The London Book Fair has almost finalised its list of comics events for this year's three day event at Earl's Court in April, with a line up of guests that so far includes Paul Gravett, Helen McCarthy, Emma Hayley, Ian Rankin and Cory Doctorow.
Some 23,000 industry professionals attend this trade event, providing publishers with the largest gathering of international literary agents, publishers and publishing suppliers under one roof in the UK for three days.
By registering for the event in advance (before Monday 19th April 2010) you can get a discount on the onsite entrance fee, paying just £25 for entrance over the full three days of the fair.
The Fair is taking a keener interest in comics and graphics this year, offering a dedicated "Comics Pavillion" which includes Diamond Comics and Highland Books as exhibitors, and a number of seminars that should certainly interest comics publishers and creators. There will also be opportunities to watch celebrated illustrators creating new work live in the ‘studio’, but we don't have details on just who will be involved in that just yet.
A full list of all events and seminars can be found here on the LBF web site, but here are the events we think might particularly interest downthetubes readers...
Multiplatform releases are increasingly becoming the new frontier in the world of publishing. This seminar explores the particularly fruitful marriage between the graphic novel and the videogame in this field, whether through the publication of graphic novels based in blockbuster videogames, or videogame adaption of well-known graphic novels. Successful examples of this new business model can be found in the conversion of the Marvel superhero universe or the Asterix saga to the electronic platform
20 April 2010 10:00-11:00 Chaired by Helen McCarthy
This seminar will focus on how showcase and display Comics, Manga & Graphic Novels in bookshops and libraries. We will count on the presence of different booksellers and librarians that will share his experience and will tell the audience their secrets and experiences: from the different categories and genres to the creation of innovative activities involving reluctant readers.
Speakers Mr Cory Doctorow, Author, Activist, Journalist and Blogger Mr Paul Gravett, Director, COMICA Festival Mr Ian Rankin, Author
After a record-busting year in 2008, the Graphic Novel & Manga markets appear to be living a second Golden Age. Join the discussion led by pioneer editor Emma Hayley on the future of one of the most vibrant and innovative sectors of the publishing industry. With the debut of the iPad in March (in the US, anyway), this event is sure to command a lot of attention.
Speakers Ms Sophie Castille, Foreign Rights Director, Mediatoon Ms Emma Hayley, Director, SelfMadeHero / Metro Media Mr Marco Lupoi, Licensing Director, Panini Publishing Division
The Graphic Novel and Manga universes have been invaluable cornerstones of popular culture in the 20th century in many countries across the globe. The panel, formed by leading industry experts, will introduce France, Italy and Spain as clear examples of how this wing of the publishing industry has created for itself a high added-value cross-generational market in Europe. Join the seminar to learn more about the origins, present landscape and future potential of this recession-proof international industry.
Quickly following up from the hugely successful launch of the Wallace & Gromit digital comics, Britain's Titan Publishing is now bringing another Aardman creation, Shaun the Sheep, to the iPhone.
Shaun, the star of the hit BBC animated show, is a sheep who doesn’t follow the flock – in fact, he leads them into all sort of scrapes and scraps, turning peace in the valley into mayhem in the meadow. Shaun and his pals run rings around their poor sheepdog Bitzer, as he tries to stop the Farmer finding out what’s going on behind his back.
The first Shaun the Sheep mobile comic release is available now on iPhone for free, featuring two classic tales adapted from Titan Shaun the Sheep comic: "Dinner Winners" - in which the Farmer is looking forward to his Christmas Dinner so much he forgets to feed Shaun and his friends, a mistake that costs him dear! - and "Snow Joke", a story which sees what happens when the pigs just don’t know when to quit when a snowball fight goes too far. Bitzer gets some payback on the porky pests!
The first Wallace & Gromit Comic has been downloaded over half a million times since it launched in November, and was the number one free book app in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand -- and Finland!
Celebrating the first anniversary of the Credit Crunch, Alex, the investment banker we all love to hate, whose strip adventures now appear in the Telegraph, has been brought to new life on the iPhone and iPod touch, in an "all-new" Tapisodes format.
Alex is a much-loved, occasionally hated, cartoon strip by Charles Peattie and Russell Taylor, which first appeared in the short-lived London Daily News in 1987, before moving to The Independent later that year and then to the Daily Telegraph in 1992. The strip is also collected annually.
Billed as the "first (proper) interactive mobile motion comic" for the Apple platform - a blending of comics, animation and tap interaction - 20 animated and interactive Alex strips, each themed around the market crisis, are being rolled out daily, downloaded straight into the Alex app.
“We are excited to bring a new way of experiencing comic books and animation to the world’s most trendsetting mobile platform," says Jörg Tittel of Tapisodes. "We hope to please the legions of Alex fans and introduce thousands more."
