Spain Rodriguez

Since his murder 50 years ago in Bolivia, Ernesto "Che" Guevara has become a universally known revolutionary icon and political figure whose image is among the most recognizable in the world. This dramatic and extensively researched book breathes new life into his story, portraying his struggle through the medium of the underground political comic - one of the most prominent countercultural art forms since the 1960s. Spain Rodriguez's powerful artwork illuminates Che's life and the experiences that shaped him, from his motorcycle journey through Latin America, his rise to prominence as a leader in Fidel Castro's revolutionary movement, his travels in Africa, his involvement in the insurgency that led to his death in Bolivia, and his extraordinary legacy.

Spain Rodriguez's most memorable characters are ferocious femmes fatale: gorgeous and deadly women who can slash and slaughter as fast as any man. You'll find them all in this volume -- Nasty Elaine, Mara, Mistress of the Void, Sangrella, and his ultimate independent woman, Big Bitch. This also includes a selection of interviews with strong women whom he loved and who inspired him. These stories appeared in Zap, Weirdo, Thrasher Comics, and many other publications as part of Spain's prolific contributions to the comic medium over a six-decade career.

A motorcycle outlaw and one of the original seven cartoonists behind Zap Comix, this is the first volume in a series celebrating the influential force in the underground movement. Spain's Trashman stories form the backbone of this volume, along with his firsthand 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.

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). Front cover by R. Crumb. Back cover by Moscoso."