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Spain Rodriguez

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Spain Rodriguez
BornManuel Rodriguez
(1940-03-02)March 2, 1940
Buffalo, New York, U.S.
DiedNovember 28, 2012(2012-11-28) (aged 72)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Area(s)Cartoonist, Artist
Pseudonym(s)Algernon Backwash
Notable works
Trashman
Awards2013 Will Eisner Hall of Fame Award
Spouse(s)Susan Stern[1]
United Cartoon Workers of America
image icon United Cartoon Workers of America shirt design[2] by cartoonist Yossarian (née Alan Shenker)[3]
image icon Simon Deitch wearing United Cartoon Workers of America T-shirt at the Berkeley Comix Convention, 1972 [2]

Manuel Rodriguez (March 2, 1940 – November 28, 2012), better known as Spain or Spain Rodriguez, was an American underground cartoonist who created the character Trashman.

Influences

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His experiences on the road with the motorcycle club, the Road Vultures M.C.,[1] provided inspiration for his work, as did his left-wing politics. Strongly influenced by 1950s EC Comics illustrator Wally Wood,[4] Spain pushed Wood's sharp, crisp black shadows and hard-edged black outlines into a more simplified, stylized direction. His work also extended the eroticism of Wood's female characters.[citation needed] Robert Crumb and Rodriguez share influences.[5]

Early life

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"I would go back to Buffalo periodically and I would take photos. It’s interesting. Hardly any of those buildings are there now. My old neighborhood is a freeway interchange. Whenever I run into people from that time period they all remember those days. I thought it was me. I thought it was some personal quirk remembering Buffalo in those days but in Buffalo itself there’s a whole cult around that."[6] - Manuel Spain Rodriguez

Manuel Rodriguez was born March 2, 1940,[7] in Buffalo, New York. He picked up the nickname Spain as a child, when he heard some kids in the neighborhood bragging about their Irish ancestry, and he defiantly claimed Spain was just as good as Ireland.[8] Rodriguez studied at the Silvermine Guild Art School in New Canaan, Connecticut alongside cartoonist M.K. Brown.[1][9]

"When Manuel Spain Rodriguez ditched art school in 1959, the decision came easily. The Silvermine Guild School of Art professors didn’t appreciate his representational drawings, an alcoholic landlord threatened his life, and he’d witnessed a good friend commit suicide. So he returned to his hometown of Buffalo, New York, where he painted, took a janitor job (at the Western Electric plant for five years[10]), became invested in left wing politics, and joined an outlaw motorcycle gang. Rodriguez’s experiences as a member of the Road Vultures Motorcycle Club[11][12] later manifested in black-and-white illustrations when he moved to Manhattan.[13]"

Career

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Zodiac Mindwarp cover art by Rodriguez

In New York City, during the late 1960s, he became a contributor to the underground newspaper the East Village Other, which published his own comics tabloid, Zodiac Mindwarp (1968). Trashman's first appearance was as a full-page serial in the East Village Other.[14][15] He covered the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago as a reporter for the East Village Other, adventures which were chronicled in My True Story (Fantagraphics Books, 1994). One of his earliest strips, "Manning," featured a hard-boiled, over-the-top cop and was later cited as an influence on the British comics character Judge Dredd.[16]

"When I met him, he struck me as an archetypal character. Somewhere between a crazy artist crossed with a left wing radical, crossed with a working class Latino hood" - Robert Crumb[17]

Spain was a co-founder[18] (with Nancy Griffith, Bill Griffith, Robert Crumb, Justin Green, Art Spiegelman, Roger Brand, and Michele Brand[19]) of the United Cartoon Workers of America,[20][21][22] The U.C.W. of A. brand appeared on a number of comix of that era.[23][24][25][26]

