If I could point to one of the most influential graphic artists in my lifetime I would have to start with VAUGHN BODE (pronounced Bo DAY). This where graffiti begins in my opinion. BODE used a conflated, puffy style of lettering and his characters like the Cheech Wizard, the lizards and the voluptuous nymphs are mandatory elements of all the best graff artists evar. If you don’t own any Cheech Wizard or Junkwaffel comics and you consider yourself a true graff artist I suggest that you should leave the house now and buy his entire series, or hang yourself nude from the shower head in your parents’ basement.
VAUGHN BODE was a rebel artist and storyteller. He was one of the fabled underground artists along with ROBERT CRUMB who would give birth to subversive publications like Eerie and Heavy Metal.
VAUGHN BODE was an outspoken critic of the Vietnam War as well as an underground voice for the civil rights movement. It was with his art and his storytelling that he challenged the J. EDGAR HOOVER led government and their attempts to censor all forms of art, and more importantly, thought.
It’s interesting to understand how a high, horny green lizard could become such an icon of the rebel artists that would leave their designs along subway cars and handball courts throughout New York City. Everyone could relate to these characters, and we certainly would lust after the women that BODE illustrated with all the curves that his pencil could contain.
I gave Puma a lot of shit for their Yo! MTV Raps bastardization project, but after I saw that they gave love to one of my heroes I had to fall back. They should have made a hat as well since the Cheech Wiz was all about his hat.
Like so many special voices VAUGHN BODE was taken aboard the mothership before we could all experience his gifts firsthand, but his comicbooks still exist and they are still relevant considering we are governed now by an administration with more dirty tricks than NIXON himself.
I imagine that VAUGHN BODE is on the mothership right now making the walls beautiful and oh so colorful. Real recognizes the realest, and DP Dot Com respects the architects.
never got a chance to get into bode but i always respected his game from afar. that “erie” #26 above is mad heavy medal material. remember when marvel bit hm’s style and dropped “epic”? valient effort, weak approach. btw, this post looks like it might be pointing you to a starlin drop sometime in the future…
Wow DP, you get mad dap for pulling out Bode. I had the pleasure of meeting his son Mark a couple of times through mutual associations. He’s still repping the game like Lou Rawls for his pops.
When I first met him, he asked ‘are you a writer?’ with me On Squint – like he was mad cautious of the dudes that bit his pops work. Any time you saw a Cheech or nymph up on something, it was outta respect. Peep Game:
http://www.markbode.com/
Oh shit! I went to the Baltimore Comic-Con this past weekend and picked up a bunch of ‘Epic Illustrateds’ that had some unpublished work from Vaughan and some stuff by his son. Marvel def but Heavy Metal’s style but Epic has some really get stuff in it too, it’s a lot less European and more immediate.
Wow, spelling ERRORS…sorry about that “Marvel def BIT Heavy Metal’s style but Epic has some really GREAT stuff in it too…”
Heavy Metal was the joint…the second one sucked in comparison. Before I got to the last panel I was going to ask did dude have something to do with Wizards now I know…They Sugar Hill Ganged him.
that sweatshirt is amazing
Hell yeah Vaughn Bode and Mark Bode are Hip Hop! I got original printings of Junkwaffel, Cheech Wizard Vols. 1 & 2, Cobalt 60 (remember that blog I made about Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards biting the fuck outta Cobalt 60?) and The Lizard Of Oz. I was supposed to meet Mark Bode a couple of years ago but I couldn’t make it…that Puma Cheech Wizard gear is crazy.
Nice drop, fam.
One.
Vaughn Bodé’s pretty cool. He definitely had an original style. But the storytelling was always hit or miss for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan but he had some stories that were way too pseudo-intellectual and that mumbo jumbo doesn’t work for a reader who isn’t on acid. Plus, the cross-dressing, BDSM and schizo freakout shit he was known for make me definitely tune out some of his later ideas/art. BUT, Cheech Wizard is dope and so is Junkwaffel and (the original) Cobalt 60, and most of Deadbone Erotica… like I said though, don’t read too far into the writing…
Mark can’t draw nearly as well as his daddy could. Dondi did better Bodé characters than Mark (and oddly enough Dondi and Mark vaguely knew each other…)
btw Bakshi claims Vaughn had given him free reign to use his characters for ‘Wizards’. People tend to shit on Bakshi just b/c they are fans of Crumb or Bodé but Bakshi gets props too. Coonskin a.k.a. Street Fight was fresh. So was the first Fritz the Cat. Wizards was aiight lol. Necron and the chick were cool but that project wasn’t even properly finished….
