Rod Espinosa
Encyclopedia
Biography
Espinosa was born in the PhilippinesPhilippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. He graduated from the Don Bosco technical college with a certificate in architectural drafting and got a degree in advertising art from Santo Tomas University in Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
. He worked for various companies in the fields of advertising, software entertainment and film before finally settling into a life of a comic book author.
Espinosa's work on The Courageous Princess
The Courageous Princess
The Courageous Princess is a comic book written and drawn by Rod Espinosa, published by Antarctic Press. The story consists of fairy tale lands, princes, and princesses. The books had been discontinued for a fewyears, but now Rod is continuing his work on the series...
at Antarctic Press
Antarctic Press
Antarctic Press is a San Antonio-based comic book publishing company which publishes "American Manga" style comic books.Founded by Ben Dunn in 1984, Antarctic Press has produced over 850 titles with a total circulation of over 5 million...
earnt him a nomination for “Promising new talent” and “Best artist” for the 2000 Ignatz Awards
Ignatz Awards
The Ignatz Awards are intended to recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year since 1997, but skipped a year in 2001 due to the show's cancellation after the September...
and a 2002 Eisner Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
nomination for “Best Title for Younger Readers”.
As both writer and artist, he authored the Neotopia series (4 volumes, 140 pages each), which was published in graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
form. In 2006, Novotopia, the German edition of Neotopia, got a nomination for the Max und Moritz Prize in the category 'Bester Comic für Kinder' (best comic book for younger audience).
His past work include the Battle Girlz series, a manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
novel adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, The Alamo, Dinowars
Dinowars
Dinowars: The Jurassic War of the Worlds is a comic book from Antarctic Press. It centers around Earth today beset by dinosaurs that escaped into space to avoid the ice age. Now back to claim the world as their own, mirroring the original The War of the Worlds...
and Metadocs
MetaDocs
MetaDocs is a comic book from Antarctic Press. It centers around "a crack team of extraordinary doctors and surgeons" trained to save superheroes when the dust settles after an epic battle....
. He has also written and conceptualized popular Antarctic Press titles such as I Hunt Monsters, and Herc and Thor.
His work is also be featured in a series of American History comic books dealing with the subjects of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
, Lewis and Clark, The Boston Tea Party, The Alamo, Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
, The Underground Railroad, Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
, Cesar Chavez
César Chávez
César Estrada Chávez was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers ....
, The American Revolution, the Transcontinental Railroad
Transcontinental railroad
A transcontinental railroad is a contiguous network of railroad trackage that crosses a continental land mass with terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single railroad, or over those owned or controlled by multiple railway companies...
, and Clara Barton
Clara Barton
Clarissa Harlowe "Clara" Barton was a pioneer American teacher, patent clerk, nurse, and humanitarian. She is best remembered for organizing the American Red Cross.-Youth, education, and family nursing:...
.
He has also worked on Classics such as: Around the World in Eighty Days, Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick
Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, was written by American author Herman Melville and first published in 1851. It is considered by some to be a Great American Novel and a treasure of world literature. The story tells the adventures of wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod,...
, William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
's Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
, Comedy of Errors
Comedy Of Errors
Comedy Of Errors was a Glasgow-based progressive rock band formed in January 1984. Their first recording was a demo called "Ever be the Prize", and was recorded at a studio in Blanefield in 1985, and followed by a mini album in 1986....
, Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
and Winter's Tale.
In 2008, Rod won an international contest sponsored by the UN and WHO entitled Stop Tuberculosis. The Stop TB comic book educating people about how to avoid Tuberculosis featured Soccer star Luis Figo
Luís Figo
Luís Filipe Madeira Caeiro Figo, OIH, is a Portuguese former international footballer. He played as a midfielder for Sporting CP, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Internazionale, during a career which spanned over a period of 20 years. He retired from football on 31 May 2009...
as the spokesman.
In 2009, Rod joined 60 other Filipino artists from all over the world and contributed to the tribute book Renaissance: Ang Muling Pagsilang; a book whose sales are donated to the victims of typhoon Ondoy.
Rod's latest endeavor is creating, developing, drawing and self-publishing his own game board titled Adventure Kingdom, and is also working on the continuation of The Courageous Princess
The Courageous Princess
The Courageous Princess is a comic book written and drawn by Rod Espinosa, published by Antarctic Press. The story consists of fairy tale lands, princes, and princesses. The books had been discontinued for a fewyears, but now Rod is continuing his work on the series...
