Where In The World Is Spain Rodriguez?

Where In The World Is Spain Rodriguez?

http://comics.gearlive.com/comix411/article/q308-where-in-the-world-is-spain-rodriguez/

June 23, 2010
by Tom Mason

I know the question you've been asking yourself lately: What's Spain
Rodriguez been up to since the publication of Che: A Graphic Biography?

Spain is perhaps one of the few artists to share a name with a
country who is also one of the grand masters of the underground comix
with his contemporaries like Robert Crumb, Skip Williamson, Gilbert
Shelton and Jay Lynch. Spain is best known in those circles as the
creator of Trashman and his work appeared in the East Village Other
and Zap Comix back in the day when people were uptight about working
for the man, baby.

This October, Spain's illustrations will be enhancing a new book by
author David Talbot called Devil Dog: The Amazing True Story of the
Man Who Saved America. Published by Simon and Schuster, the book is
part of their non-fiction Pulp History series of true stories of
"extraordinary feats of bravery, violence, and redemption that
history has forgotten." The book also features a promotional blurb by
Robert Crumb himself.

Devil Dog is the story of Marine Smedley Butler, who "took a Chinese
bullet to the chest at age eighteen," ran down rebels in Nicaragua
and Haiti, and saved the lives of his men in France. Now here's the
kicker: "But when he learned that America was trading the blood of
Marines to make Wall Street fat cats even fatter, Butler went on a
crusade. He threw the gangsters out of Philadelphia, faced down
Herbert Hoover to help veterans, and blew the lid off a plot to
overthrow FDR." That sounds awesome, the kind of two-fisted guy who'd
be punching BP in the throat right now. I can picture the sweaty
intensity of Spain's pictures making it even more awesome.

Trashman Lives was published by Fantagraphics in 1997. Apparently
it's out of print, but still available through Amazon's used book
sellers at a decent price. Fantagraphics does, however, have other
Spain titles available.

Graphic Classics also has a Spain story in their Edgar Allan Poe
title. It's a reprint of his classic 1976 Arcade story, "The
Inheritance of Rufus Griswold."

[Disclosure: I've had books of my own published by Simon & Schuster,
but I discovered this link on my own. So there.]

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