Robot on the March!

British independent publisher Accent Press are about to launch Robots, another beast of a book in the tradition of their previous anthology, Zombies, released last year.

At 204 pages it features many new, emerging and established talents including "MY Robot" by Paul Harrison-Davies which has been adapted into a ROK Comic version for mobile.

"This anthology is the one I always hoped we'd get around to," says co-editor Colin Mathieson. "Anyone that knows me knows that robots are my favourite science fiction concept!

"It’s all part of our profile building both in the UK and abroad," he told downthetubes, "and giving deserved exposure to the many undiscovered talents that we’ve come across on our travels.

• Robots, edited by Dave West and Colin Mathieson, with cover art by Andy Bloor, will ship in May and have its UK launch at the Bristol Comics Festival, followed by its European launch in Copenhagen at the komiks.dk festival where Accent will be making their third appearance.

Brain Dead's New Book

David Lloyd's Kickback Trailer on ROK Comics

ROK Comics is pleased to announce that a special mobile comics-styled preview of David Lloyd's crime thriller Kickback is now available to read on your mobile via wap.rokcomics.com.

The trailer comprises a special four-part preview for the book, first published in France by Editions Carabas and more recently in English by Dark Horse Comics.

"I enjoyed creating Kickback more than anything else I've produced in years," says creator David Lloyd of the book, an artist perhaps best known for V for Vendetta but whose credits include James Bond, War Stories, Captain America, Doctor Who, Sandman and many other titles.

"I always wanted to do a crime story that had the quality and style of some of the crime movies I admire," explains David, "where no-one says more than they need to in order to move the story along, and you care more about the people involved in it than the action sequences."

• The specially created four-part Kickback trailer is free to read on mobile and online, but if you want to take full advantage of the ROK Comics WAP site, subscribe to the service (www.rokcomics.com/subscribe) and access hundreds of comics at one low cost monthly rate.

When you subscribe a unique URL is sent to your mobile phone. Follow the link to ROK Comics, bookmark the page, and your access to all ROK Comics published strips is activated.

• For more information about Kickback visit www.lforlloyd.com

• You can buy the print edition from amazon.co.uk

NASA News

Death Watch from Broken Voice

Leading UK comics indie Broken Voice Comics recently released an online edition of Chapter 8 of its flagship title – the online graphic novel Shades. (Some early episodes of Shades are also trailed on ROK Comics).

Written by David A J Berner and illustrated in full colour by artist Harsho Mohan Chattoraj, Shades tells the story of a group of heroes in the UK, struggling to come to terms with their role in late 20th Century Britain; a Britain still haunted by the loss of Empire.

“This is an important milestone for us,” explains Berner. “We intend to release the print version of Shades in two volumes. Chapter 8 is the final chapter of Volume 1 and so we will be preparing formal submissions to publishers very shortly.”

“Personally, I think it’s a fantastic chapter to end the volume,” he added. “Harsho has produced some of his best artwork to-date and, whilst it will be a little while before readers can see it all online, story-wise, there’s still plenty in store for them!”

“The chapter opens with the central characters trying to deal with the loss of one of their number and proceeds to flesh out the back-story of the Shaman, one of the more enigmatic characters in the book. And then, of course there’s a spectacular ending which – for obvious reasons – I’m not at liberty to disclose!”