
I’m absolutely delighted to report that, after a long period of inactivity, artist Rodrigo Diaz Ricci is back producing his wonderful Ligeia the Vampire character, with an all-new story set in Turkey in the 1920s.
While the “Prologue” for the new story, published on MotionTV today is in Spanish, Rodrigo hoes to offer an English version in due course. (He tells me, by the way, that MotionTV offerings are best viewed in Chrome rather than Safari).
A graphic designer, comic writer and artist who has lived and worked in Chile, Italy and Romania R.D. Ricci drew cover sfor the Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia and also for Mondo Ignoto’s Horror and Forbidden archaeology magazines, owned by Dario Argento and Luigi Cozzi. He drew and wrote two stories for the El Italiano, graphic novel by Patricio Valladares with Nicola Pesce Editore.
It was at this point that our paths crossed in 208, when and he created the first Ligeia the Vampire comic via the first ROK Comics platform, followed by another story, “Reborn” which is distributed for iphone by Arrow Publications, that does not feature Ligeia.
In 2011 he worked on an Erotic Graphic Novel for the European market and on storyboards for Blair Erickson’s film The Banshee Chapter, a Before the Door and Sunchaser Entertaintment production.
Along with David Fletcher’s Crumb humour strip (now published on GoComics), plus strips from the likes of David Hailwood and Chris Reynolds, Ligeia the Vampire was one of the highlights of the first ROK Comics platform for me, a publishing experiment unfortunately curtailed back then by the economic downturn – but the story published back then is still available from ROK Comics as an iPhone app.
A wonderfully atmospheric gothic horror character, Rodrigo has continued to work Ligeia the Vampire (sadly, only one story, Moonchild, is still been available in English) – and now he’s back with a whole new story, available as a motion book.
The new Ligeia tale, set in 1924, centres on a Alejandro Alamos, a Chilean who travels the world buying antiques and works of art commissioned by wealthy collectors. Alejandro has a date with a mysterious character in Istanbul, where he will buy an object that embark on a terrifying adventure.
Here’s a short trailer – and you can find out more about this new series here on the official Ligeia the Vampire web site or simply head straight to MotionTV to view the first episode.
• Ligeia the Vampire Official Web Site
• Read the new Ligeia the Vampire story on MotionTV (Chrome advised for viewing)
2023 UPDATE: RD Ricci and several Liega works can now be found on YouTube and Vimeo
All art and Ligeia the Vampire © 2023 R.D. Ricci

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
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