Mark Bodé was born on February 18, 1963 in Utica, New York. The son of underground comics legend Vaughn Bodé, Mark often produces works similar to this father’s style. Mark is an American cartoonist best known for his work on Cobalt-60, Miami Mice, and The Lizard of Oz. Bodé has worked for Heavy Metal magazine and on The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He is also a tattoo artist, spending many years working around Northampton, Massachusetts, although he now lives in California.

Bodé began drawing at age three, and even colored in some of his father’s artwork with markers.

He claims that his father: “Brainwashed me into seeing his world, so the characters I started coming up with were heavily influenced by him. Right before he died he told me: We’ll always be Bodé and son. Share my style, but don’t get too close.’ I couldn’t wait to work with him.”

Sadly Mark was only 12 years old in 1975, when he found his father’s body when on a visit sometime after his parents divorce. Bodé studied animation at San Francisco State University and in 1982, attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City as a fine arts major.

Bodé took up the art of tattooing in 1994 after training under the guidance of tattoo artists Al Valenta, from western Massachusetts, and Myke Maldonado, from New York.

He also took up spray can art and over the years has done many mural tributes to his father’s characters. His mural work has been represented globally from the U.K., Spain, Italy, and Germany as well as locally in his hometown of San Francisco.

So Hip, Hip, Hooray! for this gateway to Bodé.

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