Espinosa was born in the Philippines. 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. 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 at Antarctic Press earnt him a nomination for “Promising new talent” and “Best artist” for the 2000 Ignatz Awards and a 2002 Eisner Award 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 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 novel adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, The Alamo, Dinowars and Metadocs. 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, Benjamin Franklin, Lewis and Clark, The Boston Tea Party, The Alamo, Jackie Robinson, The Underground Railroad, Abraham Lincoln, Patrick Henry, Cesar Chavez, The American Revolution, the Transcontinental Railroad, and Clara Barton.He has also worked on Classics such as: Around the World in Eighty Days, Moby-Dick, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Comedy of Errors, Much Ado About Nothing 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 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, 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.
Neotopia is a four part comic book miniseries (consisting of twenty issues) written and drawn by Rod Espinosa, and published by Antarctic Press. It is set 800 years after the rise of a movement which tried to destroy the capitalist 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 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 dystopian industrial dictatorship, 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-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 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 corsairs, the utopian island of Eriden, and a queendom of amazons 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, patents 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 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, pollution, the lack of community in large cities, slave labour, gender bias, and cruelty to animals and children.
