Rudolph Valentino Graphic Novel: ‘A Single Rose’

The creator of a graphic novel on legendary actor and dancer Rudolph Valentino, describes what drew him to this project. Giovanni Sticco’s work, “A Single Rose: The Life and Times of Rudolph Valentino and the Lady in Black,” also looks at the mysterious veiled woman who visited Valentino’s grave annually on Aug. 23, the anniversary of his death, carrying a red rose.

My fascination with Rudolph Valentino stems from a world built by my father, Johnny Stark – a rock-and-roll cult icon and one of the early pioneers of rock-and-roll music in Hollywood in the late 1950s.

When I once asked him, “Dad, what was your interest in Valentino?” he simply answered, “I don’t know.” But after his father passed away in 1971, that connection became far more apparent. Living right there in Hollywood, my dad developed a very special bond and a profound sense of comfort with Valentino, frequently visiting his mausoleum just to chill out.

I learned about this history years later through stories told to me directly by my father and photographs – discovering that, while other kids might have been hanging out in a neighborhood park, I had spent time as a young child right there in a Hollywood cemetery. Even as early as the 1950s, my dad used to frequent old theater houses to watch classic screenings of films like The Sheik. Being fellow Italians, he saw something powerful in that archetype, becoming intensely fixated on Valentino while carving out his own legendary path as an early rock-and-roll pioneer. That admiration shaped his world, featuring a huge poster of Valentino as the Sheikh and a bedroom styled like an opulent desert tent complete with Persian carpets and burning incense.

That inherited reverence sparked a lifelong pursuit of my own. At the age of 12, I bought my very first book on Valentino at an old, historic bookstore in Hollywood, California, that still stands to this day. Over the years, visiting Rudy’s grave became a deeply personal tradition of mine – one that I have since carried forward by bringing my own son along, passing the connection down from generation to generation.

When I set out to write and adapt this project, I initially reached out to Sylvia Valentino to ensure that what I was writing was acceptable and grounded in truth. When she read the script, she was so delighted to find something genuinely factual, telling me it was the best screenplay she had ever read that truly captured the trueness of her great uncle. That validation gave me the immense encouragement I needed to complete the script. Upon finishing it, she wished me the very best of luck, hoping I would do something constructive with the story to give her great uncle the proper storytelling it required.

I also submitted the script to Sarah Green, the great-niece of the Lady in Black. Having received nothing but blessings and support from the families closest to this legacy, the path forward became clear.

As a visual storyteller, I wanted to strip away unnecessary exposition and let sequential art carry the emotional weight of this history. A Single Rose is more than a biography of a silent film legend; it is a tribute to the enduring power of myth, the ghosts of Hollywood’s golden age, and the personal traditions that bind families together across time.

“A Single Rose: The Life and Times of Rudolph Valentino and the Lady in Black” by Giovanni Sticco is designed with high-contrast lighting, expressive panel layouts, and dynamic visual beats that mirror classic 1920s cinematography. It looks at the meteoric rise, complex personal life, and tragic demise of silent film legend Rudolph Valentino through a personal lens of legacy, memory, and the enduring mystery of the Lady in Black. Along the way, it explores how iconic figures become personal touchstones passed down through generations.

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