Alex - Credit Crunch Special will offer a new episode every business day from today until 23rd October, with each episode downloaded straight into the application at no additional cost. You can choose to receive a “push notification” each time a new episode is available, or browse intuitive thumbnails for downloaded, available and upcoming episodes.
Alex also comes with social networking integration, so you can do what bankers do best: tell friends about your favourite Tapisodes, all in the safety of your iPhone and out of the nosy IT department’s reach.
Alex is only the first of a series of Tapisodes mobile comics. With a patent pending on the technology, the producers have been working with other high profile brands and franchises to create new content.
“We have always embraced other entertainment mediums and therefore are very excited about the opportunities for games companies in interactive storytelling and film," explains Paul Farley, CEO of mobile game developer Tag Games.
"To be able to work with the talented team at Tapisodes on the Alex project was too good an opportunity to miss. We trust this initial collaboration will spawn many more successful titles in the future.”
Tapisodes and Tag Games were brought together through the Play Together program Creative Industry Switch created by TIGA (the trade body which represents the UK videogames industry) and NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts). Creative Industry Switch is designed to foster communication and collaboration between the videogames industry and other UK creative industries such as film, TV, radio and animation.
“The Play Together initiatives were created to provide a forum for the UK’s creative minds to meet, exchange ideas and get commercial projects off the ground," explains Lorna Evans, Project Manager of Play Together for TIGA and NESTA. "We believe this is fundamental to the continued success of the UK’s creative industries.”
“This is exactly the sort of commercial collaboration between video games developers and other complementary media providers that we had hoped the Play Together initiative would achieve," argues Jackie McKenzie of NESTA.
• The ALEX iPhone application is available for download from the Apple iTunes App Store at a cost of £0.59, with 20 animated, interactive tapisodes gradually made available for download - straight into the app and at no extra cost. Recession proof, it does however requires the iPhone 3.0 Software Update or later.
It's no secret that the App Store can be overwhelming and titles get buried with no way for users stay updated. The creators of this site - who, we will note straight away, seem to want to be rather anonymous, which is odd, but the sites' content is genuine and informative, hence this post - wanted to find a way to aggregate the mobile comics community into one place where consumers can go to find out what comic books are available on mobile platforms.
The website is dedicated solely to the advancement of all mobile comic applications, and the creators say they plan feature new releases every week from all developers across all platforms.
Included is a quick appraisal of every comic iphone app in a useful directory, including iVerse, Crispy Comics, Dark Horse, IDW, Robot Comics, ROK Comics and others. The guide doesn't include a link to the provider's own web sites but does have direct links to their apps and comics on the iTunes store.
The site has only just launched, but it's a handy service which with dedication is sure to grow. Check it out at: findcomicapps.com
• Cradlegrave, from John Smith and Edmund Bagwell, has proven to be one of the most popular stories in 2000AD for years. Over on the 2000AD Review Siet, thanks to John Smith, you can now read the script for episode 9 - so you can see how it made the transfer to the page. Warning: there are spoilers and there is bad language...
• Geek Syndicate is running a competition to win a signed copy of ComX's upcoming superhero-styled Forty-Five comic, due for release in December. Forty-Five is a series of Superhero interviews documented by James Stanley. As a soon-to-be father, James wants to find out what lies in store for his family if his unborn child turns out to have a Superpower. Forty-Five features Forty-Five different industry artists, all having just one page to capture the essence of each interview. More info on the Com.X web site: www.comxcomics.com
• Talking of Com.X, a company never averse to innovation, they've just announced, in collaboration with Iconology, Inc., that Com.x comics are now available for download from the iTunes store. The first wave of releases features Cla$$war #1, #2 and Path. These will be followed by the rest of the Cla$$war series and other, soon to be announced, titles. The application is available for £0.59 or ¢99, dependent upon your location. Once you have purchased the app, which enables you to read the comics, you will be able to download Cla$$war #1 and the first chapter of Path free of charge. If you like what you see, you can then download the rest of the books for 59p/99¢ and £1.79/$2.99 for Cla$$war and Path, respectively.
• 2000AD #1646 features a new Future Shock with art by the legendary John Cooper, from a script by Mike Carroll.
• David Hine and Shaky Kane are working on a new Image comic called Bulletproof Coffin.
• Over on the BBC web site writer Mark Gatiss and radio producer Simon Hollis offer a revealing insight into their love of Doctor Who Target books, the focus of their recently-aired Radio 4 documentary, recent Radio 4 documentary, 'On The Outside It Looked Like An Old Fashioned Police Box'. They rightfully sing the praises of those with painted art covers...
• Over on the Coventry Telegraph's web site, David Bentley has an interview with Coventry-based artist and author Al Davison, who is taking Tennant's popular Time Lord to a whole new dimension. Al's new Doctor Who comic for IDW Publishing will consist of alternating two-part and four-part stories, all written by Tony Lee. Al is drawing the two-parters while the artist on the four-part arcs ironically has the same name as the new Doctor Who, Matt Smith.
