Old enough to remember this?

You're probably 2000AD's core audience, then...

Comics on Your Mobile - Exclusive

Well, it's been five years (at least) in the making -- but I'm delighted to report that I'm in the middle of a first round testing of a new comics-to-mobile service for ROK Media, that should launch soon, and we'll be rolling out in full this May.

Several British creators here will know I've been touting comics-on-mobile to anyone who will listen for simply ages, but ROK picked up the ball and ran with the idea last year, and it's been non-stop ever since. In pure business terms, you can't ignore the massive rise in digital comic demand – one comics aggregator says it's delivering some 350,000 comics a day to mobile.

The system will let creators upload their own comics and create them using a suite of characters, props and backgrounds: all can then be offered to comic readers to buy and view on their mobiles. Creators will then receive a percentage of every sale.

We're also looking at distributing a range of comic strips from various publishers to mobile and we've had several encouraging discussions so far with a range of companies, both small and large.

In addition to mobile comics, we're also considering print – including publishing titles based on licenses on intellectual properties we've signed, although I can't reveal the names of those properties at this stage. I can say we have solicited samples from some terrific artists for our first project and I hope to be able to say more about that very soon.

Exciting times!

In Memoriam: Jim Cronin

I was very sorry to hear from my Mum last night that ape rescue campaigner Jim Cronin died this week. Jim was the co-founder of Dorset's Monkey World with his wife Alison, an internationally renowned ape rescue centre I've visited twice with my wife.

His death at just 55 from liver cancer has left us both shocked and saddened. Even though we never met him, we've followed the work of Monkey World through the TV series, as the team there worked with governments around the world to halt the illegal smuggling of apes out of Africa and Asia.

Jim was a tireless campaigner, firmly establishing himself as an international expert in the rescue and rehabilitation of abused primates, and the enforcement of international treaties aimed at protecting primates from illegal trade and experimentation.

If you get chance, I'd recommend a visit to the 65 acre wildlife park, opened thanks to his own personal investment (he sold his own house to start the project), and support from his business partner. Some government funding followed later.

"Jim had a passion for life and the conservation of wildlife that was an inspiration to all who knew him," the Monkey World web site tribute reads. "His enthusiasm was infectious and he will be missed by all whose lives he touched. Jim’s legacy will continue under the guidance of his devoted wife, Dr Alison Cronin. Monkey World and the numerous projects Jim and Alison set up around the world will continue as a fitting memorial to a man whose life touched so many around the world."

Monkey World have set up a fund in memory of Jim, who was awarded an MBE for his work, to continue his legacy and all donations should be made payable to the Jim Cronin Memorial Fund and sent to Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre, Wareham, Dorset BH20 6HH.

He will be much missed.

Web Links:

- New York Times obituary (registration required) - 20 March 2007
- Report on funeral in the US - The Journal News, 20 March 2007

- Senior Keeper Mike Colbourne has pays tribute to Jim in The Dorset Echo (21 March 2007)
- Tributes from the Ape Alliance and other campaigners in The Dorset Echo (21 March 2007)
- Tribute by Neal Butterworth, Editor of The Dorset Echo (20 March 2007)

Re-visiting childhood

Talk about a labour of love. dtb contributor Matthew Badham's just passed on a note from 2000AD fan Paul (Book of Lists, There's No Time Like the Present) Rainey, who's re-visitng the entire 30 year run of the title, after buying nearly 1200 copies in one fell swoop on eBay, and is now reviewing them one by one online.

"One day in 1977, I bought the first issue of 2000AD," he says. He was nine. "Thirty years later, I bought it again along with most of the following eleven hundred and eighty eight issues in a moment of madness in an eBay auction.

"Obviously, this would be a total waste of money if I didn't read them all. Why not record the experience of reading twenty years worth of comics in a contracted period of time, I thought. And so I have started the 2000 AD Prog Slog Blog."

New readers are recommended to start here if they want to follow Paul's marathon review mission. It's a fascinating insight, including a look at the way the launch of 2000AD was promoted on TV - something that's actually still done these days, but the costs of even a small ad campaign are astronomic, and to be honset probably weren't cheap then.

Best of luck with that Paul: like you, I'm wondering if you will suffer from thrill power overload, as Tharg the Mighty has warned of many times before in his editorials, or will you start screaming as you re-visit some of the low points in 2000Ad's history. You know what they are (cough, The VCs -- and I don't care if Cam Kennedy liked it!), and if you don't I'm sure Paul will warn you before you to head for eBay on a similar buying spree...