"In November 1970, Simon Deitch, Rory Hayes, and Spain Rodriguez organized a meeting at Rodriguez’s home to debate the foundation of a movement that could, if need be, attach itself to the IWW. From this first meeting came the name of the association, “United Cartoon Workers of America” (UCWA), but no other concrete decisions were made. The following month, over the course of a second meeting that assembled a greater number of participants with assistance from Rip Off Press, the creators placed their own status in underground publishing on the table. As independent creators, they circulated in a restricted network of small publishing houses, none of which realized any particularly elevated profits at the expense of the creators. In the eyes of some, like Roger Brand, this working situation did not justify the existence of a union. The third meeting was more didactic: Albert Morse, the lawyer for Zap Comix (and for Robert Crumb), wrote a report on the topic of royalties, Greg Irons explained how to buy art supplies in bulk, and Bill Griffith dissected the costs of printing and distribution. The creators present at this meeting agreed on a general page rate of twenty-five to thirty dollars a page, and on the royalties of about one thousand dollars for twenty thousand copies of a thirty-six-page comic book sold for fifty cents. Subsequent meetings took place but no union saw the light of day."[20]

Spain contributed to numerous underground comics in the 1960s–2000s, including San Francisco Comic Book, Young Lust, Arcade, Bijou Funnies, Weirdo, and Harvey Pekar's American Splendor. Spain joined the Zap Comix collective in issue #4 (August 1969), and contributed stories to every issue from then until the comic's demise in 2005. In such classics as Spain's Mean Bitch Thrills (Print Mint, 1971), Spain's women are raunchy, explicitly sexual, and sometimes incorporated macho sadomasochistic themes.[27]

"Spain Rodriguez’s work stands above that of all the other male artists in this creation of sexually explicit comics art, both because he was so prolific and popular, and because he strove to show his sympathy toward women’s passions and struggles. Admittedly, he did so in ways that were distinctively his own."[28]

"The tall, leggy, often half-naked “Big Bitch” is a raunchy, explicitly sexual Rodriguez character who appears in She Comics in stories that often incorporate macho, sadomasochistic themes."[29]

After moving from New York City to San Francisco in 1970, Spain's Subvert Comics series (1970–1976)[30] featured "three full length Trashman: Agent of the Sixth International stories."[31] Trashman later appeared in such publications as High Times, Heavy Metal, Weirdo, San Francisco magazine, Zap #11–13, and the Fantagraphics anthology Zero Zero #2.[31]

From 1976 to 1998, Spain contributed cover art to more than a dozen issues of the popular pornographic magazine Screw.[32]

From 1998 to 1999, Spain drew the continuing graphic story, The Dark Hotel, which ran on the website Salon

Spain drew Sherlock Holmes' Strangest Cases[33] based on Arthur Conan Doyle's stories: "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb," "The Adventure of the Musgrave Ritual," "The Adventure of the Devil's Foot," "The Adventure of the Speckled Band," and "The Adventure of Black Peter."[34]

Spain's later work included an illustrated biography of Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Che: A Graphic Biography (Verso Books, 2008). Published in several different languages, it was described by cartoonist Art Spiegelman as "brilliant and radical."[35] His history of the California farm worker movement, Farmworker Comix was published posthumously in 2014 by the California Federation of Teachers.

Spain designed at least five posters for the San Francisco Mime Troupe, a political satirist theatre company.[36]

Rodriguez taught art classes at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts for many years, and he supported the creation of murals in the Mission District.[1][37] Spain did color xerox postcards and prints in the late '70s/early '80s at Galería de la Raza.[38]

Personal life

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Rodriguez married a daughter of Adele[39][40] and Robert Stern,[41] Susan Stern, a poet, an Oakland Tribune and KPIX investigative journalist[42] in Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area,[43][44] and the director of the films Barbie Nation: An Unauthorized Tour,[45][46][47][48] The Self-Made Man[40] and Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez.[49][50] They have a daughter, a New York-based artist.[51][52][53] Susan's documentary films are about her daughter's dolls, her father, and her husband.

