Larry Marder's Beanworld

Tantalizing Tuesday Teaser!

2012-01-24T16:10:00.000-08:00

Here is a panel I just finished drawing featuring Proffy, Heyoka and one of the artifacts from Beanworld 3.5!
All in a panel from Larry Marder's Beanworld Book Four: Something More!

Argh.
Just noticed I forgot to fill in the textures on the door.
Back to work!

A few things you might want to know!

2012-01-04T09:09:00.000-08:00

A belated Happy New Year!

It was a busy holiday season here at Beanworld Press and this is the first moment I've had to blog.

First up, the illo above is the final cover that we decided on for what we've been calling Beanworld 3.5.

A 64 page hardcover full color graphic novella.

It's on the schedule for June shipping.

More details as they are given to me.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Arizona for Amazing Arizona Comic Convention.

I'll be in Artist's Alley doing my usual leguminous things.

Sunday is Kid's Day.
I'll conducting a workshop for youngsters called:

"How To Create Your Own Comic Book Universe."

Everyone has stories inside of them, especially you!
Join Larry Marder, as he takes you on a journey of imagination
to show you how you can turn your own characters into stories
and start making your own comics!
Larry Marder’s series of Beanworld graphic novels have delighted readers
from grade school to grad school for more than a generation, earning him a spot on the
New York Times' Graphic Books Best Sellers List.

(I think it's scheduled for 11 on Sunday and don't know the room yet.)

It is aimed at young kids but I think anyone of any age will get a kick out of it.

In case you missed this:
A CBLDF-centric interview over at The Comics Reporter with yours truly and Charles Brownstein

And last but not least:

Over on Twitter #comicmarket every Tuesday there is a maelstrom of dialogue between various mover and shakers from every corner and niche of the comic industry. It's often a wild and bumpy ride. I add my two cents whenever I think I have something reasonable to share. I guess someone noticed because I got a 2012 Top Ten (kinda) Award for Comic Creator.

In Defense of Pop Art: Then & Now.

2011-12-20T15:18:00.000-08:00

There has been a splatter of opinions about Pop Art in the blogosphere lately. It was set in motion by a thoughtful piece by Scott Edelman regarding the trompe l'oeil paintings by Sharon Moody. I'd never heard of her before last weekend but I am very impressed with her extreme photo realism. Although my own tastes tend towards primitive, minimalistic, and conceptual art work, I've always had a soft spot for Chuck Close since I saw my first giant painting face-to-face in 1972 when he was a big-effin-deal in NYC gallery system. (His medical challenges changed his work and it's even more amazing now).

I understand the hows and whys of the comic art community's current complaints.
I do.
I don't agree but I do get it.

I also believe there is another side particularly when it comes to Roy Lichtenstein.

These pop art/Roy Lichtenstein dust-ups happen every few years-particularly since the advent of the Deconstructing Roy Lichtenstein website. In 1989 in the midst of a contemporary controversy in the letter column of Comics Buyer's Guide I wrote a letter to the editors, Don & Maggie Thompson, in defense of Lichtenstein. To my amazement then (and even now) they decided to run it as an article.
I got paid for it.
I believe I signed a back-of-the-check work-made-for-hire release for it so it belongs to them--not me.

I include links to old photocopies of the article for purely historical reasons. You can read my two page piece by following these links: page 1 and page 2. It's shown without permission.

As I explain in the piece, Lichtenstein stopped doing comic book paintings in 1965. That was 24 years before I wrote the piece in 1989. 22 years have passed since.
A lot of water under the bridge.
My bridge anyway.

I still believe all the things I said.
Most of the questions I asked I believe are still valid and mostly unanswered.

My favorite Lichtenstein works are still the mirrors and brushstrokes.
I'm really not trying to change any one's mind--my mind is set and most likely, so is yours.

SPECIAL OFFER: Larry Marder Personalized Hardcovers for CBLDF!

2011-11-30T13:00:00.000-08:00

BEANWORLD Hardcover Editions
(personalized by Larry Marder)

Wahoolazuma! CBLDF President Larry Marder contributes this signed hardcover edition of his most peculiar comics experience Beanworld! Captivating readers from grade school to grad school, Beanworld is a peculiar fantasy that operates under its own rules and laws. Series creator Larry Marder says, "Beanworld is about the affinity of life. It's like A Bug's Life meets Mutts, as told by Dr. Seuss and Joseph Campbell." Meet Mr. Spook, Professor Garbanzo, Beanish, and the Chow Sol'jer Army as they experience adventures that prove, whether friends or adversaries, we all ultimately depend on each other for survival. Beanworld reflects deep truths about our world, including themes of ecology, advertising, culture, and art, making the experiences of these fanciful creatures feel as true, funny, moving, and relatable as anything in our own reality.

