Bad Attitude: The Art Of Spain Rodriguez is a very interesting documentary. It explores the controversial art and personal life of the famed artist.

Rodriguez’ wife Susan Stern both directs and narrates the movie. The film showcases his life in a very personal and authentic way. It does so by showing his strong views on activism. It also shows a different perspective on his work that today’s culture would deem as highly controversial. One of his first comics includes a brutal hate crime with someone mugs a man because of the latter’s sexuality.

The film also focuses a lot on throughout the runtime on his many conflicting views and contradictions in his art. Especially on the topic of feminism, interview subjects talked frequently about how Spain did not understand feminism. Because or despite of this, many of the drawings featured strong independent women who would hate all men.

One of Rodriguez most famous works that the film explores are his Trashman comics. Being about a hero who fights for everyday people. Defending them from fascist military groups and strong government oppression. The comics were heavily influenced by what was currently going on during the 1960s with the Vietnam war protests. 

 The film is broken up between old archived footage, interviews with Spain’s closest friends and family. Some of the more interesting interviews are from the people at Underground comics with whom he wrote with. These detailed and personal interviews are very informative. During some segments, it will let you read some of the old comics. This way, the film gives you a feel for the art style and why it was so different.

Overall, Bad Attitude is a fascinating look into the well-known artist’s life. That will appeal to major fans of his work and comic fans in general.