The Origin of Trashman

The Origin of Trashman
by Spain Rodriguez
from Subvert Comics, issue one, Rip Off Press, 1970

Manuel 'Spain' Rodriguez (1940 - 2012) created Trashman for a comic strip for the East Village Other, the seminal New York city underground newspaper, in 1968. In 1970 Spain arranged with the Rip Off Press to publish Trashman adventures in three issues of Subvert Comics.

Since his creation in 1968, Trashman became an underground comix icon; indeed, Trashman, along with S. Clay Wilson's Checkered Demon, was arguably underground comix first real 'superhero'.

The Trashman stories earned their share of criticism from the members of the New Left, mainly on the basis that Spain often utilized the character in stories that were misogynistic, objectified women, treated women as little more than sex objects, featured explicit sex and violence, etc., etc. Whether or not these criticisms are justified, there's no denying that the Trashman comix offered something new and imaginative when they first appeared.

Below, I've posted the origin story of Trashman..............additional episodes will be appearing here at the PorPor Blog, in the coming weeks.