Personalization requests due by December 5!

Here’s How The Personalization Works:
When you place your order with the CBLDF for these holiday premiums, you can have each of the offered books personalized to one or two names, and the artist will sign and personalize the book on a high quality CBLDF-branded bookplate. When you place your order in the comments section, please include the personalization request, such as: For Carl & Nancy, or For Will, or To The Groppers! Sorry – artists will not be able to provide sketches or other messages.

-------

This Larry Marder/Beanworld thing is part of a much larger CBLDF Spirit of Giving drive.
The Will & Ann Eisner Family Foundation will make a contribution to the CBLDF for every donation and membership placed during this campaign!

Be a hero this holiday by giving the most unique gifts that make a real difference when you support the CBLDF with the Spirit of Giving!

Larry

Larry Marder's DEJA VIEW!

2011-11-28T12:29:00.000-08:00

First I told myself "I'll finish Here There and get 'em done."
Next I pushed it back to until I get all the coloring and new pages for Beanworld 3.5 in the can.
Then I thought I could go the distance and get Something More finished first.
Wasn't gonna happen.

What am I talking about?
Cataracts.
I had 'em.
Bad.
My cloudy eyes weren't going to carry me through to the end.

I was told almost 8 years ago that I'd need to have my cataracts taken care of within five years.
I held out as long as I could.
It was okay to lose my night vision.
I even could handle the "cloudy look" of people's faces and not being able to see virtually anything or anyone in large gatherings and public places. After all I could still draw all day and night.
And then--I couldn't.

I knew by the end of San Diego Comic-Con that I couldn't get by any longer.
It was time for me to face the facts.
My eyes were in need of repair.

Now, I'm a total wuss when it comes to my eyes.
An eyelash caught in my eye or a bit of grit under the eyelid and I'm not a happy camper.
Never could wear contacts and never once considered having Lasik surgery either.

So the idea of having the lenses in my eyeballs, y'know the ones I was issued upon birth, being taken out and swapped for something man-made quite frankly gave me the heebie-jeebies.

Everyone told me: Don't worry about it.
It's a cakewalk.

Well, it was.
Easy as pie.

Out came my old clouded up natural lenses and in went my super duper 21st century lens implants and the world became new. Like Dorothy opening the door onto Munchkinland kind of mind boggling new.

Incredible.
Amazing.
Astounding.
Astonishing.
Uncanny.
All those Marvel Comics title adjectives.

So now I can see distances never dreamed of before.
I'm experiencing colors in ways I haven't in years and years.

I've worn glasses since about the time the USSR put Sputnik in orbit.
All my life I've pretty much always been the most near-sighted person anyone-I-know knows.
No longer being myopic is downright bizarre.
I don't need to wear glasses anymore to see things super clearly across very long distances.

This is weird because prescription lenses for extreme nearsightedness greatly reduces the size of everything that is looked at through those lenses. For all my adult life, the things I see have appeared much smaller than they actually are. All of a sudden everything around me is huge. This is taking some getting used to.

Things up close are a different matter.
I need reading glasses to, well, read.
And draw.

Since my ocular implants I've been experimenting with different magnifications at various close distances.
Plus my eyes are still healing and adjusting and changing every day .
And I'm on quite the regimen of eye drops.

It's only going on two weeks and it takes anywhere from a month or three for everything to settle in.
My brain is processing huge amounts of sensory input every moment of every day.
Plus my body has a lifetime of habits that are no longer functional.
There is no need to hunch over a book or drawing anymore.
But my body still wants to do it even though my eyes need to be at a different distance to see correctly.
I'm constantly discovering all the new distances and postures that will make seeing-sense from now on.
Particularly on the Cintiq.
The pic above is my first attempt to draw on it.
I think it looks like I drew it.
Hope so anyway.
I'm still not over how much larger everything appears on screen--particularly the desktop icons and the Photoshop palettes.
I wasn't expecting that.

Anyway, that's where I've been and what I'm doing after my cryptic post a few weeks ago,
Every day I learn something new about how to see.

My motto as voiced by Beanish above is:
One day at a time.
One step at a time.

Book Four?
Ready or not, here I come!

I'll be off the grid for a bit....

2011-11-13T19:12:00.000-08:00

...due to some ocular upgrading..

Be back before ya know it!.

Another Tantalizing Tuesday Teaser!

2011-11-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not going to tell you WHAT's going on.

Or WHO that Bean might be.

Or WHY he's (or she) there.

But I can tell you WHAT this drawing is.

