - a collection of illustrations inspired by lyrics from those songs that get stuck in your head all day.

Submissions should be single page A5 300dpi, deadline 1st June 2008. More information here, plus details of the contributors to the first volume, who included Indigo, Nelson Evergreen, James Daniel Rory Price, Lawrence Elwick, Lee O'Connor and many, many others.

The Kitten Problem

2008-04-06T20:59:00.005+01:00

Garfield animated cartoon writer Mark Evanier (also writer of the brilliant Groo and more) is having a hard time trapping a stray cat he's (sort of) adopted -- as much as you can adopt any cat. His aim is to do the right thing and have it spayed, but despite taking food from him for eight months of so, it's proven remarkably savvy about what might be about to happen to it. You can read his diary of the experience here.

Good luck, Mark! Given the reproduction rate of feral cats and the problems they can cause (bless 'em), you're doing the right thing, honestly. I speak as someone who has rescued a stray myself in the past.

Garfield is one strip ROK Comics delivers to mobile in Pakistan and, in translation, in China.

The Origins of Night Owl

2008-04-05T12:30:00.003+01:00

Wham Bang Comics have just published three special "Origin of Night Owl" comics on ROK Comics, all of which are free to view online:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Night Owl, the creation of young Jake Tinsley, written by father Ben, is one of a handful of strps (so far) selected by ROK's Chinese partners for distribution in China alongside Garfield, TMNT, Crazy Mary, Crumb and others.

Awaiting the Eleventh Hour

2008-04-03T16:03:00.001+01:00

Eleventh Hour Volume One from British indie publisher Markosia in association with creators Orang Utan Comics, due for release in June, is now available to pre-order from your local comic shop.

Featuring twelve stories across 80 pages of stunning artwork from the creative minds at Orang Utan Comics Studio with the usual high production values of an AAM/Markosia published title.

ROK Comics is working with Markosia to publish some of its titles on mobile: Dark Mists is in progress and is also being translated into Chinese.

You can find it on page 200 of Diamond's Previews catalogue, the order code is APR08 3484.

• Visit www.orangutancomics.co.uk to find out more.

Ian Gibson Art News

2008-03-22T11:54:00.002Z

Glossy art magazine the Art Review showcases 30 stars of Tomorrow in its March 2008 edition and, although he's not featured on the actual list it self, 2000AD and Annie Droid artist Ian Gibson makes a play for some of Charles Saatchi's spare cash by illustrating the cover of the magazine.

Annie Droid is one of several ROK Comics being translated into Chines for ROK Comics Chinese partners.

Web Link: www.artreview.com

ROK Acquires Mobile Applications Developer Geniem

2008-03-14T22:57:00.002Z

ROK Entertainment Group, the global mobile entertainment company and owners of ROK Comics, today announced it had acquired a 51% controlling interest in Geniem, a leading Finnish mobile and web applications development company.

Geniem pioneered On-Device Portals (ODP) in 2003 and offer rich mobile marketing via these ODPs, Bluetooth marketing solutions and white label social networking applications for Media, Brands and Carriers. Currently their services are being used by household names including Nokia, Volvo, ABC, Pepsi, SonyBMG, Australian Broadcast Corporation, Mondadori France, Digital MultiChoice, Rotana, Samsung, Sanoma Belgium, Santander Bank and SonyEricsson.

"This acquisition marks another milestone in the development of ROK" said Laurence Alexander, Group CEO of ROK, "as it augments our existing mobile products portfolio by placing us in the forefront of on device portals, Bluetooth technologies and social media via mobile and web applications. With over 15 million mobile phone installations globally, Geniem's technology is ideally positioned to power the new generation of enhanced mobile media services."

"I see major opportunities in partnering with ROK to roll-out our exciting products for ROK's existing customer base. Especially with the introduction of the new white label mobile social networking product targeted mainly for network carriers," said Tuomas Kumpula, CEO of Geniem.

Garfield Gathering!

2008-03-14T19:55:00.003Z

Garfield devotees from near and far are looking forward to their annual Garfield Gathering in the US in June, to celebrate all things Garfield, one of the comics appearing on ROK Comics WAP services in Pakistan and being translated into Chinese.

Considered a must-do for the serious Garfield collector, this event is sponsored by fans and collectors for the purpose of fun, friendship, and the ever-popular Garfield product swap meet and sale.

This year's convention takes place June 19-22 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

• For more details, visit www.garfieldgathering.com.