Cobalt 60. Lizards. Cheech. If those names don’t ring a bell, then you sure as shit need to go and do your research, and do it now.

“For two generations Mark and his father Vaughn Bode have forged an artistic legacy that has had a profound effect on graffiti, street art and underground comics.

In the mid seventies, the iconoclastic Vaughn Bode’s comic book characters, particularly Cheech Wizard resonated so closely with the revolutionary spirit of pioneering graffiti artist that these characters were adopted as the mascots of the movement, becoming the first used in graffiti.

In recent years Mark Bode, an accomplished graffiti artist, tattooist, illustrator and writer, has stretched the horizons of the Bode universe beyond imagination, creating several cult classic comics, perhaps the best known being Colbalt 60, which is currently slated by Zac k Snyder for a live action film.

Bode is also something of a nexus for the world street art and graffiti art scene, the heir to the first graffiti characters, a genuinely positive visionary and a backbone of the community he has painted murals around the globe with an extended family consisting of the most respected graffiti and street artists.

For “Bode in Oz“, In February Mark Bode will be taking a 2 week tour of Melbourne and Sydney, painting murals with Australian artists and exhibiting a collection of original work along with the performance of a Cartoon Concert in both cities.”

Cartoon concert? Fuck yeah.

Personally, I’m hugely excited about this. Both Mark and his father had a major impact on my early interest in graffiti and comic books – Junkwaffel and Cheech were some of my first comic book loves, I loved his sprayed up lizard murals and tributes to his father, Vaughn (the first one I saw him do was in Subway Art) and his work with Eastman and Laird in the original (and the best) TMNT comic book series (seriously, Bode characters and Ninja Turtles?) absolutely blew my mind.

Gone and done your research now? Good. Now its time to see the work in person. If you have even a vague interest in comics, graffiti and street art culture, which we know you do if you’re here, then you must go and check out these shows.

Who: Mark Bodé
What: Bodé in Oz tour

Melbourne.

House Of Bricks (around the corner from Backwoods)
40 Budd St, Collingwood, Vic
Opening. Saturday 18th February 6-9pm
Running from the 19th Feb – 4th March

Sydney

China Heights
Level 3, 16-28 Foster St, Surry Hills, NSW
Opening, Saturday 25th February 6-9pm

Check out the House Of Bricks website as well as China Heights for more info.