The ongoing series is launched with Al's first story arc, called Silver Scream and sees the Time Lord investigating an unearthly mystery in 1920s Hollywood.
"The first arc has already had a very good response, it's a very strong Doctor Who story," Al says. "Tony has really captured David Tennant's voice and personality: you read it and it really does sound like Tennant. Read the full interview, which covers much of Al's prestigious comics career Coventry Telegraph - The Geek Files.)
• Swindon will play host to the Swin City Comics Retro Fair on 26 September, to be held at Wharf Green. More details here on Facebook.
• After a few months concentrating on his The Spine Chillers webcomic, artist Ben Clark has moved hisMagic Beans! to a new location on Blogger. Expect the usual Clark madness to ensue in the coming days!
• Talking of web comics, Forbidden Planet International honcho Kenny Penman has been talking to Richard Cowdry and Daniel Locke recently, with the result that they’re going to be doing the new resident strip for the FPI blog. First Somersault went live recently and should be every Tuesday, just like they did with Darryl Cunningham’s Super-Sam.
Comics writer Thomas Behe and British comics artist Chris Walker have just launched a new comic strip, Fone Freaks, via ROK Comics, just in time for Hallowe'en.
Fone Freaks follows the adventures of Sally Snedley, a wireless scientist who seeks revenge on the nasty corporate criminals who stole her cell phone invention back in the 1970's.
Sally seeks justice by targeting the Fat Cat's cell phone customers by creating a haunted network that enables ghosts to zoom out and make people to do dumb things on their phone.
Canadian writer Thomas is probably best known to comics fans as the writer of the graphic Contraband, drawn by Phill Elliott, which was released by Slave Labor Graphics earlier this year. He's spent several years experience developing compelling mobile content for global entertainment companies including BBC, SkySports, Playboy, MTV and O2.
Illustrator Chris has been creating comics for five years and hopes his new strip will appeal to sequential art fans of all ages. "Each Freak represents a silly, embarrassing or annoying social cell phone habit we all do - or see others doing - at some point in time.
"It's mildly self-deprecating at heart although we hope younger children will enjoy the characters - even if they don't fully understand some of the sometimes twisted underlying message. Most kids seem to have a cell phone now and (the ones I know anyway) really love being on them as much as possible."
Fone Freaks can be viewed online at www.rokcomics.com and on ROK's WAP subscription service.
British webcomics and mobile comics publisher and distributor ROK Comics has launched ROK Comics as an application on the Apple iPhone.
The ROK Comics application, the first of a planned series of applications currently in development by ROK for the iPhone, enables iPhone-owners to read a selection of strips from the huge and fast-growing ROK Comics portfolio, to include such strips as Anomaly (by Kennedy Rose), Crumb (by David Fletcher), Reddickulous (by David Reddick), sci-fi strip Crazy Mary (by Mike Colbert, Edward Woodward and others) and gothic comic Ligeia (by Rodrigo D. Ricci).
"We felt we should offer variety in our comics offering and this selection reflects the diversity of strips available on ROK Comics to include humour, adventure and sci-fi," ROK Comics Managing Editor John Freeman, also owner of downthetubes.net, commented. "We will constantly be evaluating, adapting and looking at new features while adding further strips in future versions of the application."
"The iPhone is having a far-reaching effect in transforming access to - and use of - mobile entertainment," added ROK's Creative Director Graham Baines, "and we at ROK are focussed on deploying ever-more interesting, engaging and easy-to-use content services and applications into this fast-growing channel".
This week, the New York Times reported that Apple sold 6.9 million iPhones in the last quarter in the US alone and has already surpassed its goal of selling 10 million iPhones during 2008, according to Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs.
"This is an exciting development for us," said ROK’s Group CEO, Laurence Alexander "and reflects our ongoing commitment to develop and deploy engaging entertainment services to mobile phones globally."
ROK Comics (www.rokcomics.com) provides comic publishers and creators to reach a worldwide audience by delivering comics to mobile phones, either by WAP subscription of Pay Per Download via Multi Media Messaging (MMS) with creators receiving up to 50% of the available revenue on every sale.
Hot on the heels of announcing David Fletcher as the winner of it 2008 Humour Competition (see story), British web and mobile comics publisher ROK Comics has revealed that the winner of its ROK and A Hard Place Comics Competition, run in association with the Birmingham International Comic Show, is British comics artist Ian Stacey.
Ian’s entry, titled “Noah and A Hard Place” was a stand out winner for the BICS team and wins him a Nokia 95 mobile worth almost £500.
The BICS judges also spoke highly of John Maybury’s “SpaceBabe” entry and Ian’s other shortlisted entry, “Crossroads and A Hard Place”.
