Mark Bodé

Mark Bodé
Bode at the Big Apple Convention in Manhattan, October 17, 2009.
Nationality	American

Mark Bodé (born February 18, 1963) is an American comic book author and artist. Bodé is best known for his work on Cobalt-60, Miami Mice and The Lizard of Oz. Bodé has also worked on Heavy Metal Magazine, and on The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Bodé is also a tattoo artist, spending many years working around Northampton, Massachusetts, although he now lives in California.

He is the son of the cartoonist Vaughn Bodé.

Early life

As a teenager Bodé worked on his father's unfinished work titled "Zooks the First Lizard in Orbit" for Heavy Metal while attending The Art School in Oakland, California. In 1982, he attended The School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York as a Fine Arts major. He also studied animation at San Francisco State University.

Career

While attending the School of Visual Arts in New York, Bodé met Marvel Comics editor Archie Goodwin, who was starting up a new magazine called Epic Illustrated. Bodé became a contributor from 1982 to 1986. In 1983 he launched Cobalt 60. Originally created as a short story by his father, Vaughn, in 1968, Mark expanded and illustrated the story, which was written by Larry Todd in 1983. Todd was Vaughn's friend and collaborator in the 60's for Eerie, Creepy, and Vampirella magazines.

Later in Bodé's career around 1986 he was the creator of the hit black and white comic Miami Mice printed by publisher Rip Off Press in San Francisco, the comic book sold over 180,000 copies in a year's time and was considered one of the best selling independent comics of that year.

Bodé then ventured from 1988 to 1995 to write and draw comics with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman. The two collaborated on several issues for Mirage Studios, issue #18, #32, and special edition "Times Pipeline" of TMNT in which Bodé did solo. The Cobalt 60 saga was completed and was published as 4 graphic novels with Eastman’s company Tundra Publishing.

Bodé took up the art of tattooing in 1994. He trained under the guidance of tattoo artists Al Valenta, from Western Massachusetts, and Myke Maldonado, from New York. He is presently tattooing at Sacred Rose Tattoo in Berkeley, California.

Bodé also took up spray can art, and has done many mural tributes to his father’s characters over the years. In his career as a spraycan artist, he has done mural work globally in London, Spain, Italy, and Germany as well as locally in his hometown of San Francisco.

Bodé's art and illustrations has appeared in many publications, including Heavy Metal, Epic, Penthouse Hot Talk, Gauntlet, While You Were Sleeping, Graphotism, Spray Can Art, Taboo Tattoo, Juxtapoz, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and USA Today.

Bodé has worked on comics such as Miami Mice #1,2,3 and 4, Gyro Comics #1, 2, and 3 from Rip Off Press, and Fantagraphics' The Lizard of Oz.

Bodé's anthology work includes Subway Art, Spray Can Art, Mugs and Mascots, Burning New York, Broken Windows, Dondi White, Aerosol Kingdom, Picturing the Modern Amazon by New Museum books, Jack Kirby’s Heroes and Villains, 15 Years of Heavy Metal, 20 Years of Heavy Metal, and Comic Book Superstars.

Bodé is interviewed in The Run Up, a DVD produced by Upperplayground.

Bodé has designed toys for Kidrobot, Planet 6, and Mike Company in Japan. He has also licensed art to Ecko unlimited, and has made the name "Bode" a brand name with Puma International.^{[citation needed]}

Bode has signed with Universal Pictures for a film based on his graphic novel Cobalt 60. Production is scheduled to start in 2009 and will be directed by Zack Snyder.^{[citation needed]}

Exhibits

• The Psychedelic Solution Gallery, New York City, 1993
• Museum of Contemporary Art NYC Picturing the Modern Amazon 1999
• The Upper Playground Gallery, San Francisco, 2004
• Oaklandish Gallery, Oakland, California 2005
• Berghain Club, Berlin 2008
• 1:AM Gallery, San Francisco, 2010

References

• Cobalt-60. Book one created by Vaughn Bodé, illustrated by Mark Bodé, written by Larry Todd. Northampton, Ma.: Tundra Publishing, 1992. ISBN 1879450356

External links

• "The Official Bodé Site"
• Mark Bode at the Comic Book DB
• "Sacred Rose Tattoo", the San Francisco tattoo parlor.

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Name	Bode, Mark
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Date of birth	February 18, 1963
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