Milligan comes to Mobile

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

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

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

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

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 Funnies

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...

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 Origins of Night Owl

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

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.