It's a layout for a big moment on the cusp of change
in Beanworld Book Four: Something More!

WHEN will it be published?
Not sure yet but I'm getting there, slowly but surely,

Goofy Service Doodles from the Beanworld Archives!

2011-11-04T17:03:00.000-07:00

I've written before about the scribbles I've done on the job that I call "Goofy Service Doodles." In fact, there were at least two ashcan collections of them. One of my goals for next year's convention season is to recollect them with lots of previously unseen stuff.

I found this one today.

Gee, it's almost 20 years old. It's from my days at Marketing Director at Moondog's Comicland in Chicago, IL. From the looks of it we were at a meeting working on 1992 plans. And the stuff the Goofy Service Jerk said was true: at Moondog's we really did have the finest store managers in the comic book business. Some have their own stores nowadays and some I've lost track of but we all shared some mighty heady times.

I don't know what we thought was going to happen in retail in '92. I think we'd heard the rumblings of the immanent Image Comics revolution brewing on the west coast. I certainly didn't know on that date how much the Image Comics declaration of independence was going to change the entire comic book business and just how much I was going to get swept up into it myself.

In our world, you never really know what is going to happen next.
But something always does.

Larry Marder's Do-It-Yourself Halloween Costume For Procrastinators!

2011-10-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about the old Do-It-Yourself Beanworld contests.
We'll talk about that later but in the meanwhile, once again, it's time for me to share
The Larry Marders Do-It-Yourself Halloween Costume For Procrastinators!

It's a simple, yet effective costume for people in need of a last minute awesome costume.
I'm not quite sure how many times I've concocted this particular two-phase costume over the years but it's been several times a decade. Because I've moved around so much and drifted in and out of social circles, both personal and professional, over the years, there has always been a fertile new audience for my subtle yet powerful one trick-pony of a costume.

A little bit of History:

It started at Hartford Art School of the University of Hartford.
The Art School had the reputation the best Halloween Bacchanal on campus.
It was legendary really.

This epicness (as some might say nowadays) was based on two things:

First, the quality of the costuming from art students from 1969-1972.

The second was some sort of punch that was mixed up with god-knows-what in it but I'm quite certain its main ingredient was pure grain alcohol This punch had a campus wide notoriety somewhat akin to Four Loko today.

I discovered right away in art school that when it comes to masquerades (and what is now known as cosplay) that I stink.

People always ask me how come I never try to make some sort of Beanworld costume.
Cuz I'm not creative enough in that way.
Personally I have absolutely no idea how one might do that.
Zero.
But I do like minimal costumes.
And this is mine.

Frame from "Ducks Yas Yas" (c) Robert Crumb

Truthfully I'm not quite sure where the idea came from.
Over the years, I've settled on it being influenced by a frame of a Robert Crumb comic called "Ducks Yas Yas."
I really liked the guy with the third eye.
Decided to do one myself.
Minimal but memorable.
And give it a little bit of sequential art punch line.

Stage Directions for
Larry Marder's World Famous
Third Eye Halloween Costume.

Part One.
Affix third eye to your forehead.
Go to the party.
Take the ribbing that is inevitable for having such a lame costume.
"Hey you're a creative guy. That's the best you can do?"
Sheepish smiles and a lot of shrugging are the proper responses.

Part Two.
Let the festivities settle in.
Wait until everyone has seen everyone else's costume.
Then wait more until the fun-seekers are getting appropriately loose (inebriated, medicated, whatever one's poison is).
Wait further still until folks are starting to shed various pieces of their burdensome, uncomfortable costumes and falling out of character and starting to look more and more bleary eyed

Then you strike!

Go to the bathroom and affix Third Eye #2.
Start circulating.
Say nothing.

It generally takes a while but at some point someone will notice that you have switched eyes. There will be a moment of recognition/comprehension as to the absurdity of what you have done.

They will giggle.
They will laugh.
Depending on what some have been up to they might guffaw.

Like Beanworld itself, it's deceptively simple bit of theater but full of meaning.
It works.
It wll be a hit.

Try it sometime.
You have my permission to download my drawings, print 'em out, cut 'em out and use mine.
Or make your own!

HALLOWEEN BONUS!
The greatest Halloween anthem of all time by the Shaggs!

Treasure, Venture, and those Crazy Trade-Ins!

2011-10-13T13:43:00.000-07:00

Long ago, when I was a fan and handing out free copies of the amateur Beanworld maxi-comic--one of my biggest fears was that the person I handed it to would put it in his or her bag and then totally forget about it from that point forward.

Over the years, I've tried really hard to not be "that" creator. My track record is pretty good. Amidst the hustle and bustle of a convention floor, I do my best to make sure that something someone gave me doesn't get lost or scrunched up. But truth is, sometimes I forget where I stashed stuff for safe keeping and it ends up, well, misplaced.

