ROK Comic Creator Interview: Rodrigo Diaz Ricci

Ligeia the Vampire by Rodrigo Diaz Ricci.
An iPhone app is available

Ligiea the Vampire creator Rodrigo Diaz Ricci was born in Valparaiso, Chile. A graphic designer who worked in cartoons in Chile, he moved to Europe and saw his work published by several Publishing House in Italy and Greece. He now works freelance for digital publishing houses in the United States and Europe.

His first Ligeia the Vampire story is now available as a ROK Comics app.

ROK Comics: Where and when did you get your first comics break?

Rodrigo Diaz Ricci: Well, my first really comic break was Ligeia for ROK Comics when I first published it for mobile, three years ago now. This character has opened several doors in my life.

ROK Comics: Where else has your work appeared?

Rodrigo: Different places: I did some cover illustrations for the supplement Nine on the Elefterothypia newspaper in Greece, and a collaboration for Mondo Ignoto, a publishing house owned by Dario Argento in Rome. Reborn is a science fiction graphic novel that's been published on iPhone by Arrow Publications in the United States and other different Digital Publishing Houses.

ROK Comics: What's your greatest achievement in the comics field?

Rodrigo: Ligeia the Vampire, absolutely.

ROK Comics: How did you discover Rok Comics?

Rodrigo: Three years ago, I started publishing Reborn as a webcomics via Drunk Duck. I have a very good reception and a writer, David A J Berner [publisher of Broken Voice Comics] wrote a positive comment about it. I visited his web site and found the ROK Comics link and searched in my files for an idea that might work on mobile. I found my old comic strip Ligeia,  buried in the hard disk in the section "Possible Projects" --  and the rest is story.

ROK Comics: How do you feel about Digital comics over Print based comics?

Rodrigo: Digital Comics is a new experience for me, which has helped me bring my characters to a different public. It's a great opportunity for a new author, who can't easily break into the traditional media.

I would like to see Ligeia on paper at some point, I like the comics in paper -- but I think that digital and print can live together and complement each other.

ROK Comics: Do you think digital comics are reaching a new audience or expanding the existing one for print?

Rodrigo: I think the formula is to publish digitally and afterwards, if the idea is good, put out a print edition. I think there are a lot of people who are happy to read a comic on a screen, but, equally, they'd like a print copy of it too. I think this model of business is a great oportunity for the industry.

ROK Comics: Apart from your digital comics, what other projects you working on at the moment?

Rodrigo: It's a sign of the times but the only I comics I am working on are digital projects - I'm working on a European erotic comic and my own Ligeia stories.

I have a project for paper, a story featuring the Danube Bears, a mercenary group who feature in Ligeia: Treasure of the Vampire. It's a straight action adventure story [in the style of Brtish comics like Battle or Commando], set on the Eastern Front during World War Two, which I hope to publish in the future.

ROK Comics: What's your favourite comics related website?

Rodrigo: I have somany reference websites.In English I read Down the Tubes and sometimes Newsarama, but I read websites from Italy, Spain,Argentina and Chile. At the moment, I'm enjoying a lot of comic podcasts, too.

A sample page of Judge Dredd
by Rodrigo, to experiment with
new techniques

ROK Comics: What comics are you reading at the moment (both web and print based)?

Rodrigo: Well, now that I work in comics, I don't have time to read them! But I do study different comics fron the web and my old paper collection.The last that I read was The Scorpion. I'm a huge fan of French bande dessines, and different European comics like Dylan Dog, Corto Maltese and others.

From the web, think  The Abominable Charles Christopher is very interesting. I have to say that I miss Zuda Comics and ROK's original site, which featured a number of new artists.

At the moment I read so many books (more than comics), such as The Road by Cormac McCarthy and The Last Legion by Valerio Massimo Manfredi.

ROK Comics: Whose work do you most admire in the comics field and why?

