On December 13, 2019, I would read in the news that my hero, Phase 2 (born Michael Lawrence Marrow), had died from the quiet battle he was having with Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He was 64.
The news left me drained. So much so that I couldn’t even write about his death. What should I say? For more than a month, my blog was silent on his passing. But then it dawned on me–finally–that everything I’d want to say was already covered in my unpublished interview questions. So I publish them here now, in fond memory of Phase 2.
"The desire to reinterpret Vaughn Bode’s distinctive cartoon style was hardly limited to the underground realms of graffiti. In 1977, Bode’s work also inspired the production of the animated fantasy film Wizards, directed by Lord of the Rings animator Ralph Bakshi."
Note: "Ode to Underground Cartoonist Vaughn Bode" was originally published in Kung Fu Grip!#2. The text has recently been reformatted for publication on Medium. To check out the remixed and remastered director's cut, click here.
Back in October of 2018, graphic designer and teaching fellow at Maryland Institute College of Art, Jerome Harris, reached out to me after he'd happened across that little 2012 blog post I wrote on the 1980s hip-hop party flyers of legendary New York graffiti artist, designer and art historian Phase 2. Jerome had had the honor of curating a show in September 2018 exploring the work of black graphic designers for the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Phase 2's hip-hop handbills were a big part of the show and IGA Eye On Design, a handsome print mag devoted to design, asked the curator to work up a long form piece on the influential (and somewhat illusive) Phase 2. I was kindly asked if I could be interviewed to get my thoughts on the impact of Phase 2 on graphic design, graffiti art and hip-hop culture as a whole. And I, of course, couldn’t be more pleased to get any chance to talk at length about the dude who's always been one of my biggest creative inspirations.
eyeondesign.aiga.org
Because he'd been largely unable to pin Phase himself down for a Q&A, Jerome had also reached out to half dozen Phase 2 enthusiasts in addition to me, including Charlie Ahearn (director of Wild Style) to flesh out the piece. I was given a fairly lengthy list of questions that allowed me to cover a lot of ground...but ninety percent of it wound up on the proverbial 'cutting room floor’ when Jerome was finally contacted by the illusive subject himself!
Nonetheless, I was flattered to see that Jerome was using my earliest personal recollection of Phase 2’s impact on hip-hop culture in New York and beyond to help frame the intro of his super cool interview with Phase 2 for the March edition of Eye On Design magazine. And I'm glad that I got the chance to be even a small part of this amazing retrospective.
Priced at $19 + shipping & handling, print editions of the gorgeous Eye on Design #04 (the "Worth" issue) are available at premier retail locations in cities across the US, Japan, the UK, Italy, Germany, China, Taiwan, and several more far flung locales. It'll also be available for digital download for only $9, at some point. But you can order a copy of the print edition today. Oh, and if you're in Chicago and I like you like that...I may let you borrow mine. LOL Paco Taylor, Esq.
BLADE: BLOOD WAR I (Final Version) :: Click to enlarge
I'd found it somewhat curious back in October of this year when Kate Beckinsale of Underworld film franchise fame commented publicly that Marvel had another Blade film in the works.
In the months since that statement was made, the story hasn't gained any measurable traction beyond the initial, tantalizing the sound bite. But the question that was very on heavy on my mind at the time was, how would Beckinsale even know?
The remark was made by the actor during a panel at the 2016 New York Comic-Con. An enthusiastic fan inquired about the eventual possibility of a crossover between Beckinsale's Selene character and Blade, Marvel's half-breed vampire slayer played by Wesley Snipes. Beckinsale replied in the negative, but revealed that such a crossover had indeed been considered. It was shot down by Marvel:
"No. We had that idea. No. They're busy. They're doing something with Blade."
Whether or not Beckinsale's comment is accurate with regard to Marvel's fanged famed Daywalker, I cannot say. And its veracity isn't even the point. The point here is that yours truly posted the semi-final version of his Blade: Blood War I fake movie poster on this very humble blog in April of this year and at this very moment, TV and print ads for Underworld: Blood Wars are making the rounds.
It was while trying to catch up on a few more episodes of Atlanta on FX last night (super behind, I know), that I saw the commercial for the latest Underworld entry. Admittedly, I've only seen maybe two films from this long running franchise, but both watches were enjoyed. And so, it was with measured interest that I watched the TV promo for the new film. But when the TV spot ended and I noticed "Blood Wars" as part of the film's title, Beckinsale's Blade related comment rushed to mind and I shouted excitedly, "Those Underworld fuckers bit my shit!!"
Okay, I think that I should prolly be sharing my (largely speculative) credit. A recent Google search reveals that a rough, fan made video montage of the Underworld and Blade film properties called, as fate would have it, "Blood Wars," has been posted to Youtube since 2007. My decision, however, to use that phrase for my fake Blade film poster had a wholly organic origin.
In the beginning of the project, I was heavily leaning towards using "Winter Wars," a nod to the classic Ghostface Killah song "Winter Warz," found on the Wu-tang general's debut solo joint, Ironman. But, soon after placing all of the red blood splatters that appear over a section of the white, winter inspired background, the trajectory of the title changed to what appears in the final.
Also a factor in my title choice were echoes of a phrase once used by the notorious graffiti writer Cap, a controversial figure profiled in the book Subway Art and in the cult classic documentary Style Wars. In the film, Cap describes his destructive motivation to write or "bomb" his tag all over the more developed art of his rivals. Menacingly, Cap describes the competition for street notoriety as a "blood war," and the layered subtext offered by this graffiti connection cemented my title choice.
However it was that the Underworld: Blood Wars title actually and factually came about, I will gleefully continue to tell myself that both my fake Blade mini poster and the Underworld/Blade fan film on YouTube were contributing factors in the film's naming. Something done in the way of a wink and nod toward the geeky tradition of fan made pop culture. It all makes for a pretty cool story that way.