Working in partnership with BICS (www.thecomicsshow.co.uk), ROK Comics threw down the challenge to creators to create a comic revealing a life changing moment.
“The Noah strips works on every level,” felt James Broxton, who judged the winners from a high quality shortlist along with indie comics distributor Shane Chebsey, owner of Smallzone Comics, and also a BICS organiser. “It’s a nice job, and Ian is a deserved winner.”
“It’s fantastic news,” said Ian on learning of his win, “Thank you very much and thanks also for finding my work a new home.”
Freelance cartoonist and illustrator Ian Stacey had already won high acclaim for his ongoing strip Wet Paint before taking the plunge and bringing it to ROK Comics for web and mobile distribution. “There’s some very funny material that made me laugh out loud,” says Monty Python team member Terry Jones, while top comic creator Alan Grant has described Ian as “an exceptionally funny cartoonist.
“He aims at just about every target under the sun, from genetic modification to Batman, and hits the mark in every case.”
Ian recently began offering a collection of many of his Wet Paint cartoons for sale via his web site (www.ianstacey.net), with all proceeds going to the Big Issue Foundation.
“When we first discussed the idea of a competition to tie in with BICS we were determined to stretch comic creators from the get go,” says ROK Comics Managing Editor John Freeman. “The cartoonists rose to the challenge, with some great entries.”
“We wanted comics with someone telling the story of a difficult choice they've had to make in their life,” said Shane. “It certainly made a change from superheroes.”
"We at BICS love the way that ROK Comics is so accessible to both creators and readers,” Shane adds, “and feel that working together we can help to bring the wonderful medium of comics to a wider readership. Mobile phones are now the most widely used method of communication in the world, so it seems the perfect way to present new comics to more people than ever before".
ROK Comics delivers the means for both comic publishers and creators to reach a worldwide audience by delivering comics to mobile phones, either by WAP subscription of Pay Per Download via Multi Media Messaging (MMS).
Creators publishing professionally via ROK Comics will receive up to 50% of the available revenue on every sale, with full access to sales statistics, viewings and more.
• The Birmingham International Comic Show takes place this coming weekend, Saturday – Sunday 4 -5 October 2008 at the ThinkTank, Birmingham.
ROK Comics has announced that the overall winner of its 2008 Humour Comic Competition is David Fletcher, for his strip featuring Crumb, his crazy, ever-hungry blackbird character.
David’s entry, titled “Pitter Patter” was a stand out winner for the editorial team at top Egmont comic TOXIC, who were the external judges for the competition which ran through August this year on the ROK Comics web site, and wins him a Nokia 95 mobile worth almost £500.
TOXIC editor Matt Yeo describes the strip, which stars Crumb and his rat friend as “A punchy quick-fire gag, with simple yet effective illustrations!”
Runners up wereClownoSaurusby Peter Coupe (“The ancient tale of a bizarre clown-based dinosaur. What’s not to like?!” says Matt) and Meteoro by Puerto Rican comics creator Vicente Aviles (“Classic euro-art, backed with madcap energy!”) starring El Profe.
Vicente, who has been publishing strips to ROK Comics since it started last year, originally published the strip in English, but has recently added Spanish versions at the suggestion of the ROK Comics team, and this entry qualified for consideration for the competition.
Responding to Matt’s comments, Vicente says “I'd say that I always liked the European comics style, and is the style which I've always trying to emulate, so... I have accomplished it! I wish someday I have the opportunity to publish a comic book.” (you can read more El Profe for free at www.rokcomics.com/elprofe.php)
Crumb is just one of top New Zealand-based cartoonist David Fletcher many cartoon creations. David’s 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.
“It's great to have all the long hours slaving over a graphics tablet recognised by someone of Matt Yeo's standing,” says David. “My fourteen year old son's eyes lit up at the thought of getting his hands on the Nokia. No chance! Crumb's become very much part of my life and I'm still hoping one day he'll be able to support me into my old age.”
The first issue of the digital comic features the Masked Marshal in "Mah Pony Must be Punished!", written by Al and drawn by Paul.
"This is the Masked Marshal's return to the comics field with a full seven more panels to play with than he had before," says Al. "I do miss the old hypercompressed days when we tried to fit an entire issue into one panel - top that, Grant Morrison! - but those good times had to end and I'm glad to see all those old characters getting a new lease of life instead of rotting away in Comics Limbo with poor Awkwardman, who can't even get a guest slot in an ultra-high profile 3D comic."
Go to the iTunes store now - if this link doesn't work, look under 'Books' and 'Blue Pilot Software' - and spend just fifty-nine pence (Yes, fifty-nine pence only!) on what Al says will "likely be the future of the kids-comics industry!"
And he argues, it's either this or Dandy Extreme...
Marking a major change in its distribution model almost all the comics on the comics-to-mobile service ROK Comics (www.rokcomics.com) are now Free To View on the web.