Ligeia the Vampire by Rodrigo Diaz Ricci.
An iPhone app is available

Rodrigo: That's a very difficult question. I admire so many from different periods. Warren publications like Eerie and Creepy, for example. Artists like Will Eisner, Milo Manara, Jodorowsky, Hugo Pratt, Alberto Breccia, Frank Miller, Pat Miles, Dave McKean and many more...

I think I admire all this people because all them were - or are - looking to find new sttyles for comic art. At the moment I think that the new way is the digital, which is offering plenty of opportunities to push the form in terms of storytelling, and surprise the reader.

ROK Comics: What advice would you offer to new cartoonists?

Rodrigo: That's a very difficult question because I still need to learn so many things about this wonderful art yet myself.  But the best advice I think is: to be a cartoonist you need to think like a Samurai and concentrate 100 per cent on achieving this. If you can't work very hard, 14 hours a day, seven days a week, you're not made for this job, because this is more than a Job: It's your Life. And like a cartoonist, a life full of sacrifices!

• Buy Ligeia: Treasure of the Vampires from iTunes


• Check out more of Rodrigo's work at: www.ligeia-the-vampire.com

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ROK Comics Creator Interview: Steve English

Steve English

Madd Science creator Steve English was inspired to draw cartoons by copying Walt Disney characters at the age of 5 or 6. Reading comics for himself at an older age inspired him to produce his own simply for fun, and that remained a hobby for many years.

"Although I eventually went on to do A level art I decided to study history and archaeology at university in the late 1980's and early 90's where I produced cartoons for the history society there," he says.

"After graduating I worked for a Christian student organisation, and after that as a church youth worker. However, a friend from university remembered my cartoons and asked me to illustrate a guide to theology. It was my experiences from that that made me want to become a full time cartoonist and I have been freelance for just over ten years."

Madd Science by Steve English

ROK Comics: Where/when did you get your first comics break?

Steve English: I suppose The Potted Guide to Theology and the following book, Peter's Cat (which was completely cartoon strips) could be considered to be the break that inspired me to become a freelance cartoonist. But it's hard work just trying to find the next cartooning job and I'm always looking out for the next break.

ROK Comics: Where else has your work appeared?

Steve: A few years back I did quite a lot of work for The Horrible Science Collection and Scooby-Doo World of Mystery, and I did a couple of spreads for The Horrible Histories Collection. Currently I have a football cartoon that appears in the Non-League Paper and I also do work for the Salvation Army in their children's magazine Kids Alive!.

ROK Comics: What's your greatest achievement in the comics field?

Steve: I am very proud of my current cartoon, Football Earth, which appears in four different publications across two continents. Also winning the 2007 ROK Comics humour competition with Madd Science was a definite highlight. It was great to be recognised like that.

ROK Comics: How did you discover Rok Comics?

Steve: I really can't remember now - it was possibly through a link found on Down the Tubes. Either way I just stumbled on it one day while surfing the net, and I thought it would be an ideal way of promoting Madd Science.

ROK Comics: How do you feel about Digital comics over Print based comics?

Steve: There is something very tangible about holding a printed comic and for me that is hard to beat. But because of the cost, print media and the distribution of it is mostly in the hands of a select few. Digital technology has put comic production into the hands of potentially anyone, at very little cost, and with the rise of portable computers reading a digital comic is going to feel more and more like having a printed comic. This will certainly lead to a lot more expression and creativity. The question is whether or not cartoonists will be able to make a living from it. I guess only time will tell.

ROK Comics: Do you think digital comics are reaching a new audience or expanding the existing one for print?

Steve: I'm sure they must be reaching new audiences, but the great thing about traditional comics is their collectability. So hopefully the market for printed comics will also be expanded by the demand for collecting what is seen on screen.

Samples of Football Earth by Madd Science creator Steve English

ROK Comics: Apart from your digital comics, what other projects you working on at the moment?

Steve: As I mentioned before, I currently draw a cartoon panel called Football Earth, about how animals play football, which features weekly in The Non-League Paper. It also had a short run in the BeanoMAX last year, and appears in a couple of soccer magazines in America. I am constantly trying to get more publishers interested in it and have recently submitted it to the Sports Journalists' Association to be judged for sports cartoon of the year.

