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 vide 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.”

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

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.
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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

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)

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.

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.

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 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 (right), produced by Cellar Door Productions, 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 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

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