Following a Wiz to a Far-Out Oz

[dweller]

By ANGELA FRUCCI

SAN FRANCISCO — When Vaughn Bode, the maverick cartoonist and graffiti guru, died in 1975 at 33, he left behind a son and some of the most original and influential cartoon art done in the 1960's and 70's.

Mark Bode (pronounced BO-dee), also a cartoonist, recently completed his father's interrupted work "The Lizard of Oz," a raunchy departure on the "Wizard of Oz"that features the older Bode's premier creation, Cheech Wizard. Fantagraphics Books of Seattle will publish the book next month.
<snip>
When the elder Bode reinterpreted the legendary story theme, he added several twists to Dorothy's tornadic dream, which he related to his son. Judy Garland's juvenile character becomes Poppy, a not-so-nice, beer-drinking, thieving, 4-year-old orphan thief. She romps with Cheech (the Wizard); a hemp-stuffed scarecrow; a mangy, homosexual lion; and a tin man obsessed with an oil drum.
<snip>
Although Vaughn Bode is now glamorized as one of the titans of underground comics, his beginnings were anything but auspicious. He began drawing as a way to help escape a miserable childhood, mostly spent in the streets of Syracuse, where he developed a penchant for stealing food, vandalizing, and wearing women's clothing.

Moving to Manhattan in 1969, he joined the underground paper The East Village Other, where he met Robert Crumb, Spain Rodriguez and other cartoonist luminaries. ...

more here

the saga continues...anyone else here remember the Lizard?
dp

[Gildor Inglorion]

1. Yes, but I'd totally forgotten...

I'm glad to be reminded. Thanks a lot!

[dweller]

2. jeez, what, this story not 'sexy' enough??

more from article:
"Then his father, dressed in a saintly gown, went into his bedroom and closed the door.

"I didn't really grasp what he was talking about," Mr. Bode said quietly, "but I told him, `Dad, you look beautiful.' I never saw him alive again." Mr. Bode said his father accidentally strangled himself during autoerotic asphyxiation, something he had done on four occasions. The last time, Mr. Bode added, "some necklaces got entangled in the strap."

better now?
dp