Spain Rodriguez

تشي جيفارا

Spain (Cartoonist)

An extensively researched graphic portrayal of the life and times of the revolutionary icon covers such events as his motorcycle journey through Latin America, rise to prominence within Castro's revolutionary movement, and involvement in the insurgency that led to his death in Bolivia. Original.

A Graphic Biography

Spain Rodriguez is a legend in comix, whose life story was as exciting as the adventures of his comic book protagonists. Mentored by an artist mom, drawn to comic books and juvenile delinquency, a motorcycle outlaw, an influential artistic force in the underground press, and one of the original seven samurai of Zap Comix, this is the first volume in another historic landmark series from Fantagraphics. His alter ego Trashman, Agent of the Sixth International, sworn to fight the oppressor with his brothers and sisters… especially the sisters (ahem). The 170 pages of Trashman stories that Spain drew throughout his career form the backbone of this volume, along with his first hand accounts of riding with the Road Vultures Motorcycle Club (a gang once considered so dangerous that the police chief of Buffalo, New York, declared war on them) and his 1969 East Village Other series about cop corruption, Manning. This first volume is rounded with an informative inside account of Spain’s life and loves in the emerging counterculture of New York’s Lower East Side.

Street Fighting Men

Spain Vol. 1

Patrick Rosenkranz

In My Life & Times, Spain turns his eye on himself to create his most candid, autobiographical comic stories, which draw on the pivotal moments of his formative years: cruising with teen pals and wild acquaintances; the Buffalo, New York, jazz clubs; close encounters with women and sexuality; and his growth as an artist. Through rarely seen paintings, a sampling of sketchbook pages, and dozens of stories, in addition to essays by historian Patrick Rosenkranz, My Life & Times explains how Spain went from a misguided youth to a high-profile denizen of San Francisco’s Mission District to a community elder who attempted to bridge the gap between underground comix and the emerging Latino Art Movement ― he was even included in the "Neighborhood Heroes" mural at the local middle school. This collection of comics from Zap, Blab!, Young Lust, Rip Off Comix, and The Comics Journal make for Spain's most personal contributions from his over six-decade career.

My Life & Times

Spain Vol. 3

R. Crumb

Robert Williams

Gilbert Shelton

Rick Griffin

S. Clay Wilson

Victor Moscoso

Paul Mavrides

The final, previously-only-available-in-a limited/collector's-edition issue of the the most important comic book series of all time! This blowout issue not only includes work by all eight Zap artists (plus a collaboration with cartoonist Aline Kominsky), but also three double-page jams by the group. Plus:Zap’s first-and-only color section, featuring comics by R. Crumb and Gilbert Shelton (his final Zap Wonder Wart-hog episode, no less). Paul Mavrides provides an alternately embellished version of Gilbert Shelton’s and his Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers episode, “Phineas Becomes a Suicide Bomber” (originally inked in the Complete Zap by Shelton).

Zap #16

William Lindsay Gresham

This engrossing graphic adaptation of the 1930s noir novel by William Lindsay Gresham is a study of the lowest depths of showbiz and its sleazy inhabitants: scheming grifters, cheap hustlers and Machiavellian femmes fatales.

Nightmare Alley

This is a more-than-complete collection (it includes the unpublished 17th issue!) of the quintessential underground comic book.

The Complete Zap Set

Although he’s best known for his two-fisted tales of the chopper-riding Trashman, Spain’s blunt graphic style and uncompromising gift for caricature, rendered in eye-punishing slabs of black and white, work equally well for more subtle fare ― such as these memoirs of his misspent youth. Cruisin’ with the Hound ranges from Spain’s days as an innocent young churchgoer to his time as a member of the Road Vultures motorcycle gang, with stops along the way for his discoveries of science fiction and other, more adult pursuits (“The Birth of Porn”) ― as well as the “The Education of an Underground Cartoonist,” describing his journey from a pimply Captain Marvel-reading scribbler to his arrival as a professional artist. But the heart of this collection is a cycle of stories (originally published in the acclaimed Blab! magazine) set during Spain’s teenage days in the 1950s, often featuring the doomed, dot-eyed Fred Tooté, a wild, flaky character in whose company some of his wildest escapades occurred.

Spain Rodriguez

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