Look what arrived today!

Remember Here When You Are There!

An advance copy!

My thanks to Diana, Brendan, Tina, Matt, and the Dark Horse production crew
for making it look exactly like it is supposed to look.

Home From My My Autumnal Wanderings!

So was I crazy?

Nope.

The drawings I traded with Beanworld fans were just thoroughly Wahoolazuma!

You can read about them in the Leguminous Fan Art Gallery starting here.

Also you can see pics of the Beanworld connoisseurs who made the trade starting here.

I was on the road for almost a month jumping from Chicago, New York, Baltiomore, and San Francisco. I entered time continuums from my entire life from birth to the present. Saw most of the best friends I've ever had. (Just missing Captain Hats and Suzy).

You can scan the highlights starting here.

Of course I wish I had remembered to take far more pictures...but I was having so much fun that pictures often were the furthest thing from my mind. I'm sure I screwed up some of the names and spellings--if I did write me at larrymarder@gmail.com and I'll make the correx pronto.

Will I continue the trade-ins?

Sure, I guess so, until it gets unmanageable.

Will I make trades through the mail?
Sorry, no can do.

I just won't have the time to manage anything like that.

I have to get back to work now.

I'll be announcing a bunch of stuff soon.

And now I gotta start actually doing the work.

Hoo-Hoo-HA & a Hoka-Hoka-HEY!
Larry

Some related links well worth checking out:

Jesse's Take

David's Take

The Youth Market

Jeff Smith Panel

APE NEWS FLASH!

Because I'm on its Board, it has been deemed that I'm a pretty suitable person to be a last moment fill-in for Charles Brownstein of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at APE in San Francisco this weekend.

I won't be setting up for Beanworld. I'll be helping Betsy Gomez, one of CBLDF's premier volunteers hold down the fort at the Fund's booth.

PLUS, I'll be moderating two panels, both with Jeff Smith (who just happened to write the intro to Here There!).

SATURDAY, October 17
4:00–5:00 Spotlight on Jeff Smith—Join APE special guest Jeff Smith (BONE, RASL) for a Q&A session discussing current/future projects and more! Moderated by indie comic creator Larry Marder (Beanworld).

SUNDAY, October 18

3:15–4:15 CBLDF Live Art Battle!—APE special guests Jeff Smith and Dean Haspiel team up with surprise special guests for a no-holds-barred art battle! Thrill as they race against the clock to see who can create the wildest art to benefit the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. All art will be available for auction and raffle with the proceeds benefitting the CBLDF's important First Amendment legal work. Indie comic creator Larry Marder referees this epic battle as it unfolds before your very eyes!

You do not want to miss any of this!

HEY KIDS! Trade In One Of YOURS For One of MINE!

I must be crazy!

But here is the deal

for one weekend only!

Come by my table at Baltimore Comic-Con

and trade-in one of your homemade Beanworld drawings
for a genuine Marder-drawn, signed original sketch

of the same character!

Offer open to kids of all ages!

THE DETAILS:
Only one trade-in per person allowed.
If your drawing contains more than one character,
you must decide which single character you'd like as your trade-in sketch.
After the drawing exchange I can post your sketch in the

Leguminous Fan Art Gallery.
And it would be nice if I could get a snapshot of you and your art too.

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Below are some of the items
that will be available at my table.

I’ll be in Artist’s Alley in row 2301 (not sure which letter my table be as of yet)

FREE Beanworld Action Figures!

Of course, I'll have a limited number of
Larry Marder's Beanworld
hardcover books

And whatever you do, don't forget this!

FREE Remember Here When You Are There!
16 page sneak preview while supplies last!

Look-See Library Series

Series One

Series Two

Color prints limited to a series of 10.
8 1/2" x 11" on natural card stock.
Numbered and signed by the Artist Includes a Certificate of Legumination

Ashcan Comics

Low run, limited edition ashcan comics.
"Hungry" and "Professor Garbanzo's Joy Ride"contain early pencil drafts
of sequences that turn up in "Remember Here When You Are There!"

Cute Collectible Cards Cute Collectible Cards

The name kinda sez it all.
Color prints of your favorite Beanworld characters on white card stock.
5 1/2" x 4 1/4"
Supplies are dwindling fast!


Beanworld Orphan Art

A crazy collection of Beanworld original art drawings
in a multitude of sizes, shapes, colors, papers, and prices.

Commissioned Artwork?
It's always worth a conversation!

All product prices are reasonable and will be posted on site.

__________

There will also be quite a wide selection of Beanworld Orphans
up for adoption at Comic Book Legal Defense Fund booth # 1912.

CBDF supports the First Amendment legal work on behalf of the comics community. I'm on its Board of Directors. It's the mission of the CBLDF to stand up and defend comics when unjustly accused of wrong doing. Stop by their table and give it a good look-see.
It's a very worthy cause to support.

Why I Do What I Do.

The above picture, to me, is worth the proverbial one thousand words.