That's what the above stuff in my hand is.
I found it today, misplaced but not forgotten, hidden between several cardboards in my convention bag. They were hand delivered by Shayne Olson, the kids' dad. Regular readers of this blog may recall that I've posted about Treasure and Venture Olsen before: here and here.

Inside the envelope was the letter below from Treasure, age 7 (at the time).

And also delivered were two great drawings by Treasure's little brother, Venture, age 5 (at the time), showcasing his own characters based on his love and appreciation of Beanworld.

Tricky Beans

Moon Beans

That night, after all the convention hoop-la died down, I penciled the following:

and

They were hand delivered back to the kids by their dad.

Thanks again Olsen family

---

And as I head out to NYCC, this is a good moment to review the "rules" for:

Crazy Larry's Trade-Ins!

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 you agree that 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!

Larry Marder's NYCC11 Schedule!

2011-10-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

I snapped this blurry iPhone photo before packing these treasures in my suitcase:
fleece Beanworld Action Figures, original art drawings in hand colored frames, limited edition prints!

Yes, I will be at New York Comic Con this weekend.
But not as a guest with a table.
I'll be a free floating attendee.

I'll be walking around & talking to fellow creators and business colleagues.
I'll have some of the things you see above in my bag, and if you ask to see them, and you are so inclined, they can be yours.

I will have have two scheduled signing events--all will feature world famous FREE Beanworld Action Figures and more leguminous-type stuff!

Crazy trade-ins?
You bet, catch me at any time!

Saturday
CBLDF
Booth 1158
noon to 2 pm

Sunday
Dark Horse Comics
Booth 1238
10 am
There will be free TFAW sketch cards galore at DH signing!

And whatever you do--don't forget THIS!

Babies & Beans are things that make you go "Awwww!"

2011-10-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hi Larry,
It's taken us several weeks to get organized following Comic-con, but my husband and I wanted to send a note to thank you for the wonderful sketch on the onesie you drew at the con!

Attached is a photo of Robin reveling in her inner bean.
Thanks so much!
Lesley Mathieson-Stratton

As I've written about in the past, I love drawing on cotton fabric. One of these days I will post about why that is but I am still looking for the right pictures from my past.

Knowing this, the Mathieson-Stratton family came to my table and asked me if I'd mind taking a crack at little Robin's "onesie." I was glad to. You can see the result for yorself!

As the photos above and below illustrate: sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words!

Jenn Manley Lee, creator of Dicebox ,and daughter, Taran Jack, at Stumptown Comics Fest 2011.
This photo was snapped literally within seconds after she took possession of her very own Bean doll--quite literally as big as her head.

It's amazing to me how the younger the human being, the more immediately the child's brain plugs directly into Beanworld--or does the Beanworld zap into the kid's brain?
Does it even matter?

All I know is that it happen.
It happens all the time.

Many, many witnesses to the fact.

And now a shameless plug: By The Lake Fleece Beanworld Action Figures will make excellent Holiday gifts for that special Beanworld fan in your life.

Supplies are limited.

It's Time For A Tantalizing Tuesday Teaser!

2011-10-04T10:53:00.000-07:00

My digital Cintiq scribbles for a sequence in Larry Marder's Beanworld Book Four: Something More!

I often work this way....come up with a snapshot moment that interests me and then scribble the dialogue, or in this case, thought balloons, as fast as I can. Penmanship doesn't count--legibility only has to be for me).

Professor Garbanzo is frustrated, as she has often been in the past, that she doesn't understand what any of the old tools she found in her Fix-IT Shop during her Secret Origin found on page 324 of of Beanwold Book Two: A Gift Comes!

The SLAM, by the way, is made by the door of Professor Garbanzo's Fix-It Shop leading to a very fast scene transition. Proffy is in for quite a surprise!

Hither, Thither, & In A Dither!

2011-09-29T15:09:00.000-07:00

Will and family.
(His mom is Jenni Holm--writer of Babymouse)

Maddox

Sydney

Since last spring, due to a gigantic whirlpool of all sorts of things,

I fell completely behind on a big part of my blogging responsibilities.

This has been keeping me awake at night.

So to remedy this, for the next few posts,

I'll be catching up on a lot of loose ends

that started accumulating after Wondercon.

First up is art from Will, Maddox, Sydney, and Riley.

Trading drawings with fans is the best part of my job--it really is.

Thanks to everyone for their patience.

I truly appreciate it!

Today IS Tuesday--So Here's A Tantalizing Teaser!