Rodriguez died at his home in San Francisco on November 28, 2012, after battling cancer for six years.[37]

Legacy

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In 2012, an anonymous seven-panel[54] graffiti tribute mural was spray-painted on a former warehouse and shipping platform of the Railway Express Agency owned by the City of Buffalo, near Buffalo Central Terminal and a package containing a CD of images and a note: "Included are photos of an illegal mural – a dedication to Spain Rodriguez, located in Buffalo’s East-Side, at the Central Terminal, please use these photos and your powers to get the mural some shine … or just throw the CD out.", photos of which circulated on Facebook.[55][56]

In 2013, Ian De Beer directed a team of street artists to spray-paint a graffiti tribute mural in the style of Spain Rodriguez on a parking lot wall of a convenience store at Allen and College streets, in the Allentown, Buffalo neighborhood, inspired by a Spain Rodriguez comic about a fight he got into at a bar, across the street from the mural.[57][58]

In 2021, Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez a documentary, was directed by his wife, filmmaker Susan Stern.[59][60]

Awards

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In July 2013, during San Diego Comic-Con, Rodriguez was one of six inductees into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame. The award was presented posthumously by Mad magazine cartoonist and Groo the Wanderer creator Sergio Aragonés. The other inductees were Lee Falk, Al Jaffee, Mort Meskin, Joe Sinnott, and Trina Robbins.[61]

Exhibitions

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  • 1988 (June 27 – August 10) Galería Esquina de la Libertad (San Francisco) — "Spain : a View from the Bottom: Posters, Comic Strips, Caricatures and More"
  • 2012 (September 14, 2012 – January 13, 2013) Burchfield Penney Art Center at Buffalo State College (Buffalo, NY) — "Spain: Rock, Roll, Rumbles, Rebels & Revolution"[62]

Bibliography

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  • Subvert Comics #1–2 (Rip Off Press, 1970–1972); #3 (Saving Grace, 1976)
  • Mean Bitch Thrills (Print Mint, Sept. 1971)
  • Food Price Blackmail: Who's Behind the High Cost of Eating, text by Margaret Lobenstein & John Schommer. United Front Press, 1973.
  • Trashman Lives!: The Collected Stories from 1968 to 1985 (Fantagraphics, 1989).
  • She: Anthology of Big Bitch (with Susie Bright). San Francisco: Last Gasp, 1993.
  • My True Story. Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 1994.
  • Nothing in This Book Is True, But It's Exactly How Things Are, text by Bob Frissell. Berkeley: Frog Ltd., 1994.
  • Alien Apocalypse 2006 (with Kathy Glass and Harold S. Robbins). Berkeley: Frog Ltd., 2000.
  • Sherlock Holmes' Strangest Cases by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. San Francisco: Word Play Publications, 2001.
  • Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Gresham. Seattle: Fantagraphics Books, 2003. ISBN 1-56097-511-3
  • You Are a Spiritual Being Having a Human Experience, text by Bob Frissell. Berkeley: Frog Ltd., 2003.
  • Che: A Graphic Biography, edited by Paul Buhle. London/New York: Verso, 2008.
  • Devil Dog: the Amazing True Story of the Man Who Saved America, text by David Talbot. Simon & Schuster, 2010.
  • Cruisin' with the Hound (Fantagraphics Books, 2012).
  • Farmworker Comix: a History of the Farm Labor Struggle in California, text by Bill Morgan. (California Federation of Teachers, 2014).
  • Dies Irae: One Man Against the American Empire (A Graphic Story of 9/11), text by Wolcott Wheeler. Independently Published, 2003,2018.

