Cheech Wizard: Volume I

Cheech Wizard #1

by Vaughn Bodē

One of the most influential artists of the underground generation, Vaughn Bode is a hero to a generation of graffiti artists. He died at a tragically young age in 1975, and these books collect most of his entire oeuvre. Schizophrenia is Bode's most personal work, including the legendary "The Man, " as well as Bode's personal diaries. Junkwaffel Vol. 2 is a collection of Bode's science-fiction oriented tales, including several "Deadbone" strips from Cavalier, "The Junkwaffel Papers, " and rare material. Cheech Wizard is a two-volume set reprinting the original National Lampoon series, Cheech's underground newspaper appearances, and never-before-seen material. Lizard Zen features the rarest and most obscure of Bode's work, including the full-color "Coco Crow" an the very last strips done before his death.

Genres: Comics, Fiction, Graphic Novels

Unknown Binding

First published December 1, 1990

About the author

Vaughn Bodē was an American underground cartoonist and illustrator known for his character Cheech Wizard and his artwork depicting voluptuous women. A contemporary of Ralph Bakshi, Bodē has been credited as an influence on Bakshi's animated films Wizards and The Lord of the Rings. Bodē has a huge following among graffiti artists, with his characters remaining a popular subject.

Reviews

[Drew Canole · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first story concerns Cheech Wizard being challenged by a Soviet Russian Army guy to a space race. It's a pretty typical outing for a silly cartoon. The art is nice.

The stories are pretty text heavy, and the dialogue is pretty dated concerning the humour.

Bode has a unique art style and some very interesting character designs, unfortunately I'm not a fan of the stories themselves.

[Dominick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given the complex publishing history of this strip--in different venues, at different sizes, in different formats, in colour or black and white, or in some cases the same material published both in colour and black and white, etc.--it is perhaps not surprising that this book is a bit of a dog's breakfast, with some strips printed sideways, strips that look very much like they were originally printed in colour represented here in black and white (while other strips are in colour), etc. The comprehensiveness of the project also actually isn't a help, as the first dozen or so pages are hard to read rough notes about the series--not exactly an inviting introduction. Also, publishing this material in two volumes of only 60 pages each seems unnecessarily parsimonious; one more substantial volume would have been a far better deal for readers. As for the material itself, well, I'd say it has not stood the test of time particularly successfully. Cheech's description of one of the nameless and interchangeable paragons of pulchritude that occasionally appear as a "wobbly pleasure palace" serves both as an apt description of Bodé's lush line and as an encapsulation of the strip's casual sexism. The strips are generally mildly amusing but insubstantial; they're counter-cultural spitting in the eye of conventionality, but not much more.

[StrictlySequential · Rating 2 out of 5]

Third Edition = October 2001 = Second Printing

Like I just mentioned about Crumb #1, this is a classic situation where chronological exposition advantages only the serious fans because, in these introductories, they were still kids. You can also add "college" in front for Bode because it spans something like his 15-20 years old range when his art was still morphing towards professional and the stories were basic.

Still, I enjoyed myself enough to not think it a waste of time.