, in between freelance jobs. He works on The Prince of Heroes series of online and print graphic novels, of which two volumes were released early 2010.
In 2010, Rod returned to draw a second book for the UN featuring a dream team of soccer players led by Luis Figo. "Score the Goals" comic features the Millenium Development Goals as outlined by the UN, WHO
Who
Who may refer to:* Who , an English-language pronoun* who , a Unix command* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism- Art and entertainment :* Who? , a 1958 novel by Algis Budrys...
and the FAO
Fão
Fão is a town in Esposende Municipality in Portugal....
.
Neotopia
Neotopia is a four part comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
(consisting of twenty issues) written and drawn by Rod Espinosa, and published by Antarctic Press
Antarctic Press
Antarctic Press is a San Antonio-based comic book publishing company which publishes "American Manga" style comic books.Founded by Ben Dunn in 1984, Antarctic Press has produced over 850 titles with a total circulation of over 5 million...
. It is set 800 years after the rise of a movement which tried to destroy the capitalist
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
system and build a new, better world.
Neotopia features the supposed Grand Duchess of Mathenia, Nalyn, environmentally friendly inventor Philios, the faerie Nimn, the telepathic and telekinetic dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
Ki-Ek, elven bodyguard Marro, robot warrior Sergeant Tinbolt, the Chiropterian Monti, and Tridactylian professor Felder.
In the comic series, the nation of Neotopia is gone, but other nations have sprung up. The comics follow a conflict between Mathenia, which follows the precepts of the Neotopians, and Krossos, which is a dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n industrial
Industrialisation
Industrialization is the process of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial one...
dictatorship
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator. It has three possible meanings:...
, ruled by the inhuman Lord Emperors. The change in humanity resulted in the emergence or re-emergence of various nonhuman civilizations, including wood-elves, the bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
-like chiropterans, Dalphinii dolphins, and the alien Tridactylians.
The story begins with Princess Nalydania, a woman who orders her serving girl, Nalyn, to impersonate her at all public functions, including lessons. She leaves to attend an important ball in another country. The land of Krossos declares war on Mathenia, and attempts to kidnap the look-alike
Look-alike
A look-alike is a person who closely resembles another person. In popular Western culture, a look-alike is a person who bears a close physical resemblance to a celebrity, politician or member of royalty. Many look-alikes earn a living by making guest appearances at public events or performing on...
Nalyn whom they mistake for the actual Princess Nalydania. Nalyn escapes with the help of friends, and searches for allies in the war.
In her travels, Nalyn and her friends encounter the humanoid hyena
Hyena
Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
corsairs, the utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
n island of Eriden, and a queendom of amazons
Amazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
on the island of Eriland. In the final issue, Nalyn and her allies attack Krossos' fortress capital. Within it, they find substantial amounts of gold, patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s to all known devices, and deeds to the entire world. They find the Lord Emperors of Krossos - who it is revealed are men who forsook their humanity in order to gain 'perfect' bodies
Transhumanism
Transhumanism, often abbreviated as H+ or h+, is an international intellectual and cultural movement that affirms the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to eliminate aging and to greatly enhance human...
through technology. They desperately offer Nalyn a share of their wealth; 40% of the world, as well as technological immortality, only to discover that she set fire to their library of patents and deeds on the way in. She offers them a choice to surrender and let the old world die, or refuse and die themselves. They refuse, and she leaves, ordering her forces to destroy the palace.
The story of 'Neotopia' is decidedly socialist. Its portrayal of the final days of the old world, and most notably of its greatest empire, Elyssion, is harsh. In a series of monologues written from the viewpoint of the Mathenians, Espinosa touches on such issues as capitalist oligarchy
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
, pollution
Pollution
Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into a natural environment that causes instability, disorder, harm or discomfort to the ecosystem i.e. physical systems or living organisms. Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light...
, the lack of community
Community
The term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
in large cities, slave labour, gender bias
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
, and cruelty to animals
Cruelty to animals
Cruelty to animals, also called animal abuse or animal neglect, is the infliction of suffering or harm upon non-human animals, for purposes other than self-defense. More narrowly, it can be harm for specific gain, such as killing animals for food or for their fur, although opinions differ with...
and children
Convention on the Rights of the Child
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children...
.