2011-09-20T11:55:00.000-07:00

The above will be in Beanworld Book Four: Something More and will appear a bit before this.

No, it's not scheduled yet but I'm told the color volume we so fondly call Book 3.5 aka Tales of the Beanworld will be on Dark Horse's schedule for June.

It Came From The Beanworld Archives!

2011-09-09T12:37:00.000-07:00

"Romance atop the World's Finest"
1984
Color markers & pencils on dime-store bond paper

With all the razz-a-ma-tazz and hoopty-doo going on with DC Comics nowadays, I thought I'd pull this oldie-but-still-goodie tributre out of the Beanworld Archives. I never get tired of drawing leguminous homages to Superman and Batman. Honestly, it's hard for me to believe that this drawing is 27 years old. And how "psychic" was I drawing "Superman" with that high collar, hmmm?

Hey Kids. It's the return of the Beanworld Tuesday Tantalizing Teaser!

2011-09-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

I told'ja there is gonna to be a whole lot of rain & the Boom'r Band
in the next hardcover original graphic novel, Something More, aka Larry Marder's Beanword: Book Four

Here's a peek at both.

Happy Birthday, Jack Kirby!

2011-08-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

The King influenced everyone,
including me.

A Kirby Tale
and
The King's Influence.

Happy Birthday to you.
We feel your influence every day.

Don't think we would exist
if you had not shown the way.

Larry Marder
& the Beanworld

“What are the ten comics works you consider your favorites, the best, or the most significant?”

2011-08-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

Today I recieved and email from Rob Martin of The Hooded Utilitarian. I can't quite claim that I totally forgot about this survey but I think it is fair to say I sent in my list on May and didn't think much about it again.

The survey question was: “What are the ten comics works you consider your favorites, the best, or the most significant?” The official tabulations that include my votes are published here The order I wrote down has been altered to reflect the greater survey methodology blah blah blah.

Below is how I listed 'em on my actual "ballot."

Superman #162
Superman Red and Superman Blue

This comic came out in 1963. I was 12 years old. 1963 was one of the all time best years in the history of the emerging Marvel Comics. On the cover this issue of Superman was billed as the "Greatest Imaginary Story of All Time!" And for me it was.

I'm not sure that I've ever read it except for that one time, probably at camp. But it has stuck with me ever since. It was sappy, overly Utopian and had a wonderful cornball triple wedding ending.

Superman Red/Superman Blue served up a heaping helping of happiness. It tied up all the loose ends of my childhood comic reading and I suspect that this issue was my jumping off point for DC. Long after it ceased to satisfy me anymore, I was finally able to let go of the Mort Weisinger lines of "kid stuff." I wouldn't give DC the time of day again until the start of the next decade.

Grieving Lincoln
Editorial cartoon by Bill Mauldin
Chicago Sun-Times
November 22, 1963

The way the legend goes, Bill Mauldin heard the news that President Kennedy had been assassinated and went right to his drawing board and this is what came out. I believe it.

November 22, 1963 was everything that everyone has ever written about it and more. There are so many movies and TV shows about that day and even Mad Men used it as an opportunity for a season cliffhanger.

I was at school in the 7th grade. Messengers started coming into the classroom and either whisper or hand notes to our teachers. Our teachers started crying. I had never seen a teacher cry before. We were whisked off to the auditorium for an assembly and the principal tried to explain the inexplicable to a bunch of children. He cried too. The Principal, who everyone was scared to death of, was crying. I'm not sure if I truly understood the gravity of the moment beyond the fact that adults were weeping. That was scary enough. Something disappeared that day. Some kind of childhood's end.

I don't remember very much after that. Went home. Plopped myself down in front of the TV watching with the rest of the shocked nation. I really didn't know what to think until the next morning when the paper came. Bill Mauldin's Grieving Lincoln said it all, on so many resonating levels, in one incredible snapshot. I saved that newspaper. That means I still own the first printing of this cartoon.

The Fourth World series
Jack Kirby
DC Comics

I stopped reading Marvel Comics sometime during my senior year of high school. I don't remember officially quiting or anything. I believe I had better and more urgent things to spend my money on. And I was also starting to discover underground comics. And they satisfied my comics itch in a way that Marvel wasn't able to anymore.

Then in the summer of 1970, while I was doing a stint as a camp counselor, a kid in my cabin had copy of Jimmy Olsen and it was drawn by Jack Kirby. Huh? Jack "King" Kirby was drawing and writing possibly the most lame DC title of all time?

