Spain Rodriguez passed away following a lengthy illness. Spain was one of the great cartoonists to emerge from the underground comix movement of the 1960s.

He didn’t draw or write like any one else, either in underground comix or corporate mainstream comics and his work was always top-notch. I never had the pleasure of meeting him, but by all accounts, he was a good guy.

Here’s an article from The Comics Journal about his most recent work.

Art Spiegelman talks about his friendship with Spain.

And here’s his obituary from the San Francisco Chronicle.

[Artwork: Trashman by Spain Rodriguez]