Keep in mind that in baseball if you succeed 3 times and fail seven times in your career you will be a Hall of Famer. Bode is way more hits than misses.
I don’t include some of the arguments from the Bode family about Bakshi stealing the Cobalt characters because in my opinion if his art was trash then no one would have cared, but when your shit is everlasting that is the ultimate reward. Of course I speak from the vantage point of only having created trashy art.
StreetFight is in my GOAT top five along with BladeRunner, Star Wars O.G. Ep.4, Clockers and There’s Something About Mary.
I came across Bode through graffiti. I only wondered who set off the style years later and eventually discovered Bode. The puffy style of lettering is stilly used to this day, every once in a while. That cat is definitely a pioneer.
I never knew that Bode was not credited or acknowledged in the end credits of Wizard, that’s just shameless. It’s one thing if he was not credited, but acknowledge his name or something. DC still acknowledges Bob Kane.
This shit is very dope. Consider me now educated, looks like I have some copping to do. This man was an originator. Dope shit.
Being an ex-Graff head, you know I gotta big up one of the flyest ILLustrators to do it. And the last name is pronounced (Bo-Dee), my mellow. I met son Mark back in 2004 at a Graff jump-off on the L.E.S. and he blessed me with a nice “Mammaries From the Underground” signed poster which graces the walls of my office along with other 80s eye candy. If things couldn’t get better, because PUMA is a client, once I found out they did the ill shoe & matching accessories for Cheech, I called up one of my top dogs @ Puma (who actually desgined the Bode package) and had money send me the whole ensemble (pronounced en-sem-bill, per JDL in “Just For Kicks” lol) the next day. Yeah, it’s good to be the King, Dallas. lol And by the way, I know you just ripped Puma for those Yo MTV kicks, but I can’t front, I shot the ad campaign for that shit with Kane, MC Shan & Dougie and I didn’t think the shoes were half bad. Oh, I got all them shits being shipped to me too. lol
Love, Peace & Eggroll grease,
Koe Rodriguez a.k.a. Koe Love
P.S. Lookout for the new STASH Nike Dunks coming out this month. I shot some ill flix of the 17th Letter a.k.a. Rakim Allah and Primo at the old D&D along with some other Graff related flix that will be part of a leather bound exclusive book accompanying the shoe. Oh yeah, Koe got the big Swoosh as a client too. 😉
KoeRod [ll],
Thanks for putting me up on that. I have been pronouncing that nigga’s name wrong for forty years.
Stash Dunks?!? Never heard of him…
Puma fucked up by not having you design them clown shoes. I believe in giving Doug E. Fresh and Shan and BDK their respect and that shit should be done righteous and ceremonious because them dudes are masters of the ceremony of voiceless peoples coming together and finding their voice. Puma hired you to dress they half-stepping asses up.
No doubt, baby. And don’t feel bad about the mispronounciation, money. If it’s any consolation, I was pronouncing homeboy’s name wrong for about 20 years. Regarding STASH, homie is an ex-writer from NY who got up with nuff original Graff heads during the glorious and oh so bombed 80s. Stash started his design studio and label “NOT FROM CONCENTRATE” in 1990 with fellow street artists Futura 2000 and Gerb. Stash’s contribution included Phillies Blunt Krylon and the MC Search logo. When the NFC partnership ended, Stash started “Subway Visual Maintenance.” Everybody and their grandmoms was wearing those Phillies Blunt t-shirts in NYC during the early 90s. Here’s a link to some of his kicks with NIKE: http://forums.nikeskateboarding.org/index.php?showtopic=56251
As for the PUMAs, yeah, it would’ve been fly to have designed them instead of shooting them, but if its any consolation, I am working on some design related stuff with them and hopefully it’ll see the light in ’08. I did enjoy the benefits of coolin’ with Doug E, Shan and BDK in 3 boroughs for 3 days. I guess the hi-light was seeing Shan do “The Bridge” impromptu at a BBQ jam in Queensbridge Park while scouting another location to shoot. He kicked the opening verse of that shit and heads starting flocking in that park like the Ducky Boys in the Wanderers! He’s probably the only dude I ever heard live that sounds identical to his records. Fuckin’ amazing! Word.
-Koe Fa Sho
Koe,
My bad homey. I see you took me literally.
Stash is well known on this site for his Nike collabos. The AM 95’s is the truth. Now that we are connected to you I can’t see how those new Stash Dunks won’t be on my shelf.