I read it. I was hooked. I read both DC and Marvel comics from then until around 1988 or so.
Jimmy Olsen, New Gods, Forever People, and Mister Miracle were one seamless epic that lasted for 2 years before DC freaked out and pulled the plug. The ideas were huge. The artwork powerful. The dialogue not so much. So what? It was Kirby unleashed. Kirby's Fourth World is work that I spend a lot of time with when to when feel myself wandering off course and needing a tune-up.

Zap Comix stories of Robert Crumb.

The discovery R Crumb, serious sex, and LSD happened so simultaneously and are so entangled in my psyche that I can't really try to unravel it all. The proverbial doors of perception both opened and shut. I was never quite the same after the winter-spring of 1969. Perfect frame of mind to be leaving the comforts of home and starting art school. Crumb's work remains to this day an energy source to plug into when I recognize I need a recharging.

Bone
Jeff Smith

Jeff is probably the best all-round cartoonist of my generation.
He has influenced me in so many ways on a personal, artistic, and business level.
I'm proud to call him my friend.

Nick Fury Agent of S.H.E.I.L.D.
Jim Sterenko
Marvel Comics

Sterenko's body of work is pretty small.
But it was published when I was 16 & 17 and it blew my mind. Sterenko took Kack Kirby's essentials swirled in other stuff like the language of film, surrealism pop art and op art effects. His layouts were different than anything being done by anyone else. I learned a lot about design from Sterenko. (In college I sent in my money for Sterenko's History of the Comics #3 and I'm still waiting for its delivery. I don't tink it's coming.)

Thor
Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
Marvel Comics

For most of my teens, my favorite Marvel series were Fantastic Four, Thor, and Captain America. As time has passed, I think Thor surges forward the most in memory as the others fade. Which has absolutely nothing to do with the work itself but everything to do with me.
The pure power of Kirbyness and Kirbyisms are so strong in Thor. In was the fertile soil from which Fourth World sprang not so long later. Celestials too. As a teen I loved the back up Tales of Asgard adventures of young Thor and Loki.

Conan
Roy Thomas and Barry Windsor-Smith
Marvel Comics

Conan was my gateway book into Robert E. Howard's prose, Sword & Sorcery and fantasy as genres, and another way to look at pen and ink in the black & white magazines. Reading issue #4 "The Tower of the Elephant" was one of those critical moments when I recognized that I didn't know half as much about comics as I thought I did.

Fantastic Four
Stan Lee & Jack Kirby
Marvel Comics

My favorite memory of any part of the series is when Dr Doom stole the Silver Surfer's powers.
The image of Surfer laying in the hay in the stable (I think that's what it was) reverberates in my head to this day. Quite simply The World's Greatest Comic Magazine, right?

Up Front
Bill Mauldin
Military editorial cartoons featuring Willie and Joe
Stars & Stripes

There was a first edition copy of Up Front (and two of Back Home) in my parent's library as I was growing up. My mother knew how much I paid attention to Mauldin's editorial cartoons in the Sun-Times every day and at some point put Up Front in my hands and suggested I read it. The Mauldin books, and the editorial cartooning books of Herblock and John Fischetti, all moved upstairs into my library and have followed me wherever I've lived ever since. I read Up Front over and over and over. I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that all of this work is back in print at Fantagraphics.

(Also, I've never hidden the fact the name that my own characters "ChSol'jers" is an homage to the way Willie and Joe refereed to themselves as "so'jers.")

When I sent in the above, I added this caveat:

This is my list today. It might have been a different list if I compiled it yesterday or tomorrow, Do I think this is the list of the best comics ever?
Not really.
But this is the list of some of the things that stuck with me, influenced me, and made me whatever sort of cartoonist I am today.

The day I jotted these down was May 22nd.
Keep all that in mind as you read this post.

Larry

Happy 50th Birthday Fantastic Four!

2011-08-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

According to Mark Evanier, today is the 50th anniversary of the first issue of Fantastic Four appearing in the newsstands. And as fas as I'm concerned, if Mark says it's so: it's so.

I thought I'd celebrate the day by drawing the above.

When an earlier version first appeared on the cover of Tales of the Beanworld #19 twenty years ago in 1991, I asked my then-editor at Eclipse Comics, catherine yronwode, if she thought Marvel Comics might object to it being on the cover of my book.

She laughed and said something like "Larry these isn't a soul in Marvel's editorial offices that can even see that it's a parody of the Fantastic Four, let alone object to it!" Which I found out to be true.

I'm pretty sure it isn't true today!

Anyway, regardless of what happened over the last 50 years with Marvel Comics, Stan Lee, and Jack Kirby, good and bad, today is a day to celebrate all of the good things the FF brought into my life through the adventures of Reed, Sue, Johnny & Ben.

The Almost Original Art of the Larry Marder TFAW Cards!

