At the end of April, Evil From The Needle, tattoo parlour in Camden, played host to a visit to London by Mark Bode. Now a resident of San Francisco, the US Underground Comics illustrator turned tattooist is the son of underground legend Vaughn Bode; creator of "Cheech Wizard" and a deeply imaginative mystical cartoon universe of characters. Mark carries on his father's work, upholding the legacy of genius and bringing wider attention to the cornucopia of comic character classics, that deserve far more recognition within the mainstream cultural consciousness. Most are familiar with the work through it's use as the character accompaniment to Graffiti pieces the world over and through the annual Bode Jams, Mark hopes to bring greater appreciation of where these images come from. Always popular with his tattoo clients, he is also involved in creating new projects to bring the characters back into the limelight. The recently published Cheech graphic novel "The Lizard of Oz" was the full realisation of the last project that Vaughn was working on before his untimely death in 1975. The last month has seen a fever to snap up the highly collectable Limited Edition collaboration with Puma; a Cheech Wizard star patterned colourway pair of Puma Clydes and zip through hoody, released to mark the 50th anniversary of Cheech's creation. Then there is the live action "Cobalt 60" movie in production with Universal Pictures.
In honour of our son, Taylor (aka "Amore", aka "Son 101") meeting Mark Bode, we got busy with the applique and knocked up our own one off Cheech Wizard baby hoody (as seen in the pics).
To further add to the family affair my brother DJ Ollie Teeba, of Ninja Tune recording artists "The Herbaliser", was in the house for his 2nd Bode tattoo, having sat under his needle on his 1st visit back in 2004. Mark Bode is a fantastic guy, ever amiable and humble he made time for everyone in attendance, which included; Graff heads, Tattoo heads and Graphotism Magazine
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We all got super hyped hearing about projects on the horizon, so here's to Bode and Cheech Wizard becoming household names in the future. More will be revealed in our in depth interview with the man himself, watch this space and if you want to find out more about both generations of Bode, check out www.markbode.com
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