The Lizard of Oz

Posted: Friday, December 10, 2004
By: Amos Simien

Writer and Artist: Mark Bodé
Cover: Vaughn Bodé

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books

At the height of his career, cartoonist Vaughn Bodé died. His art had appeared in National Lampoon and Galaxy, adult magazines like Cavalier, and in underground publications such as East Village Other and Gothic Blimp Works. Bodé's work earned him international acclaim and his work influenced not only other cartoonists and comic book artists, but filmmakers (most notably Ralph Bakshi) as well. It is only too obvious that Vaughn also influenced his only son Mark Bodé's work.

I first encountered Mark's work in the early 80's, when Marvel's version of the venerable sc-fi/fantasy illustration magazine Heavy Metal called Epic reprinted an unfinished story by Vaughn and then published Mark's conclusion to that story. Now, in The Lizard of Oz (ISBN: 1-56097-595-4; Fantagraphics Books, $12.95), Mark once again brings new life to another of his father's creations. Vaughn apparently drew, as a commission, a double spread featuring his characters in a spoof of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. Mark has taken that drawing and turned it into a full-color graphic novel that pays homage to and parodies Baum's classic tale and MGM's famous and beloved 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland.

Baum's Dorothy becomes Vaughn's Poppy in Mark's hand. Poppy is a vulgar and foul-mouthed child, and her dog is Toetoe, an aggressive mutt with a penchant for biting private parts. She is transported via a tornado-carried outhouse to Oz where she meets lewd and horny witches and drugged-addicted munchkins. Poppy follows the yellow brick road and is joined by other Vaughn Bodé characters in the guise of Baum characters: one of Vaughn's dumb lizards as a hemp-stuffed scarecrow, a punkerpan as the Tin Man, and a cowardly lion who wants... balls. The Wizard of Oz of this tale is Vaughn Bodé's Cheech Wizard, the character with whom he is most associated.

Anyone who is familiar with either Baum's original novel or the Victor Fleming-directed movie will immediately understand Mark Bodé's scenario, as it's basically The Wizard of Oz with different characters playing pretty much the same roles as the originals. What also sets Mark's The Lizard of Oz apart from The Wizard of Oz is that The Lizard is clearly adult entertainment. The closest pop culture reference for this work would be to describe it as an animated porno film version of The Wizard of Oz. Imagine what the aforementioned Bakshi's would do with The Wizard of Oz if he could make it into an R-rated cartoon. Think of a South Park or Trey Parker & Matt Stone version of The Wizard of Oz.

It's necessary to reference film and television because virtually no one in comics is doing the kind of work that Mark Bodé is doing since... well, since the heyday of underground comics from the 1960's to the mid-70's. In fact, since Mark's father passed, this kind of comix are rarely seen, even in men's adult magazines. The Lizard of Oz is a kind of gentle (if you will), sexually explicit, bawdy humor. It's not blunt, nor does it have the satirical and cynical sting of Stone and Parker's work, which always seems to be at war with stick-in-the-butt and hypocritical Puritanical morality. The art and dialogue merge to form a frank kind of comix that is funny in spite of its hard edges. For instance, Poppy isn't some sicko's version of The Wizard of Oz's Dorothy; she's just that kind of fictional saucy broad to whom Gretchen Wilson pays homage in song.

In the Direct Market landscape, The Lizard of Oz is an undocumented foreigner. While the late Vaughn Bodé's cover is a whimsical cartoon parody or homage, the book's interiors (by Mark) are the work of an imagination unloosed and searching for its roots. Like a wandering Christian looking for the holiest of the holies, Mark seeks the genesis of his own methods, his late father. The narrative occasionally dries, but the art is an exhalation of a vividly colorful fever dream. And I just can't stop looking at these cool pages. For the comics reader who is as mature in mind as he is grown in body and age, this is worth at least an examination.