Printed comic books are in decline in most of the world, but new made-for-mobile comic strips are breathing life into this once-iconic art form. At the same time, operators are getting the chance to bring a new entertainment product to their subscribers.

While the Japanese form of comic books, known as manga, have been popular in the mobile space for quite some time, the rest of the world is just now starting to catch on. ROK Comics in the UK is making comics strips such as Garfield, Doonesbury and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles available for download to mobile phones while also providing them on tailored WAP sites for operators around the world.

John Freeman, managing editor at ROK Comics, says the company has been talking about mobile comics for a while, but it is only in recent years that the screens on mobile phones have been able to display the comic strips properly.

“From our point of view as a publisher, it is an opportunity to reach new readers, and from the network operator’s perspective, it is a new revenue stream,” Freeman says.

The mobile comic service, launched in May 2007, provides comic strips for download via ROK’s website as well as though several operator-branded WAP sites. Traffic to the WAP sites is around 300,000 views per week and is growing about 150 percent each week.

Today, ROK Comics offers about 130 different comic strips for download. Consumers can choose to pay EUR 2.15 per download or about EUR 14 for a package of 100 comics.

(Crazy Mary by Michael Colbert and James Woodward)

The business model is different depending on the country. In Pakistan, the WAP subscription model works best and users pay EUR .85 per month for unlimited access. In China, where MMS is more widely used, subscribers can download comics for approximately EUR .25 each. Telenor in Pakistan and China Mobile rolled out the first two tailored WAP services but ROK is in discussion with operators in India, Australia, South Africa and Thailand.

Pakistan is ROK Comic’s fastest growing market. “We are quite amazed by the response. Pakistan does not have a comic print industry, but Telenor came along and said ‘This is a really interesting product we want to provide,’” Freeman says. Telenor in Pakistan is pushing out 2 million SMS advertisements each day, giving subscribers a free, three-day trial in an effort to promote the service.

Recently, ROK Comics also launched a product in cooperation with the UK’s ITV. Fans of the popular reality show, “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here” can create comics of their favorite characters using ROK’s Celebrity Comic Creator and then send them to friends for EUR 2.15.

By David Francisco