The Binary Comics of a Non-binary Artist: How Vaughn Bodé’s Identity Structured His Art

Abstract

Vaughn Bodé was an artist from the ‘underground movement’, best known for creating raunchy, humorous comics for adult magazines and for his hyperbolic descriptions of himself. A closer look at his work reveals one of his lesser known sides: his multi-faceted identity. Bodé’s comics appear to have inherent dichotomies concerning their formal and diegetic aspects, but they nevertheless constitute a cohesive whole. This can be understood as a reflection of his spiritual beliefs, according to which the universe is built on binary opposites which fuse together. Considering his transgressive gender identity, one can also interpret his inherently divided style as a representation of his non-binary self. His 1973 Schizophrenia best exemplifies this as it is a comic which not only divides its pages between the writings and the drawings, but also between two distinct comics: a classic cartoony humor piece and Bodé’s autobiographic coming out. This enables readers to somewhat live through Bodé’s complex identity. Lastly, his insistence on blurring lines also represents his schizophrenia, making it difficult for him to discern reality from fantasy. From 1972 onward, this became apparent in his Cartoon Concerts, in which Bodé once again challenged normative structures and made his identity part of his art.