One of the reasons I loved being the creator of Beanworld is because sometimes I'm fortunate to get the opportunity to meet people who love Beanworld as much as I loved the work of cartoonists work when was a kid and finding my way around in the Realm-Of-Stuff-To-Think-About.

Not too long ago, I received an email from a Facebook friend, John Scrudder. John wrote that he had recently given "the softcover books of Beanworld 1-4 to my seven year old daughter, Meghan after I saw that a teacher was using them in her classroom. She stayed up until 3:30 in the morning apparently (she woke me up at this hour to announce the Pod'l Pool Cuties were her favorite characters.)

Meghan is the artistically inclined and most imaginative out of four children. I just wanted to extend a thanks. She said she wanted to say thanks too... but now she is occupied watching Little Nemo Adventures in Dreamland, If Windsor McKay were still alive I'd send him a thanks as well!"

To my absolute delight, John and his daughter, Meghan, made the 3 1/2 hour trek up from Indiana so Meghan could meet the man who knows the Pod'l'pool Cuties, Beanish and Dreamishness personally.

After the signing John wrote: "It was really nice. Meghan was bouncing off the walls, I've never seen her as quiet with anyone as I have with you (it was her form of "speechless")"

Whenever I meet a kid that young who is as thoroughly plugged into Beanworld as John's daughter is, it's about as gratifying an experience as I can ever hope for as a cartoonist.

Below is a picture Meghan drew on a dry-erase board that she couldn't wait to show me!

My day, however, started out doing some classroom guest lecturing at North Shore Country Day School.

Upper School: Art I Class
Here I am with faculty member, Kate Puccia, and her students.
I gave my Comic-Con presentation which covers my life, my influences, the Beanworld process, and some play-by-play analysis of the decisions I made writing and drawing pages of
the Beanworld Color Holiday Special.

It was a thrill to be doing my thing in the same giant bullpen art studio classroom that I spent so many days inside of during high school.

NSCDS had a progressive art program four decades ago
and I was delighted to see that it's still cutting edge today.

Middle School Art Class

8th grade general art class.
Under the guidance of of teacher, Alex Gutierrez, they just happened to be studying story boarding and animation .

I gave them my presentation called "The Cartoon Language."
It's a talk that I first gave in the early '90s. I've tinkered and updated it over the years, incorporated (nice word for swiped) some key points made by Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics and transfered it into PowerPoint. I finished the talk by walking the class through the Myspace Dark Horse Presents story.

Then it was an afternoon of making FREE Beanworld Action Figures.

Right before I hopped into the car, thinking I was giving myself a lot of time to get to the north side for my signing--it began to rain.
Cold, persistent autumnal rain that had all the freeways, ooops, I mean expressways bumper-to-bumper packed.

Instead of being early I arrived a bit late (to top everything else off there was a Cub's game in the neighborhood of Chicago Comics that was like getting caught in a labyrinth ).

Regardless of all of that--Beanworld fans came.
In addition to FREE Beanworld Action Figures, the store had bowls of Jelly Beans and Boston Baked Beans out to snack on. (And I admit, I ate my share!)

And they got their "Secret Sketches"

And received their previews of Remember Here When You Are There!

Ol' pal and Chicago Cartoon Club member, Tim Gagne turned up with a photocopy of a very very early draft of Pop!Pop!Pop! that I don't have a copy of. (He got it from the legendary George Hansen.) That is a cool thing to have. Thanks, Tim.

Here I am with Eric Thornton, Chicago Comics' manager (left) and Eric Kirsammer, Chicago Comics' owner. I'm holding the sketch I did for the store.

Later on, The Moondoggers began traipsing in. These are the folks that I worked with at Moondog's Comicland in the early '90s. We were all veterans of the retail frenzy that erupted in the launch of X-Men #1, Death of Superman, birth of Image Comics and Wizard. It was a crazy frenetic time and we had a fun together.
A lot of fun.

Afterwards, we walked through the rain to Leona's, which was a favorite eatery where Cory and I often dined once upon a time, long long ago.

In a week long chain of reunions; this was another.

And we laughed and swapped stories and closed down the joint.

I'm a lucky guy to have these old friends who came out to see the ol' Bean Guy.

From left to right back row: Vince Smith, Shawn Campbell, Mike Valdez,
Chris"Joe King" Ecker, Larry Marder, Gary "Moondog" Colabuono, Jim Mortensen
From left to right front row: Sue Flaim Laz, Andrea Goldberg

My thanks to Nancy Whiteman and Cathy Thompson for making sure my NSCDS functions went of with nary a hitch and Kate Puccia and Alex Gutierrez for letting me interrupt their classrooms.

Additional thanks to Eric Kirsammer, Eric Thornton, and the entire gang at Chicago Comics for their hospitality and enthusiasm.
And an extra special thanks for putting up with the Moondog's Comicland alumni invasion!
And thanks to Gary and the gang!

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