| “ | Leading us into battle was Coma The Doof Warrior. Blind since birth. Coma wore a mask made from the dried skin of his murdered mother's screaming face. His fire breathing weapon played the music of mayhem, It whipped us into a bloody battle rage. | ” |
– Anonymous War Boy | ||
Coma-Doof Warrior, also known as "The Doof Warrior," is a blind guitarist who was part of Immortan Joe's militia, riding and playing a flame-throwing electric guitar upon the Doof Wagon. He is portrayed by Australian musician iOTA and appears in Mad Max: Fury Road.
Background[]
Early Life[]
There are two different back stories for Coma. George's version was Coma lived in an abandoned mine with his mother. He survived eating rodents and drinking water from the sea bed. Immortan Joe came past the mine one day and heard Coma playing guitar. He was taken in and from there rose to the position of bugler, calling everyone to war.
Iota later expanded on that: he was a child musical prodigy brought up in a happy environment by his mother, who was a musician herself. Then Coma and his mother were attacked. His mother was dragged away and days later someone dropped her head in Coma's lap. Immortan Joe found Coma clinging to the head of his mother. Joe took him in. There are two different stories about the origin of his mask. The first story notes that Coma made a mask from his mother's face, which he sliced from her skull himself.[2] The second story differs, claiming that Immortan Joe made the mask for him, a battle singer, to "Enact Joe's revenge on the world with his mother's screaming face on."[3]
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga[]
The Coma-Doof Warrior makes a cameo in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga where he is seen playing his guitar alongside several War Boys preparing their weapons, even not caring and/or noticing the corpses of War Boys around him being eaten by Crows.
Mad Max: Fury Road[]
Coma is seen playing a guitar that ejects fire, in several scenes, along with the War Boys, on the Doof Wagon which is a vehicle that has a speakers.
In Immortan Joe's battle, Max Rockatansky fights him. He is thrown off the Doof Wagon and dies.
Description[]
The Doof Warrior is a member of Immortan Joe's War Boys and head of the War Boy band. His name derives from Australian slang for techno-rave parties, dubbed "doof parties" for their repetitive 4/4 beats.
He is missing both of his eyeballs, his skin is pale and teeth are deformed. He wears a mask over his head made of his mother's face. His role is to both relay Immortan Joe's orders to everyone through sound and encourage the armada to go into battle. Despite the chaotic surroundings of battle, The Doof Warrior does not cease playing his guitar.
Historical Context[]
Spirit of '76 by Archibald Willard.
The Doof Wagon, a moving stage with its Coma-Doof Warrior, may be a new concept, but the idea is derived from history. Battlefield "drummer boys," whose role was to induce morale of the troops as well as to keep their march in time, is an ancient concept dating back to the ancient Ottoman Empire. Many of the world's armies adopted some form of drummer or musician by the 18th Century.[4]
Although, not a drummer, the Coma-Doof Warrior could be considered a "morale musician" in that his music, as well as the Doof Wagon, acted as a mobile radio station which helped excite the War Boys as they charged into battle.
Trivia[]
- George originally had plans for a comic book telling Coma's origin story.
- The double-neck guitar, which is a playable instrument weighed 60 kgs and had to be held up with bungie ropes. The lower neck is a bass guitar neck. Both headstocks have automotive spark plugs as tuning keys. It shot actual flames from a valve behind the upper headstock. The flamethrower controller is the whammy bar (though during close-up shots the whammy bar isn't screwed in). A piece of a Datsun 1600 chassis hangs below the guitar body.
- A guitar pedal is chained to Coma's waist. It appears charred beyond recognition, though the shape and design resembles a generic BOSS four-knob pedal.
Gallery[]