After experimenting with various sales techniques since its launch last year, ROK Comics has scrapped the two frame only restriction on all Pro Comics in favour of full promotion for the comics and to better push visitors to subscribing to its WAP comic service, with revenues (shared with pro creators) to be generated by ad sales as well as page view revenues from partner services and other sources.
"The move has been greeted with approval from our top creators who, like us, see this as a great way to promote their characters and strips," says ROK Comics Managing Editor John Freeman, "complementing their other distribution methods."
Now you can ‘embed’ any ROK Comic on most web sites (including many blog services and MySpace), just as you would with an embed for video services like YouTube, Newsjack or QIK.
Hand in hand with the mainly behind the scenes changes noted above, the ROK Comics design team have transformed the main WAP site (wap.rokcomics.com). For pricing details in your country go to www.rokcomics.com/subscribe.php.
In the UK, for a free trial of the service on your mobile, text COMIC to 83736. For a full subscription text COMIC SUB to 83736. The UK subscription price is just £3 a month. Don't forget to bookmark the site when you follow the link you are sent.
ROK has also announced its recent humour competition will be judged by TOXIC comic editor Matt Yeo and reminds all creators its ROK and A Hard Place competition, being in run partnership with the Birmingham International Comic Show, is still running until later this month. More details about the competition here.
Mobile comic creator and Singapore-based marketing and brand development company Omnitoons has announced that they are co-developing “Manga-styled” mobile comics that will be based on Paramount Pictures’ films, in partnership with Paramount Digital Entertainment.
The new mobile comics will be the first time that Paramount Digital Entertainment will release a series of mobile comics based on movies from its library. The first series to launch is a mobile comic based on the recently-released Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging – the teen romance film based on the best-selling series of books by British author Louise Rennison which follows the eccentric and irresistible Georgia Nicolson as she overcomes the trauma of being a teenager.
Comics are also being developed based on the Paramount Pictures’ films Eagle Eye and Mission: Impossible.
Omnitoons say the he comics will be available in three different formats including single-panel comics, four screens per comic strips and short stories with more than 20 screens in each episode.
Currently, these comics are made available through MMS and J2ME formats in the United States, Australia, Europe and India. The mobile comics will be made available by download through key carriers and major content distributors worldwide.
“Omnitoons, is a specialized mobile comic developer with talented artists based in Singapore and we are thrilled to partner with them to translate these movies into mobile comics,” says Pradeep Mittur, Vice President, Mobile Entertainment, Asia Pacific.
“Being able to collaborate with Paramount Digital Entertainment, is a great testament to our vision of providing quality and addictive pop culture content," said said Karen New, CEO of Omnitoons.
"By adapting movies to the mobile comics format, we believe fans will be able to extend their entertainment experience at their own pace, with the privacy of their phone,”
“Omnitoons aims to continue our pursuit of bridging the mobile and movie industries by creating even more comics based on popular film titles through innovative and cost-efficient techniques.”
With Marvel's stated interest in the form, the recent launch of iverse comics, ROK Comics continuing development and the growing interest in mobile comics beyond Japan and China, where the form is already hugely popular, it seems mobile comics are beginning to build up steam and will be yet another form of "comics evolution" reflecting the Ninth Art's continued ability to adapt to find new audiences beyond print.
Owners of Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch devices have been downloading millions of games, utilities, books, and tools from Apple's recently launched iTunes App Store. Now, starting later this year millions of iPhone/iPod Touch owners will have the opportunity to download digital comics from established industry professionals and studios, as well as new and rising comic book stars through iVerse Media.
Comics are of course already available on mobile phones via servcies such as ROK Comics, but this is the first service delivering specifically to iphone. While the sales of iphones are still miniscule compared with other handsets, the hype for the Apple device has been enormous and the Apps Store has been a huge success both for Apple and software creators alike.
"We have developed an extremely simple iPhone Application that allows us to display comics that have been specifically formatted for the iPhone/iPod Touch." said iVerse Media owner Michael Murphey. "What we're doing is creating new comics, and adapting existing comics into a format that makes reading comic books an enjoyable and eas experience on these devices. There's no "zooming" or "pinching" required. All you have to do is flick your finger."
Comics adapted using the iVerse Media software will be available in the iTunes App Store for as little as $.99. Some titles will be released free of charge.
"Creators and Studios will be able to set the final prices on their titles, but we're expecting most standard length titles to be around $.99, and we're encouraging creators to give away the first issues of their titles to allow new readers who may not be familiar with comics, but are iPhone/iPod Touch owners, to give comics on the devices a try."
