Saturday, October 1st, 8pm – 10pm

Escapist Comic Bookstore, 3090 Claremont Ave, Berkeley, CA 94705 + 510-65COMIC

Underground Comix Legend Spain Rodriguez and Author/Historian Dan Fogel will be signing the new Graphic Album collection from the classic Sixties Era, the Snatch Comics Treasury! To benefit the S. Clay Wilson Special Needs Trust, a special live auction will be held consisting of: limited signed editions from many of the contributors, donated Original Art both published and created on the spot by Spain and other special guests tba, and other goodies. S. Clay Wilson himself may appear, health permitting. Refreshments sponsored by: Big Wow! ComicFest 2012, Fly Dragon Studio, and Hippy Comix, Inc.

After creating Zap Comix in 1968, Robert Crumb teamed up with S. Clay Wilson, Robert Williams, Rory Hayes, Victor Moscoso, Jim Osborne, Rick Griffin, and Spain to create three best-selling issues of Snatch Comics. Controversial, incendiary, and erotically satirical, the first and greatest smut comix are now completely collected and digitally remastered! Exclusive commentary by Patrick Rosenkranz (Rebel Visions) and Dan Fogel (Underground Comix Price Guide), with a special color section and fold-outs! Extremely Adults Only!!!

It’s universally agreed that Steven Clay Wilson is among the most influential graphic artists of the past century, measured by his demolition of taboos and the similar barriers he challenged his contemporaries to ignore. Now Wilson’s friends and fans have an opportunity to give back to the man, via the S. Clay Wilson Special Needs Trust.

On November 1, 2008, Wilson was found unconscious in the street, although it’s uncertain if he fell or was attacked. He suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury, bleeding in three hemispheres, as well as multiple face and head lacerations. He spent three weeks in a coma, and fought off pneumonia. The demonic stamina that made him a worldwide party legend no doubt saved his life.

It took months before he spoke again and the realization how severely impaired he had become. His short-term memory is shot, and he suffers from aphasia, a disorder causing confusion understanding and using language. He now needs 24 hour care, and increasing confusion makes him incapable of managing his life.

His drawing skill at first was somewhat intact, and re-developed complexity along the lines of his mid-1960s development. Unfortunately, his skills gradually atrophied and he has stopped drawing, no longer capable of earning a living.

Happily, he recovered enough to marry his longtime ladylove Lorraine Belcher Chamberlain on August 10, 2010. But they still face many ongoing challenges, and the Trust is set up so it can only be spent on Wilson’s ongoing medical and everyday needs. Please donate online at: sclaywilsontrust.com or write to: PO Box 14854 San Francisco CA 94114

Manuel “Spain” Rodriguez embodied the Northern Mediterranean to his working-class Irish playmates in Buffalo, New York. To his many fans and admirers, he personifies the politicized social conscience that most artists either abandon or never develop. From art school to the Road Vultures Motorcycle club, the iconoclast found his place cartooning for The East Village Other, transitioning from Underground newspapers to Underground comix. His 1967 Zodiac Mindwarp pioneered the solo tabloid comix newspaper, and his place among the frontline was assured when he joined the Zap Comix collective with the fourth issue.

Beyond creating iconic characters such as Trashman and Big Bitch, Spain has won much acclaim for his graphic novels, including 2003’s adaptation of Nightmare Alley and Che: A Graphic Biography in 2008.

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