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d Weber, Bruce (2012-12-03). "Spain Rodriguez, Artist of Underground Comics, Dies at 72". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-10-14.
  2. ^ a b "United Cartoon Workers of America, 1972". Far Out Company. 15 February 2022. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  3. ^ Rosenkranz, Patrick (January 25, 2013). "'Totally Righteous' Lower East Side Cartoonist Dies: Alan Shenker AKA Yossarian, March 3, 1945-January 14, 2013". The Comics Journal. Archived from the original on March 10, 2024. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
  4. ^ In the 1982 comic book Commies From Mars #4, Spain published an illustration copying Wood's style and sc-ifi subject matter with the words "In Memory of our beloved mentor Wallace Wood."
  5. ^ Rodriguez, Spain. "an erotic dancer (NSFW)". Comic Art Fans. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  6. ^ Rosenkranz, Patrick (26 April 2012). "Spain Rodriguez: Still Cruisin' After All These Years". The Comics Journal. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Manuel Rodriguez." The Writers Directory. Detroit: St. James Press, 2012. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.
  8. ^ Rosenkranz, Patrick. "Span Rodriguez Fought the Good Fight," The Comics Journal (NOV 29, 2012).
  9. ^ Rosenkranz, Patrick (2002). Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963–1975. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books. p. 39. ISBN 9781560974642.
  10. ^ Faingold, Noma (11 October 2021). "Sunset Resident Edits Film Documenting Countercultural Comics Artist". Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon. Sunset Beacon. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  11. ^ Parkhurst, Joe; Van Elk, Don (June 1967). "Round Up". Cycle World. Retrieved 27 August 2024. Ever since the mid-1950s the Buffalo, N. Y. area has been plagued by a misfit gang who call themselves the "Road Vultures." What started out as a basically carefree and fun loving, yet relatively harmless, group, has gradually progressed through disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, malicious mischief, petty larceny, grand larceny, burglary, robbery, rape, assault in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degrees, use, possession, and sale of narcotics, to now when one of their members has finally been charged with being an accessory to murder in the 1st degree.
  12. ^ "Road Vultures Motorcycle Club". b Buffalo Police Then and Now. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  13. ^ Umile, Dominic (1 December 2017). "Rebellious, But Still Sexist: Revisiting a Giant of Underground Comix". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  14. ^ Stern, Susan (2012-11-09). "Trashman: The Art of Spain Rodriguez". Burchfield Penney Art Center. Retrieved 27 August 2024 – via vimeo.
  15. ^ Rodriguez, Spain. Trashman Lives! (Fanatagraphics Books, 1997), p. iv.
  16. ^ Baeza, Rodrigo. "Spain Rodriguez's "Manning" Comics Commentary Blog (2012).
  17. ^ Gazin, Nick (29 November 2012). "RIP Spain Rodriguez". VICE. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  18. ^ "Rodriguez, Manuel 1940-". Encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  19. ^ "Cartoonist Bill Griffith: Creator of Zippy the Pinhead". ArtSpeak. Miami Book Fair: Florida International University. November 19, 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2024. Interviewer: Raymond Elman. Videographer: Lee Skye.
  20. ^ a b Gabilliet, Jean-Paul (2009). "The United Cartoon Workers of America". In Gabilliet, Jean-Paul; Beaty, Bart; Nguyen, Nick (eds.). Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604732672. Retrieved 27 August 2024 – via archive.org.
  21. ^ Booker, M. Keith, editor. Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas (ABC-CLIO, 2014), p. 838.
  22. ^ Poplaski, Peter; Loft, Peter. "United Cartoon Workers Logotype and ..." Heritage Auctions. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  23. ^ Young Lust #3 (Last Gasp, June 1972).
  24. ^
    • Crumb, Robert (1972). "XYZ Comics". Kitchen Sink Enterprises. The title is written with large yellow letters for the "XYZ" and the "comics" below is in black cursive letters. Above the main title, at the top center, it reads "The Last Word in Comics!" in black script. A yellow medallion on our upper left has the head of a man in a hat and has the text, "KITCHEN SINK ENTERPRISES" printed around the edge. On our upper right, there is a yellow hexagon printed with, "MEMBER UNITED CARTOON WORKERS OF AMERICA." On our right, next to the main title, "50¢" is printed while at the bottom of the main rectangle in a yellow circle "Krazy Kool" is written.
    • cover
  25. ^ Robert Crumb Home Grown Funnies #1 (January 1971) Kitchen Sink Press (Features the membership badge of the United Cartoon Workers of America.)
  26. ^ Lean Years Contributors: Kim Deitch, Leslie, John Pound, Mike Royer, Trina, Chris Warner. Editors: Barry Siegel and Bruce Simon. Member: United Cartoon Workers of America. San Francisco: Cartoonists' Co-op Press, 1974
  27. ^ Wetham, Justin. "About Spain," Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine Dies Irae (2006).