2011-08-06T13:40:00.000-07:00

8" x 10" black & white drawing in 11' x 14" hand decorated frame.

For the third year in a row, I answered the call from Things From Another World aka TFAW to participate in their CBLDF Auction Fundraiser. It's a lot of fun and for a good cause.

But, me being me, I like to take a simple idea and make it even more fun!

Check out these accounts of what I did with my 500 TFAW cards in years past: 2009 and 2o10.

In a nutshell, I submit artwork that is "incomplete."
TFAW turns it into a card and gives me a boatload to use however I like.
I use these cards all year 'round everywhere I go--show appearances, signings, and other things in between.

A "finished" TFAW card is something more than a signing card but also something less than an original drawing.

At my Dark Horse Comics signing at Comic-Con on Sunday, the PR & marketing gang on site-at the moment figured out a great way to use TFAW cards to their full potential.

Under the guidance of Melissa Richardson, Amy Huey, and an incredibly enthusiastic intern who I was introduced to as (I think) Noel, who was out braving the traffic in the aisles hawking and handing out TFAW cards to the passing hordes. He artfully convinced them to stand in a very long rope line to get their sketch card from someone who most of them had never heard of.

I, of course, failed to take any pictures, but I could see the folks in line, looking at their cards, wondering what was going to happen to it when finally they reached me.

The table was elevated so the little kids could barely see over it as they handed me their card.

I'd take a good look at each individual by making solid eye contact for a second or two and right then and there I'd sketch the additions to the card that I felt like this stranger might appreciate the most.

I got a lot of smiles. so I think my batting average was pretty good. I drew on so many cards that my hand hurt afterwards and that hardly ever happens to me. I can usually sketch all day long.

I'm very appreciative that the DH crew assigned to oversee my signing understood me and the Beanworld so well and was able to make something so memorable for all involved happen on the spur of the moment.

I often get asked,"I wasn't at Comic-Con--how can I score myself a TFAW card?"
At all other cons I generally I have my trusty CBLDF can on the table and for a let-your-conscience-be-your-guide donation to the Fund you can walk away with your very own "Almost Original Piece of Art." Same with signings on behalf of CBLDF. Only at Dark Horse signings can you get one for free!

It's a grand tradition that TFAW started!
You can take a gander at the TFAW cards I drew and made their way home with me starting here.

And, hey, if you have a personalized TFAW card of your own that you'd like to see added the galleries--send a scan along to me at larrymarder (at) gmail (dot) com.

The last artist on earth to join deviantart.com?

2011-08-03T10:49:00.000-07:00

The last artist on earth to join deviantart.com?
That would be me.

Because I was do impressed with deviant art.com's under-reported sponsorship of Artist's Alley at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, I decided to join and give it a go.

"Created for a mini comic to benefit Comic Book Legal Defense Fund in honor of Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman. The project never left the launching pad and I've been wondering what to do with this seemingly out-of-continuty Beanworld illustration ever since. It seemed like a good piece for my first upload onto deviantart.com"

I pretty much feel like I'm the last cartoonist on the planet to sign up there.as there are already a zillion artists on the site but there seem to be a gazillion more eyeballs poking around on it.

How it will differ from other spots online that show my art--I dunno.

We'll all find out together, I reckon.

larrymarder.deviantart.com

How I create a Beanworld page in color!

2011-07-31T12:25:00.000-07:00

AKA the 2011 Comic-Con Demo that wasn't.

At the 11th hours, a few days before Comic-Con, I was asked if I'd give a demo in Artist's Alley about the way I work. For whatever reasons, the demo never happened, and I don't mind, 'cuz I was busy enough at it was.

But as long as I did a little prep work, I figure I might as well show you all what I would have don last week if I'd done it.

It's all over on Flick'r and you can see it here.

San Diego Comic-Con 2011

2011-07-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

MARDER'S AXIOM:
The better a creator does at a convention;
the worse you are doing in the outside world.

That was just a random thought I blurted out at a Dead-Dog Party some time in the late '80s during my Nexus Of All Comic Book Reality days. I think it was Denis Kitchen that started calling it Marder's Axiom. Those of us that came up as part of the Indie/Alt Surge of the time made a lot of money selling our books at the big cons. We'd have fans come up to us and ask us what we'd published in the last year and they'd scoop it all up. A standard comment was "I love your stuff but my local comic shop doesn't carry it." That led to my observation that a wildly successful convention appearance means we are not doing so well the rest of the year in Direct Sales.