"With Digital Comics on the iPhone/iPod Touch we have access to a world wide audience, no printing costs or print run minimums, and it doesn't take 3 months to get the title from in the catalog to on sale in a store. Each title will be featured as its own application in the App Store, and will be backed up onto the readers desktop or notebook computer each time they sync their device."
iVerse Media says it is currently discussing comic adaptions and new creations from a variety of industry professionals and studios, and is accepting submissions from new creators. Details on submission requirements can be found at: www.iversecomics.com/submissions/
The pair are not alone in suffering problems over e-comics censorship: creator Brian Kirsten has reported having similar problems with PDF Comic publisher Wowio, now owned by Platinum Studios.
The iVerse submission guidelines make no mention of restrictions on content and indicate all rights will remain with the creators.
• Established creators and Studios wishing to contact iVerse about adapting existing comics, or creating new titles can do so at www.iversecomics.com/contact-us/
Top British comic creators Al Ewing and PJ Holden have developed an iphone version of their new comics project Murderdrome. Find out more by watching the video below or visiting their blog.
While comics on phones are not a new idea -- ROK Comics has been bring the work of creators such as Keith Page, Rodrigo Ricci, Ian Gibson, David Fletcher and others as a WAP-based subscription service for over a year - because Murderdrome is on an iphone everyone has of course started wetting themselves about it...
Let's hope they get some good coverage. Generally, despite the huge number of web comics out there these days, I find very few comics news sites or magazines still seem to be ignoring the huge numbers of digital comics readers, noted in this piece in Publishing Week.
I posted this list of Online Comic Creator Tools on the ROK Comics Creator Forum some time ago, but I think it may well be of interest to folks here...
I've been having a dig around on the Internet and had a look at a lot of the other creator tools out there. I was wondering if anyone had tried any of these and if so, what they thought of them? (This list also features on the main downthtubes site).
Please note: this list does not include links to web comic "portal" sites like ComicSpace or Web Comics Nation (although ROK Comics could also be considered one of those).
Comic Creator Tools Comics creator tools comprise software and online tools for the purpose of creating cartoons or comic strips, either for print or online or mobile phone publication. Several companies have developed creator tools, while some online companies and TV channels use them as "value added" services to enhance their web sites. Many online services employ Flash to but some use Scalable Vector Graphics.
Desktop Comic Creator Software
Comic Book Creator Link:www.mycomicbookcreator.com Windows Software Comic Book Creator 2.0 is a toolkit for self-publishing, whether you're making photo comics or classic comics from your scanned artwork or video game screenshots. The company has created various editions themed to TokyoPop, Marvel and other characters. "Comic Book Creator has become the software of choice for Social Network and user generated content creation and personal media syndication, according to Planetwide Media, publisher and developer of this creative software. Comic Book Creator is a media creation tool that allows you to easily create your own stories utilizing digital photos, music, sound effects, videos and animation. Your creations can printed in book form or published at your own blog or at www.HyperComics.com. The retail version is available for $49.99 US. Video gamers are encouraged to create a professional-looking, high-quality comic book to immortalize an important battle scene or dramatic encounter within their game play. Comic Book Creator lets gamers add in text bubbles to their digital screenshots, as well as classic comic book features like powerful action-word graphics that emphasize their game play. To create a comic, you need to select from one of the 500 unique layout and design templates, drop in your captured digital images and insert text bubbles, icons, captions and clipart to bring to life whatever story you can imagine. Comic Book Creator will work with any JPEG, BMP, or GIF digital image and will allow users to share their masterpiece with friends. Various 'skins' have been created in partnership with gaming companies and publishers such as Marvel.
An award-winning bit of Mac software that lets you create astounding comics, beautiful picture albums, how-tos... and more. The easy-to-use interface integrates seamlessly with your photo collection or iSight. Drag in your pictures, captions, Lettering text ('ka-blam!') and speech balloons and your work is done!
Doozla is the easy-to-use drawing application for children - it is what your kids have always wanted. It's the creation of plasq, who also make Comic Life.
Online Comic Creators
Most of these are flash-based, like ROK Comics
• The Beano UK publisher DC Thomson's flagship humour weekly provides the tools to create comics based on Beano characters. This is a nicely designed comic creator -- probably one of the best from the comics that provide one -- although lettering is a bit fiddly - you choose whole words to add to balloons rather than add your own lettering. Everthing including lettering, is treated as an object, which means you can rotate, scale all items etc. Like many online creators from commercial companies, there's no option to save - just print out your comic.
• Blue Peter A comic maker from the BBC. The Blue Peter engine is accompanied by a talk through from presenter Gethin, and you have to create the strip from the ground up, designing characters (if you want) then you can create a simple three frame strip which prints out on A4. There's no option to save it and the interface uses the same format as the Beano's, clicking and dragging key words to the stage. The stage is a bit small but it's quite a nice design and works quite well.
• Boy's Life This utilises the same style of moving and deleting objects as the Kabam! site (see below) - you click the command (eg Move) first, then the object or character you want to alter. There's no facility to save just print, but this service on the US Boy Scout site does let you click and view the three frame strip as one frame, so you can see how it's shaping up and how each panel looks compared with the others.
