Golden Age Comic Book Stories

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Vaughn Bode'

1941 ~ 1975

COBALT 60

Witzend #7 ~ Oct/1968

(Reprinted from Shangri L' Affairs #73 ~ June/1968)

Shangri L' Affairs #74 ~ Sept/1968

8 comments:

Kerby said...: Thankx and a tip of the Kerby derby for all the ERBdom and Amra material lately. I was heavily into artzines in the early 70's and loved these artists. Still do, but I've never been the type to hold onto a collection, so it's a real pleasure to see these pieces again. Especially George Barr. He may have been lured to the Cute Side in later years, but there was a time he was one of my favorite renderers. Pencil feathering so delicate it became mist or silk or whatever Barr wanted it to be. Do you remember an artzine--could've been a special all-art edition of an ongoing SF zine--that was nothing but Barr inking other artist's sketches? Jeff Jones, Alicia Austin, Tim Kirk, lots of others. Gorgeous pieces. Mine's long gone, but you wouldn't have a copy to post, would you?; 10:19 AM
michaelkraiger said...: Great stuff. If you read Suydam's Cholly and Flytrap you'll notice how heavily he was influenced by Bode, to the point of...

Well, I won't say.; 2:31 PM
Larry MacDougall said...: Fabulous ! Thanks so much for blowing the dust off of these old masterpieces.; 11:26 PM
Mr. Door Tree said...: Kerby,

I believe the fanzine you're thinking of is Graphic Illusions one-shot where Barr inks Jones, Austin, Schull, Kirk and four others! I have it and I'll make a point of posting thoses illustrations soon!; 12:38 AM
Dan Steffan said...: The first chapter of "Cobalt 60" also appeared in the pages of the fanzine, SHANGRI L'AFFAIRES -- in the 72nd issue, dated June 1968.

Bode originally created the strip to appear in each issue of SHAGGY -- its nickname at the time -- but had to stop after the second chapter to concentrate on paying work. That 72nd issue also had two color cover illustration that featured Cobalt astride his faithful gasser.

After Vaughn had drawn "The Junkwaffel Invasion of Krupenny Island," for the fifth issue of WITZEND, editors Wood and Pearson wanted more and Bode offered them a reprint the first chapter of "Cobalt 60". To distinguish it from the fanzine version -- which had a print-run of only a couple of hundred copies -- Vaughn asked Larry Todd to add the Zip-a-tone screens to the original, which had been published as simple line art.

The gruesome cover illustration you posted was also done especially for the WITZEND appearance.

Sadly, Bode never got a chance to revisit the world of "Cobalt 60," though his son did draw a sequel of sorts -- scripted by Larry Todd -- in the early '90s. It was not, in my opinion, where Vaughn would have taken the tale, but at least Mark is keeping the character alive and that's a good thing.

Rumor has it that Zach Snyder bought the film rights a few years ago, but to date nothing has actually appeared on the project.

There you go. More than you wanted to know about "Cobalt 60."; 1:59 AM
Vanwall said...: witzend - the best!; 7:58 PM
COMICSTUFF said...: Very cool stuff!!!; 3:06 PM
Khouni said...: This guy and the setting and his animal remind me so much of Bakshi's "Wizards". Does anybody agree?; 6:58 PM

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