  28. ^ Buhle, Paul (22 June 2019). "Comics as Erotic Art: Funny or What?". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  29. ^ Donovan, Patricia (October 14, 2009). "Celebrating the work of indie comix Spain Rodriguez". www.buffalo.edu - UB Reporter. University at Buffalo. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  30. ^ Issues #1–2 were published in 1970 and 1972 by Rip Off Press; issue #3 was published by Saving Grace, a Division of Keith Green Industrial Realities in 1976.
  31. ^ a b Trashman Lives, pg. v.
  32. ^ Rodriguez, Spain. "Screw Magazine issue 627 cover (1981)". Comic Art Fans. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  33. ^ (Word Play Publications, 2001)
  34. ^ "Sherlock Holmes' Strangest Cases". Cartoon Art Museum. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  35. ^ "Bennett, Jessica. "Road Vultures back in town for Comicon", The Spectrum, October 21 2009". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
  36. ^ "Spain Rodriguez". Internet Archive. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  37. ^ a b Fagan, Kevin (November 28, 2012). "Spain Rodriguez: Zap Comix artist dies". SFGate.
  38. ^ Yañez, Rio (16 March 2013). "The Mission District Art of Spain Rodriguez". rioyanez.com Graphic Art, Tortillas, Comics, and Troublemaking. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  39. ^ Suozzo, Andrea; Glassford, Alec; Ngu, Ash; Roberts, Brandon; Frankl, Jeff; Schwencke, Ken; Tigas, Mike; Wei, Sisi (9 May 2013). "Robert & Adele Stern Foundation - Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  40. ^ a b Harmanci, Reyhan (July 25, 2005). "One man's defense of his own suicide / Documentary looks at his 'rational' act". SFGate. SF Chronicle. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  41. ^ "Robert Stern, 77". Chicago Tribune. 19 July 2001. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  42. ^ Stern, Susan; Kolmar, Wendy (2002). "Remembering 'Barbie Nation': An Interview with Susan Stern". Women's Studies Quarterly. 30 (1/2). The Feminist Press at the City University of New York: 189–195. doi:10.2307/40004645. ISSN 0732-1562.
  43. ^ Stern, Susan (1980). "Killer Cops" (PDF). cover story. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  44. ^ "Susan Stern". New Day Films. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  45. ^ Bright, Susie (July 18, 2023). "This S.F. documentarian's exploration in 'Barbie Nation' paved the way for live-action 'Barbie'". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  46. ^ "Barbie Nation". POV. pbs.org. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  47. ^ "Barbie Nation: An Unauthorized Tour". youtube. 27 June 2023.
  48. ^ "Barbie Nation: An Unauthorized Tour Trailer". youtube. 7 June 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  49. ^ Stern, Susan (September 20, 2022). "bad_attitude_teaser (1080p)". Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema. vimeo. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  50. ^ Patta, Gig (10 February 2021). "Susan Stern Interview for Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez". LRM Online (Latino Review Media). Slamdance Film Festival. Retrieved 27 August 2024 – via youtube.
  51. ^ Scott, Jessica (19 February 2021). "Slamdance Interview: Director of 'Bad Attitude' Susan Stern". Film Cred. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  52. ^ "The Other Barbie Movie: 25th Anniversary of Documentary, "Barbie Nation: An Unauthorized Tour"". Golden Globes. 19 June 2023. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  53. ^ Stern, Susan. "When I made a Barbie movie 25 years ago, I didn't realize she (and I) were in a closet". J. The Jewish News of Northern California. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  54. ^ Dabkowski, Colin (8 December 2012). "Politics, art unite in East Side mural". Buffalo News. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  55. ^ Dabkowski, Colin (31 December 2012). "Mystery shrouds source of East Side graffiti tribute to Manuel 'Spain' Rodriguez". The Buffalo News. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  56. ^ "profile: Spain Rodriguez". Burchfield Penney Art Center. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  57. ^ ""Tribute to Spain Rodriguez" 233 Allen St., Buffalo, NY Artist: Ian De Beer Painted: 2013". buffaloah.com. Outdoor Murals - Buffalo, New York. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  58. ^ Dabkowski, Colin (26 August 2013). "Buffalo street artists paint first of several planned Allentown murals". Buffalo News. Archived from the original on 27 August 2013. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  59. ^ "Spain Rodriguez". www.edlingallery.com - Andrew Edlin Gallery. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  60. ^ "Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  61. ^ "Eisner Awards Current Info" Archived 2014-03-20 at the Wayback Machine. Comic-Con International: San Diego. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
  62. ^ "Spain: Rock, Roll, Rumbles, Rebels & Revolution" exhibition, Burchfield Penney Art Center

Sources

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