Remembering a Legendary Underground Cartoonist

I'm very happy to announce that Bad Attitude, the documentary about the late underground cartoonist Spain Rodriguez by the filmmaker Susan Stern -- who is also his widow -- is now available for streaming on Prime Video. Spain, a gentle bear of a man and a legendary artist, was my friend and neighbor and sometime collaborator. He drew some of the most memorable art for the serial "Dark Hotel" when I ran Salon. He also illustrated my "pulp history" book about antiwar Marine hero Smedley Darlington Butler, Devil Dog.

Spain was an eclectic historian, radical, patriot, connoisseur of women's bodies (and their power), lover of vintage cars (and old, weird America), devoted husband and father. He represented the best of the lost San Francisco. There's not a day that I don't miss him whenever I walk by his old house.

During a rowdy Christmas party at our house, where the guests were required to sing a song or recite a poem for their meal in the Irish tradition, Spain was strangely quiet. But as he and Susan headed for the door at the end of the drunken evening, Spain suddenly turned and belted out "No Pasaran!" (They Shall Not Pass), the defiant anthem of the anti-fascist cause during the Spanish Civil War.

They don't make them like Spain Rodriguez anymore. Watch the warm and sharply observant film and see why.

Spain Rodriguez