In 2009 I produced my own comic, The Dead Sea Comic, which sadly only had a brief run. However I have another publisher interested and I am hoping to resurrect the project later this year.

ROK Comics: What's your favourite comics related website?

Steve: I would have to say Down the Tubes for the simple reason of keeping up to date with news about British comics and potential future work. There has been the odd occasion when I have missed something important so I have now made it my home page.

ROK Comics: What comics are you reading at the moment (both web and print based)?

Steve: I subscribe to the new Dandy for my daughter, but of course I enjoy it too! I regularly plague the editorial team with submissions but so far they have turned me down. I see myself as mostly as a strip cartoonist (the newspaper type) so for inspiration I subscribe to Comics.com. They send me a whole load of newspaper strips by email every day for free.

ROK Comics: Whose work do you most admire in the comics field and why?

Steve: I really admire newspaper cartoonists who can produce something funny and interesting every day of the year. Not surprisingly the really good ones burn out. So it is sad when you have to talk about the likes of Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes) and Gary Larson (The Far Side) in the past tense. Those guys have probably influenced me more than any other cartoonist. They were consistently funny and full of surprises.

ROK Comics: What advice would you offer to new cartoonists?

Steve: Get a good computer and know how to use the internet. Get used to receiving lots of rejection letters and just be determined to succeed.

• Buy Madd Science for iPhone



• Check out Steve's Dead Sea Comics


• Check out Steve's Football Earth


• Follow Steve on Twitter

ROK Comics Creator Interview: Rich Diesslin

Rich Diesslin is the creator of The Mobile Gospel, one of ROK Comics first 'Creator Comic Apps'), published in partnership with an individual comic creator.

The project is based on the book of Luke from his Cartoon Gospel Series (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). He is also the creator of the KNOTS or Not scouting cartoons and a general single-panel cartoon called Out to Lunch. He is also the author and cartoonist of The Cartoon Ten Commandments and the cartoonist of A Journey Through Christian Theology, an anthology of theologians now in its second edition published by Fortress Press.

ROK Comics: Where/when did you get your first comics break?

Rich Diesslin: In 1990 my first book, The Cartoon Gospel, was published by a small
press. I put a partial manuscript together in 1986 and sent it out to all the Christian publishers I could find. A few expressed some interest and one came back with an offer to
publish it.

ROK Comics: Where else has your work appeared?

Rich Diesslin: Books, local newspapers, magazines, merchandise and greeting cards and my web site: www.the-cartoonist.com.

ROK Comics: What's your greatest achievement in the comics field?

Rich Diesslin: I've had several books published and I'm just now starting to get more active networking with other creators.

Quite a lot of my cartoons are available on merchandise now (t-shirts, mugs, etc.), which is helping to provide some steady income.

ROK Comics: How did you discover ROK Comics? 

Rich Diesslin: I believe my first contact was a message sent to me on MySpace from John Freeman. That took me to the company web site and I thought that it sounded like a really good idea.

I started uploading general, scout and gospel cartoons and was very pleased to be a finalist in their big competition back in 2008. I do single-panel cartoons but with guidance from John I was able to turn many into a serialized comics, including what he later dubbed" The Mobile Gospel".

ROK Comics: How do you feel about Digital comics over Print based comics?

Rich Diesslin: As a creator, I view all avenues of publication and good. They all have strengths and weaknesses, but overall it is just a way to deliver a visual laugh. I like digital comics, even though I still prefer to read things on paper, I believe I'm heading more and more digital as time goes on.

I create in Photoshop, so the digital part doesn't bother me at all and I can quickly convert my cartoons to just about any medium. ROK seems like an opportunity to see what the mobile device media will bring, and I was pleased to that the Mobile Gospel was selected as one of the lead-off iphone apps for ROK.

ROK continues to be on what I call "the bleeding edge" of digital comics delivery. Their original concept was good, and with the popularity of mobile, they should be able to smoothly transition over and stay a leader in the field.

ROK Comics: Do you think digital comics are reaching a new audience or expanding the existing one for print?

