Very sad news today: Manuel "Spain" Rodriguez passed away at 7:00 this morning from cancer-related causes. He was 72 years old.
Spain was one of our all-time great cartoonists, and one who was still making first-rate work. Earlier this year he was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Burchfield Penney Art Center in his hometown of Buffalo. His most recent book, Cruisin' with the Hound, contained some of his very best work and was released just 7 months ago and reviewed on this site by Jeet Heer.
We will have ongoing coverage of Spain's work, but in the meantime here's his two-part interview with Gary Groth, and here's Patrick Rosenkranz's affectionate profile from earlier this year.
He'll be sorely missed. Our condolences to his friends and family.
