Trashman: SPAIN's Underground Comix Super-Anti-Hero

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[@scottedergallery2010]

Great to see you guys honoring Spain here. Few artists today speak from truth the way Spain did: Bikers, broads, sex, violence. He lived it, and it explodes off the page!

[@coffeejunkie7954]

Trashman is really awesome, the working class hero.
He always felt like America's answer to judge Dredd.
But where dredd was authoritarian, trashman was revolutionary

[@nafdar6]

This is an awesome observation and makes me like Trashman even more!

[@Susie_Floozie]

Whoa, excellent choice! Spain Rodriguez is a stylistic master of India inkcraft. Back in the day, I thrived on his underground comix as they hit the head shops. AND you even worked in a plug for J.R. "Bob" Dobbs and the Church of the SubGenius! That knocked my socks off, seriously.

[@JeetHeer1]

In terms of how widely Spain's stuff was known or accepted, the original underground newspapers Trashman appeared in had tens of thousands of copies printed, Subvert had print runs in the 60,000 copy range, and the early ZAP comics (where Spain's motorcycle strips appeared) sold hundreds of thousands of copies in multiple editions. He was definitely widely read.

[@rickytoddbotelho9555]

I met Spain at Ape con in San Jose years and yeas ago. I knew his work from underground stuff I picked up. And was surprised when I moved to Vallejo Ca and found the Vallejo Harley Davidson dealer had commissioned him to do a mural on the front of the store.

[@comicKkrakK]

Spain is a legend. He was so good, his art has always resonated and no one draws women like him.

[@jameslainchbury6746]

more killer material and awesome critique as usual fellas! I had only seen snippets of this in Heavy Metal in my teens also ! big ups!

[@knowknaime]

Just found a mint copy of "Trashman Lives" pub. by Fantagraphics in 1989 today at my local used books spot.

[@jonanjello]

RIP Spain. I love his work: Big Bitch, Trashman, Nightmare Alley, and My True Story.

[@calanives3270]

The trashman character is designed after the mascot for Zigzag rolling papers.

[@sketchv]

I'd love to see your take on Robert Williams classics like "Masterpiece On The Shit-House Wall" or "Mentor In The Mason Jar".

[@sketchv]

Ask Fantagraphics to hook you up with that giant Zap collected for review, lol!

[@shannonm.townsend1232]

Fuck yea!

[@SmokeysVideos]

Love Spain and Trashman. I'm glad I was able to get a copy of the original collected edition before the Kayfabe Effect hit it!

[@atomikdog2024]

There was one available at Bud Plant Books. Grabbed it up.

[@TheTonyFigueroa]

Trashman is a working class hero.

[@russworks2882]

I don't know about the collection, but I'm pretty sure EVO had a large circulation; you could get tabloids from everywhere in head shops I went into. It's a shame that the reprints have to shrink those pages down.
Some of the most tantalizing images I can remember are the dummy comic book covers Spain drew for Cool World. I wish someone would archive them; they have such an archetypical quality, like a platonic ideal of hard-boiled comics.