Little Lemming Books launched by Windett and Gatehouse

Artist Dave Windett and writer John Gatehouse have launched Little Lemming Books, a new publishing imprint for print and digital media, kicking their line off with Trick or Treat, the first story to feature aspring reporter Neela Nightshade.

Town gossip has it that creepy Monster Mansion on top of Gallows Hill is haunted. Investigating for herself, Neela discovers that the stories are all true…! And when the terrifying Monsters in the Basement escape, nothing can stop them from destroying the town…

Dave and John have worked together for numerous companies on more projects than they can remember, featuring both licensed characters and their own creations. Little Lemming Books is their first leap into the brave new world of electronic self publishing made possible by the emergence of devices such as the Amazon Kindle and Apple’s iPad.

Produced with the help of expert E–Book developer Paul Drummond,  Trick or Treat is the first of a series of illustrated children’s comedy horror books.

• Little Lemming Books can be found at: www.littlelemmingbooks.com


• A version of Trick or Treat for Iphone, Ipod, Ipad, Nook and other epub readers is available at Lulu.com

• More of Dave’s artwork can be seen at www.davewindett.com and news and sneek peeks at upcoming projects can be found on Dave’s Blog.


• Paul Drummond's site has information about his E–Book development services.

How do you know you want to buy an e-comic?

So, how do you know you want to buy an e-comic? Same as a paper comic I guess - look inside…

Would you buy a paper comic if you couldn’t see what it was like inside? Probably not. Similarly, I very, very, very rarely buy an e-comic without a meaningful preview - I did once, but the book had good reviews and as far as I could tell, the reviews weren’t by the writer’s mum (and it was non-fiction - I was interested in the information, not the artwork, although it did turn out to be rather nicely drawn).

When browsing through the Amazon Kindle store, you can download a free preview of the book and make an informed choice. If you are the publisher, you need to consider how to help your potential buyers make the right choice.

The main thing to remember is that Amazon decide how much free stuff to give you based on the text in the book, not the images. This means you can easily avoid letting potential purchasers see how good your work is by:

- putting the copyright information in text immediately after the cover.
- putting the table of contents at the front.
- start the book with a multi-page rant telling the potential purchaser not to pirate it.

Copyright information is important, but why not put it on the first comic page - i.e. in an image? Full copyright and contact details and whatever else can be included in text at the end of the book as well.

For Kindle e-comics, the table of contents should be at the back (or omitted if you prefer, though for a large graphic novel it is handy to have one…). The Kindle lets you jump straight to the table of contents, so this isn’t a problem for the reader.

Remember, no matter how good the cover looks, comics are about sequential art. We want to see a sample before we buy.

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

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.

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


• Visit ROK Comics at: www.rokcomics.com