Vaughn Bode

I had hesitations about adding Bode today, mainly because I figured everyone already knew about him. (And, those who didn’t I thought would maybe have their own reasons for not being interested) But then I got to thinking that even if you DO know who he is, there is no reason to not celebrate him some more, and still get inspired. Sometimes artists have a way of getting off our radar, and its nice to be reunited with their imagery every now and then. And if you don’t know his work (or his personality itself, as he was as much a character as his drawings were) then you can thank me later….!

Bode is the father of underground comics, beginning early on with very little artistic reference and drawing as a fuel for his liberal views. He was known to create comics that were both crude and serious, having both getting-kicked-in-the-balls humor and Vietnam references in one strip. My first experience with Bode was through the movie Wizards, created by Ralph Bakshi in the mid 70s, which was heavily inspired aesthetically by Bode’s work (though nearly a decade after Bode began making comics, it came during the highlight of his career.) If you haven’t seen the movie, I really recommend it. It also has one of my favorite background artists, John Vita (who had very little internet presence. I’ll had to add some movie stills later to show you all!)