• Doctor Who The official BBC Doctor Who web site offers a moderated comic maker enabling users to create comic strips based on Doctor Who using monsters and characters from the TV drama. It's over complicated and the flash is very slow to load, and moderation takes at least three days. Not very impressed.
• Captain Underpants Found on the Scholastic Canada web site. It's a very simple comic maker providing fixed phrases and a limited number of characters, props etc to choose from, and not clever enough to realize you've missed out a frame when you create a story.
• Comic Sketch This SVG-based comic creator enables to you create freehand comics and turn them into a strip. The creators are working on a new comic strip editor (beta at ) for Comics Sketch (that will also be the next core of their calligraphic widget InputDraw). The builders say the main goal of the new version is to empower artists to be able to create real professional comics on the site and allow them to reuse parts/characters/objects of their comics in new ones. It will be SVG standard at its core, aiming for a subset of SVG that is close to the one supported by Firefox or Safari.. or even better and less buggier. This new version is being developed using ActionScript and Flex.
• Comiqs.com A new website that allows people to create comic strips based on their own photos. The Flex based editor allows users to easily add captions and text to photos that they upload. It is also possible to link it to your Flickr account. There's also a community based around these comic strips - with lists of top rated and top viewed comic strips that have been created. You can dive straight in and create a comic based on the photos already uploaded or add your own, without having to sign up. The interface is still in beta and is not instinctive and a bit fiddly, in my view, but there's some interesting implementation of "Web 2.0" themes.
• Gnomz Multi-lingual comic tool requiring sign up before you can create comics based on pixel art designs. The service appears to have some 85.000 members and has been running since at least 2005.
• ITV's I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Flash-based comics creator using celebrity images and scenery from the ITV reality show. The design is similar to the service offered by ROK Comics, who built the tools in 2007 for the show's sixth series as part of a number of mobile promotions. You can either view the completed strip in full or have it delivered to your mobile. There is a charge for mobile delivery.
• Kabam! Comic Creator Part of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a bit limited but one nice touch is limiting the number of words per balloon, so it can't get too big - also, lettering is automatically centred within the balloon. This avoids the problem of over large balloons some comic creators have where the text is embedded into the balloon object, like ROK Comics.
An animation and comic creator inspired, it seems, by the imagery of Escher. It's Flash based and the menus are completely visual which was a little confusing. If you register you can save your designs and do other things with them. The makes say that with Kerpoof you can make artwork (even if you aren't good at drawing!), make an animated movie, earn Koins which you will soon be able to spend in The Kerpoof Store (not sure how this works yet), make a printed card, t-shirt, or mug and comment on other creator's work
• Make Beliefs Comic Simple web site utilising comic characters and props to create three panel strips. The creation of Bill Zimmerman with art by Tom Bloom.
• Patent PlaceVery slick Flash site based on Patent's Place the everyday story of Biotech folk.
• Read • Write • Think ReadWriteThink is a partnership between the International Reading Association (IRA), the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), and the Verizon Foundation. The Comic Creator is designed to be used in a variety of contexts (prewriting, pre- and postreading activities, response to literature, and so on). The organizers focus on the key elements of comic strips by allowing students to choose backgrounds, characters, and props, as well as to compose related dialogue. This tool can be used by students from kindergarten through high school, for purposes ranging from learning to write dialogue to an in-depth study of a formerly neglected genre. Once you have finished your comic you can print it out.
• ROK Comics (I'm guessing you've heard of this one!) This service lets users upload their own comic frames and photographs to make comic strips and provides speech ballons special effects and a number of characters and 'props' with which to create comic strips. Professionally-published strips earn revenue share but users can also publish strips for free and have access to embed code which can be inserted in web sites and some blog services. Sign up is required before you create a comic and the professional service is moderated.
• Strip Creator Stripcreator is a website that allows users to create and save their own comic strips. It officially went in January 2001. The site is donor supported: donors get to use more features than casual visitors. Registration is required. Comics can be read on the site or in the site's Read My Damn Comics forum (http://www.stripcreator.com/forums/listthreads.php?forum=14), where the regulars are most receptive to people who are polite and funny. Stripcreator works best in Internet Explorer 6. It also works in Firefox, though there are some glitches. "I've heard that it works in Opera and Safari as well," says creator Brad, "which would just be luck."
• Strip Generator Hailing from Slovenia, this surely set the benchmark for Flash-based comic creator tools and is now on a 1.3 model. The creators of Strip Generator created a simple to use flash based application utilising online charcaters, props and balloons. The service has gone through several upgrades, and has been used in some very successful projects, like for BAR TV reality show and for using it for political online cartoon creation for a US newspaper. Stripgenerator is free of charge project created to embrace the internet blogging and strip creation culture, helping the people with no drawing abilities to express their opinions via strips.
