New Characters for ROK Comics Creator Tool

British creator Dave Windett has drawn comics featuring numerous licensed characters, including Inspector Gadget, Eek the Cat, Ace Ventura, and Daffy Duck, and illustrated educational books, business manuals and comics for the Scandinavian market.

He's now delivered several new additions to the ROK Comics Ceator Tool -- characters, objects and scenes -- an element of the service which enables anyone to create comic strips, even if they can't draw.

Dave has designed original characters for a variety of publications in the past and provided illustrations for everything from magazines and websites to mobile phones, games, and children's shoes.

At the moment, he's busy converting some smashing pencil designs by Steve Bright into vector art, another suite of Freefall characters the Creator Tool which should be added to the free service soon.

Dave is also uploading a humour strip The Wacky World of Animals, written by John Gatehouse, to ROK Comics.

Broken Voice launches Spires

Broken Voice publisher has just launched another series, Spires, in mobile format via ROK Comics. This is a more mature title so it's one of the service's "R" rated strips, but there's a free sneak preview on the site, reproduced here...

Broken Voice Joins ROK Comics

UK indie publisher Broken Voice, run by David Berner, is one of the first comics publishers to adapt one of its comics to ROK Comics for mobile download.

David wrote the online graphic novel Shades, now running on ROK Comics, as well as the web-based mini-series Hunted and The Spires.

Shades is an epic action adventure set at the end of the 20th Century, featuring superheroes, magic and mystery. Check out this free preview, below, then read the series on your mobile.



• More about Broken Voice Comics at: www.brokenvoice.co.uk

Chris Reynolds Joins ROK Comics

Top British comics creator Chris Reynolds has signed aboard the ROK Comics-to-mobile project, launched this month at www.rokcomics.com.

ROK Comics enables creators and publishers to easily create comics for mobile phones which can then be distributed worldwide, delivered as Multi Media Messages. The Digitally Rights Managed delivery system works directly to mobiles and does not require additional software downloads or put any technical requirements on the reader.

Chris Reynolds is the author of the seminal graphic novel "Mauretania" first published by Penguin Books, and his "Adventures From Mauretania" was voted as one of the best comics of 2006 in the Comics Journal.

"I'm always happy to try out new ways of selling comics," says Chris Reynolds, who joins several creators already using the product. "Rok Comics seems an exciting new opportunity and I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes. The interface is easy to use once you get used to it."

"I'm starting with three projects: Some extracts from Mauretania Comics stories in the Sci-Fi section, A couple of episodes from Jenny in Stringtown in the Girl's comics section, and fourteen whole episodes of Adventures of the Moon Queen in the "Adult" Girls' section."

"I've read Chris' work on and off down the years: he was publishing comics just as I began working in the industry," says ROK Comics Managing Editor John Freeman. "His art is brilliant in its apparent simplicity, and I think The Moon Queen is perfect for mobile delivery.

• Direct "Moon Queen" strip link on ROK Comics ('R' Rated)

Steve English Brings Madd Science to ROK

British comics creator Steve English is a freelance cartoonist and the author of a number of cartoon based books. Cartoon strips include Peter's Cat, Two by Two, and The Wall, which have featured in various publications in Britain and other countries.

Over the last few years has illustrated for Scooby Doo World of Mystery, Horrible Histories and Horrible Science Collections.

Steve is publishing Madd Science via ROK Comics, and describes it as "a funny look at the world of mad scientists and evil geniuses. From time travel to potent potions, professor Madd and his assistant Geigor have it covered. Responsible Scientists Rn't Us!"

Comic Creator Profile: Vicente (Vince) Avilés

Vicente (Vince) Avilés has been working as a computer programmer for more than 20 years, and loves to make comic strips in his spare time. His comic strip "El Profe" has appeared in the El Nuevo Dia newspaper of San Juan, Puerto Rico for 12 years and his ROK Comics version is one of the first times it has been published in English.

El Profe is a scientist who is always trying to make the perfect invention or discovery, but doesn't always (well... never!) succeeds!

• El Profe on ROK Comics

• Check out his official web site at: www.elprofe.com

Dave Hailwood Joins ROK Comics

ROK Comics is beginning to get several individual artists on board. One of the first - a member of the project's initial test group - to embrace the service was Dave Hailwood, who has given the company loads of feedback on site design and offered plenty of suggestions for new features and tweaking of existing ones.

Cartoonist, Comedy writer, and low budget film maker, Dave is uploading "Wormfood" and "Ups and Downs", the latter a series about the weird experiences of a suicidal monkey.

Dave Hailwood has been knocking around the British small press comics scene for 10 years now and has appeared in the likes of indie titles such as Meanwhile, Lost Property, Violent and CAOF.

Check out his website at: www.geocities.com/purecrass

ROK Comics in Bristol

ROK Comics Managing Editor John Freeman was in Bristol this weekend for the annual Comics Festival and offered this quick visual comment using the ROK Comics Creator...

ROK Comics in Global Mobile Push

ROK Media Ltd has announced the beta launch of ROK Comics on Mobile, a new publishing solution enabling comics creators and publishers to syndicate their works to mobile phone users worldwide. Here's the press release:

ROK Comics on Mobile opens up huge worldwide commercial opportunities for all comic creators, artists, writers and publishers.

With access to hundred of millions of handsets through existing Mobile Network Operator Agreements, ROK Comics can deliver digital comics straight to mobile handsets and collect revenue for doing so.

Available via mobile and the web at www.rokcomics.com, ROK Comics is a new opportunity for publishers and creators to reach a worldwide audience who will be able to download the comics via Pay Per Download or subscription 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.

In addition to several licensed comics that will be offered via ROK Comics, publishers can also create Free Samples of strips that can be viewed online and on mobile to promote their print editions, and let fans know about them by e-mail, and provide an "Embed" of a strip, which can be posted on web sites, blog or company site.

In addition, ROK Comics offers "FreeFall Comics" – an advanced Flash-based service enabling anyone to create strips using ready-made characters and backgrounds that can also be delivered to mobile.

John Freeman, a veteran of the comics and magazine world is spearheading ROK Comics. John was previously an editor for Marvel UK, Titan Magazines and a number of independent publishers. At Marvel, he edited Doctor Who Magazine and several of the company's US titles such as the best-selling Death's Head II. He was also editor of Star Trek Magazine and oversaw the launch of titles such as Star Wars Magazine, the UK Simpsons Comics and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

“John and I have been viewing the potential for comics on mobile phones for some years and now with advances in handset technology and ROK’s huge distribution network we have finally made this a reality. We believe that this is a great mass market opportunity for creators and publishers alike” said Graham Baines, CEO, ROK Media Ltd.

"There are thousands of comics creators worldwide who publish independently or online, with no way to profit from their hard work. By enabling mobile delivery, syndication of their creations is now instantly possible, generating real revenue” commented John Freeman, Editor, ROK Comics Ltd.

Chris Reynolds "Jenny in Stringtown"

Anyone who was there in the 1980s will remember Chris Reynolds ground-breaking graphic novel Mauretania, so I'm absolutely made up that he's given ROK Comics a try and has begun to upload some test strips.

Adventures From Mauretania was voted one of the Best Comics of 2006 in Comics Journal, with Chris described as the most underrated cartoonist of the last 20 years... "He has produced a rich body of work that continues to engage me even after many repeated readings, said Seth in the Comics Journal.

This is a strip from Chris' "Jenny in Stringtown" stories and I'm hoping there will be more to come.




• More comics from Chris on his web site, www.metropoppyfield.com. You can read an interview with Chris here