Rich Diesslin: Studies have shown an increase in the percentage of ebook sales vs. printed books, suggesting that it is increasingly replacing print media. I have no doubt that ebooks and apps are also reaching new audiences as well.

Recently I was pleased to find out that a 4-year-old girl (and her mom) were enjoying the Mobile Gospel. While my cartoons are mostly intended for youth and adults, the daughter really liked any book with cartoons and her mom finds it a good way to cover to bible lessons.

I think there will continue to be a role for print media, but a lot will change in the market place as we find out just what that role will be (also known as at what point the market share will level out). Right now, the trend is toward digital and the risks and costs associated with digital are much more conducive to publishing than tradition forms.

ROK Comics: Apart from your digital comics, what other projects you working on at the moment?

Rich Diesslin:  I should be releasing a new work this winter cartooning the Old Testament.

I haven't decided the best form for it, but I'm thinking my web site and an ebook might be the way to go.

Otherwise,  I continue to work on Out to Lunch and KNOTS or Not scouting cartoons.

ROK Comics: What's your favourite comics related website?

Rich Diesslin: Other than my own (www.the-cartoonist.com), I find The Daily Cartoonist blog is very good for keeping up with cartooning in the United States. Also, several papers in the US allow you to view comics online, and the Houston Chronicle even allows you to build your own link by selecting from several comics.

ROK Comics: What comics are you reading at the moment (both web and print based)?

Rich Diesslin:  Not too surprisingly I like Pearls Before Swine, Zits, Baby Blues, Brewster Rockit, SpeedBump, Dilbert, Agnes, Drabble, among others.

ROK Comics:  Whose work do you most admire in the comics field and why?

Rich Diesslin:  Bill Watterson (creator of Calvin and Hobbes), Dave Coverly (SpeedBump), Scott Adams (Dilbert), Stephan Pastis (Pearls Before Swine), Tony Cochran (Agnes), Kevin Fagan (Drabble) and more ... mostly because they are (were) just consistently funny.

ROK Comics:  What advice would you offer to new cartoonists?

Rich Diesslin:  Love what you do, do what you love, but don't give up your day job (unless you can)!

• Buy The Mobile Gospel on iTunes

• Check out more of Rich's work at www.the-cartoonist.com

ROK Comics Revamped

The ROK Comics web site (www.rokcomics.com) has just been revamped to promote our new iPhone comic apps - check it out now!

The first of our iPhone apps are Ligieia by Rodrigo Diaz Ricci, Madd Science by Steve English and The Mobile Gospel by Rich Diesslin.

Creators can still log in and create comics on the ROK Comics platform using this link: but because we are currently focusing on both paid app creation and delivering comics to WAP subscription services we have, reluctantly, had to 'close off' access to site content meaning they cannot be viewed on site.

The Indian WAP services, which feature a number of the more popular comics on the ROK Comics service along with material purely for the Indian market such as comics published by Raj Comics and ACK, are proving successful.

For Indian customers, Airtel Live now offers a wide range of comics via a dedicated Mobile Comics platform, including recent issues of Raj Comics superhero Nagraj, Doga and the first story in a trilogy of tales of Super Commando Dhruva. There is a daily charge of Rs. 5/- and you can read any comics from a huge selection.

Airtel in India customers may access the Comics Portal service by texting ‘COMICS’ or "COMIC" to 54321 or by directly visiting the Airtel Live portal. This service is compatible with all GPRS-enabled handsets in India.

• Airtel customers should note that Airtel may charge you additional money for the data download and the price for that may vary depending on what plan you have.

ROK Comics Site - Information

Our apologies to our fans, but for various technical reasons it's currently not possible to view comics on the ROK Comics site.

You can still create comics if you are an existing creator, which will be considered for use on our paid WAP services, but the 'embed' function, to put your comic on a web site, is not working.

It is also possible to create a new account to create comics.

ROK Comics is focusing its energies on its successful WAP subscription services in India at present.

You can still view ROK Comics 'Pro' content on paid services such as the iPhone app.