Cobalt-60 (comic)

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Cobalt-60 is the title of a popular comic series created by the late Vaughn Bode. Bode's Cobalt-60 takes place in a post-apocalyptic, Mad Max-like world inhabited by mutants, aliens and other fantastic creatures. Its grim, masked hero, Cobalt-60, embarks on a quest to avenge the death of his parents, murdered by the evil Strontium-90. After he succeeds in his quest, he inherits his father's kingdom, but prefers to return to his wild ways.

[edit] The comic

It is very violent, quite graphic in most action scenes. Cobalt-60's enemy are called "radio-men", they are smallish 'people' appearing to have similar facial appearance to the asian gene pools. They are technically advanced and carry superior firepower, but lack the brutal skills for hand to hand combat. They instead rely upon larger mutants called "Lopers". Unfortunately for them, they are quite stupid.

Cobalt 60 carries with him blood thirsty weapons who at times plead with him to be used in combat to dispatch his foes; whether or not they actually talk to him out loud is uncertain. It may just be his imagination or they may actually be alive. He also packs a high calibre carbine rifle which he uses to snipe his enemy with, a short revolver and a brass-knuckle-knife.

[edit] Vaughn Bode

Vaughn Bode reputedly first drew the character of Cobalt 60 on a piece of scratch paper in 1959. He later took that sketch and expanded it into an actual character in 1968, doing 10 pages in black and white for Witzend. These 10 pages do not expound much on the character, instead concentrating on action and a thorough demonstration of the world the character lives in. Vaughn Bode also created a cast of characters with whom he could populate a more involved story, but never got the chance to use them. Despite winning the 1969 Hugo Award for Best Fanzine Artist, largely on the strength of Cobalt 60, he never did anything else with the character. His son Mark Bode reports that the project made him too depressed. Among the characters he conceived of, but never used, were Strontium 90, Franklin Gothic Green, General Hisstory, and Cordwainer Bigeye.

In 1984, Cobalt 60 was revived using art and characters from Mark Bode and a story plotted by Larry Todd. The story included all of the elements envisioned by Vaughn Bode and appeared in color, in serial form, in the magazine Epic Illustrated starting with the December 1984 issue. According to Mark Bode, the finished product was more "light-hearted" than what he felt his father would have done with the same characters.

[edit] Film adaptation

On October 25, 2006, The Hollywood Reporter announced that Universal Pictures had acquired the rights to adapt Cobalt-60 into a film with director Zack Snyder (300) attached to the project. The director and Debbie Snyder will also produce the film. A search for a writer is underway.[1]