BAD ATTITUDE: The Art of Spain Rodriguez Now Streaming

March 15, 2023 Marc Arsenault

BAD ATTITUDE: The Art of Spain Rodriguez is an intimate documentary film portrait; and a personal and work biography of the late underground comics legend and San Francisco Mission District hero Manuel “Spain” Rodriguez. Spain was a co-founder (with Robert Crumb) of the United Cartoon Workers of America and a member of the Zap Comix collective from issue #4 in 1969. His character Trashman is an iconic symbol of the more defiant element of an era now largely remembered for big concerts and bad drugs. He was murdered by cancer in 2012 at age 72.

Bad Attitude was produced and directed by the journalist Susan Stern (Barbie Nation), Spain’s partner of 33 years. The 2021 film was originally screened in several festivals — including DOC NYC and the Mill Valley Film Festival, It is now available to stream (with ads) on Tubi or to rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video. Other venues are likely to be announced.

Some of the comics folks that talk about Spain in the doc are Gary Groth (The Comics Journal, Fantagraphics), R. Crumb, Ed Piskor, Art Spiegelman, Robert Williams, Kim Deitch and Aline Kominsky-Crumb.

“Working-class Latino hood, crossed with crazy artist, crossed with left-wing radical.” In Bad Attitude: The Art of Spain Rodriguez, Emmy-nominated director Susan Stern depicts her late husband, an Eisner-award-winning cartoonist who broke boundaries in the comics and Latinx art worlds.

UPDATE (May 9, 2023) now on: Google Play | YouTube TV