Cobalt 60 is the title of a comics

Comics

Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...

 series created by the late underground

Underground comix

Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books which are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality and violence...

 cartoonist

Cartoonist

A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...

 Vaughn Bodé

Vaughn Bodé

Vaughn Bodē was an artist involved in underground comics, graphic design and graffiti. He is perhaps best known for his comic strip character Cheech Wizard and artwork depicting voluptuous women. His works are noted for their psychedelic look and feel...

.

Description

Cobalt 60 takes place in a post-apocalyptic, Mad Max

Mad Max

Mad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller and revised by Miller and Byron Kennedy over the original script by James McCausland. The film stars Mel Gibson, who was unknown at the time. Its narrative based around the traditional western genre, Mad Max tells a story...

-like world inhabited by mutant

Mutant

In biology and especially genetics, a mutant is an individual, organism, or new genetic character, arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is a base-pair sequence change within the DNA of a gene or chromosome of an organism resulting in the creation of a new character or trait not...

s, alien

Extraterrestrial life in popular culture

In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...

s and other fantastic creatures. Its titular character 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.

Cobalt 60 carries with him a high caliber carbine sniper rifle, a short revolver and a trench knife

Trench knife

A Trench knife is a combat knife designed to kill or gravely incapacitate an enemy soldier at close quarters, as might be encountered in a trenchline or other confined area. It was developed in response to a need for a close combat weapon for soldiers conducting assaults and raids on enemy...

. Cobalt 60's enemies are called Radio-men. They are technologically advanced and carry superior firepower, but lack the brutal skills for hand to hand combat. They instead rely upon larger mutants called Lopers. Cobalt 60 is very violent and quite graphic in its action scenes.

History

Vaughn Bodé reputedly first drew the character 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 b&w pen and ink for Ken Rudolph's sci-fi fanzine Shangri L'affaires (aka Shaggy) #73, 1968. (Those 10 pages were later republished in Witzend

Witzend

witzend, published on an irregular schedule spanning decades, was an underground comic showcasing contributions by comic book professionals, leading illustrators and new artists. witzend was launched in 1966 by the writer-artist Wallace Wood, who handed the reins to Bill Pearson from 1968–1985...

#7 in April 1970, as well as the French magazine Metal Hurlant

Métal Hurlant

Métal Hurlant is a French comics anthology of science fiction and horror comics stories, created in December 1974 by comics artists Jean Giraud and Philippe Druillet together with journalist-writer Jean-Pierre Dionnet and financial director Bernard Farkas.The four were collectively known as "Les...

in 1980). He did a prose follow-up with pencil illustrations for Shaggy #74. That first 10 page segment does not expound much on the character, instead concentrating on action and a thorough demonstration of the world the character lives in. Bodé 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

Hugo Award

The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...

 for Best Fanzine Artist, largely on the strength of Cobalt 60, he never did anything else with the character. His son Mark Bodé

Mark Bodé

Mark Bodé is an American comic book author and artist. Bodé is best known for his work on Cobalt-60, Miami Mice and The Lizard of Oz. Bodé has also worked on Heavy Metal Magazine, and on The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...

 said the project had made him too depressed. Among the characters he conceived of, but never used, were Strontium 90, Franklin Gothic Green, General History, and Cordwainer Bigeye.

In 1984, Cobalt 60 was revived using full-color art by Mark Bodé

Mark Bodé

Mark Bodé is an American comic book author and artist. Bodé is best known for his work on Cobalt-60, Miami Mice and The Lizard of Oz. Bodé has also worked on Heavy Metal Magazine, and on The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...

 and a story plotted by Larry Todd. Although the story included all of Vaughn Bodé's original elements, Mark Bodé said the finished product was more "lighthearted" than what he felt his father would have done. These latter-day Cobalt 60 stories were serial

Serial (literature)

In literature, a serial is a publishing format by which a single large work, most often a work of narrative fiction, is presented in contiguous installments—also known as numbers, parts, or fascicles—either issued as separate publications or appearing in sequential issues of a single periodical...

ized in the magazine Epic Illustrated

Epic Illustrated

Epic Illustrated was a comics anthology in magazine format published in the United States by Marvel Comics. The series lasted for 34 issues, from Spring 1980 to February 1986....

starting with the December 1984 issue. The episodes were later gathered in four magazine-sized comics published in 1992 by Tundra Press. Donner Comics also published a 1988 Cobalt 60 book collection. Some additional Cobalt 60 stories episodes appeared in Heavy Metal

Heavy Metal (magazine)

Heavy Metal is an American science fiction and fantasy comics magazine, known primarily for its blend of dark fantasy/science fiction and erotica. In the mid-1970s, while publisher Leonard Mogel was in Paris to jump-start the French edition of National Lampoon, he discovered the French...

during the 1990s.

Film adaptation

On October 25, 2006, The Hollywood Reporter

The Hollywood Reporter

Formerly a daily trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter re-launched in late 2010 as a unique hybrid publication serving the entertainment industry and a consumer audience...

announced that Universal Pictures

Universal Pictures

-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

 had acquired the rights to adapt Cobalt 60 into a film with director Zack Snyder

Zack Snyder

Zachary Edward "Zack" Snyder is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, and producer. After making his feature film debut with the 2004 remake Dawn of the Dead, he gained wide recognition with the 2007 box office hit 300, adapted from writer-artist Frank Miller's Dark Horse Comics...

attached to the project. The director and Debbie Snyder will also produce the film.