• Telltale: Sam and Max Comic Creator Now you can give everyone's favourite canine shamus and hyperkinetic rabbity-thing the power of speech from the comfort of your own home or office. It's easy! Just drag the panels you want into the empty strip. Then type funny things in the speech bubbles. (If you leave a bubble empty, it will disappear when you submit your comic.) Site claims copyright on all strips created.
• ToonDo ToonDoo offers more robust features with a twist of social networking sites similar to myspace or friendster. It offers a huge range of cartoon stock graphics and emotion icons for you to add with your photos or you can just use the characters to make up your own. You can get yor comics reviewed by other members, embed the cartoons on your website, and even add the toons to your favourite bookmarks sites. ToonDoo offers nearly 400 characters, props and backgrounds and the ability to create one, two or three-panel comic strips. You can also customize characters, props and speech bubbles and upload pictures and photographs, then share, mail, recommend and bookmark your comic strips. The editor interface does not have the ability to tune digital photos and apply filters. Registration is required to use the comic creator which is Flash based.
• Toonlet Another relatively new service. Rather than focus on photos like comiqs for example, toonlet puts the focus on character creation, and features a powerful avatar tool so you can make characters that look authentically hand-drawn. Tour at: http://www.toonlet.com/tour. They're looking for creators to contribute "art packs" based on downloadable templates.
• TOXIC UK publisher TOXIC has a "Monster Maker" that is part of its online comics suite for members of the TOXIC club. While not strictly a comic tool the elements are certainly comics-inspired.
Good news for online comic creators comes via research from KenRadio.com (registration required) that nearly a quarter of the world's population – roughly 1.4 billion people – will use the Internet on a regular basis in 2008.
This number is expected to surpass 1.9 billion unique users, or 30% of the world's population, in 2012,, which means that the Internet will have added its second billion users over a span of about eight years, a testament to both its universal appeal and its availability.
By the end of 2008, the research suggests, the Internet will be more deeply integrated into the fabric of many users' personal and professional lives, enabling them to work, play, and socialize anytime from anywhere. These trends will accelerate as the number of mobile users continues to soar and the Internet becomes truly ubiquitous.
The PC is still currently the dominant means of gaining access to the Internet,, but only in certain countires. In many third world countries people access the web via their mobiles and the number of mobile devices accessing the Internet is now expected to surpass the number of online PCs by 2012.
So waht are all these millions of surfers doing online? Once on the Internet, it's expected users will continue to spend time on Web 1.0 activities like searching, shopping, and sending email. But Web 2.0 activities, such as watching user-generated videos (Youtube, MetaCafe), streaming media / VOD (Hulu, ABC.com), posting blogs (Blogger, Typepad), and participating in social networks such as Facebook and Myspace are quickly capturing the attention and time online of more and more Internet users.
The latter will create new opportunities and challenges for online businesses and advertisers. But it's all good news for webcomic and mobile comic creators!
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."
But mobile comics on mobile aren’t just proving popular in Japan. Putting on my hat as Managing Editor of comics-on-mobile service ROK Comics, we've found that translations of strips first published on ROK Comics for China have proven very popular in recent months.
While selling comics on mobile to traditional comics readers is, surprisingly, a hard sell - it's hard to beat the beauty and versatility of the printed comic page either online or on mobile - we are finding that mobile comics are a new, wider audience. Comics fans who have always read newspaper cartoons but never set foot in a comic shop may prove 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. 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 credited 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 - but creators and publishers do need to take on board the creative challenges imposed by small screen delivery and be aware it's still early days for the form outside countries like Japan where mobile comics have been around for quite some time.
Here are the first two 'chapters' of a new Charlotte Corday story, The Hampstead Horror, created by Commando, New Eagle and Spaceship Away artist Keith Page specifically for ROK Comics, the mobile comics publisher. (Read more about the project here).
Charlotte returns in a new feature-length adventure battling an alien menace in 1950's London. Ably assisted by Sergeant Maxfield and a selection of North London gangsters and Teddy Boys, Charlotte manages to save the Capital. The ethereal and mysterious Dennis the Donkey lends a hand too, while the British Secret Service proves to be worryingly inept...
Written by screenwriter Stephen Walsh, Charlotte Corday of the Surete: London Calling is set in London in the early 1950s will also be a full length graphic novel, with a few surprises.
You can view all the comics on ROK Comics on your mobile by subscribing to our WAP service for a small monthly fee - $4 in the US, £3 in the UK, other countries also served.
ROK Comics has announced 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.
The London Book Fair has almost finalised its list of comics events for this year's three day event at Earl's Court in April, with a line up of guests that so far includes Paul Gravett, Helen McCarthy, Emma Hayley, Ian Rankin and Cory Doctorow. 
• Over on his brilliant site Bronze Age of Blogs, Pete Doree has 