On more than a few occasions, a creator who had gone from self-publishing to being picked-up by a publisher with good marketing and distribution found him/herself not selling many books at a convention. There is a moment of freak-out that something is wrong with his/her career. (It still happens--I ran into one at this show) Nothing is wrong with the career. Far, far from it. Fans don't have to buy their books from you anymore. They can get them from their local comic shop or online. It's a great thing when that happens. It's just weird until you get used to it.

For me, that's the beauty of my relationship with Dark Horse. My books are out there!

Nothing pleases me more than signing a Beanworld hardcover that a fan bought from someone other than me.

When I do sell a book off of my table it tends to be a Book One--someone who has heard of Beanworld and wants to give it a shot. Or a Book Three. Someone who read Beanworld years ago, has all the old comics, and wants to start up again with the new stuff. Show-in-and-show-out the book I sell the least of is Book Two. And that makes perfect sense to me.

So was Comic-Con 2011 the wildest, craziest, most frantic for Beanworld Comic-Con in all my years of tabling since 1985?
No. There are some really frantic years in stiff competition for that. Still, it was a great convention for me, just the same.

In all my years of con attendance, I saw the least of the floor. If a display wasn't directly in the path between DD-17 in Artist's Alley and Dark Horse or CBLDF--I didn't even get a glimpse of it. So all my first-person observations were limited. But I sure heard an awful lot from all sorts of fans, creators, and publishers.

All the italic comments below are my own and from Twitter.

The surreal photo above was swiped from Kathy Li's Flick'r Photostream.
Do yourself an enormous favor and check out the full scope of her work. amazing

MY 2011 COMIC-CON REPORT: Nervous whistling past the graveyard but with a thumbs-hooked-in-your-belt swagger

I have no special insight into the present State of the Industry. Everyone who knows me recognizes when it comes to the Business of the Artform of Comic Books--I'm an optimistic realist. I genuinely believe that right now is the real Golden Age of comic books. There are more folks doing amazing work in a wider array of genres, styles, and formats then ever before. Creatively the sky is still the limit. But realistically, the 2011 consumer has fewer dollars to spare for the work we do. Assuming the fans still have jobs (and clearly many didn't or were under-employed) they have to pay more for food and gasoline and rent/mortgage, etc etc. A few publishers are riding a wave of extreme optimism and they deserve to. Their recent track records are stellar as far as finding talent and promoting interesting titles--both creator owned and licensed.

But general sales overall continue to be trending downwards (with a boomlet here and there) and the retail base continues to have aches and pains (and sometimes gaping wounds). All of the front-of-the-catalog publishers believe they have the right combination of product, sales, and marketing ideas that will turn things around. I hope they do. My main impression is that everyone thinks that the industry will improve soon because....well...it has to. In public there is swaggering optimism.

In private? Not so much. In private many people talk about positioning for a game, or a toy, or a movie, or a TV show deal. And they hope for the best in the comic marketplace. Not all these games, toys, movies, and TV shows will actually get made. Some will. And those are the grand success stories that major media focusses on.

For better or for worse, I'm actually rather proud to report that the situation for Beanworld is the same as in 1985. Everyone thinks it could be something in some other platform but no one still seems to be clever enough to figure out what that can be. It's too damn hard a pitch. (It's easier to read than it is to explain) Still being ahead of my time 25+ years later is rather cool.

TWITTER: I really liked having iPad & be able to show off all the color pages of Beanworld 3.5 to inquisitive members of the Leguminati.

The above is page 21 from the all color 64 page hardcover book, Beanworld 3.5
Its been is turned into Dark Horse and is waiting its turn to get in cue in editorial and production. As soon as it has a projected ship-date, you will be the first to know.

It looks great on the iPad and so it is only a matter of time until Beanworld will be available digitally. But, still not yet. Not quite. No hurry.

TWITTER: Reading Twitter feed I realize how many people I hoped to talk to I never even got a glimpse of. But hey that's Comic-Con.

It's the first time ever that I didn't talk to (or even see) Fae Desmond, David Glanzer, or Maggie Thompson--folks who I have always had at least one decent chat with every year. The only former Image Comics colleague I saw was Rob Liefeld--and that was only for a few moments. Once again, if it weren't for the Dead Dog Party--I wouldn't have had a chance to talk to Denis Kitchen, Jimmy Palmiotti, Chip Mosher, Shannon Wheeler, Diana Schutz, Batton Lash, and many more.

I didn't even get to dine at Filippi's Pizza Grotto--not even once--that's never happened before--some years I ate there almost every night.

TWITTER: Deviant Art sponsorship of SDCC Artist Alley incredible gesture & under-reported. Those of us in AA for decades know how appreciated it was

The good folks at deviantart.com sponsored Artist's Alley. For the very first time we had cushy chairs and carpeting. They put up giant TV screens broadcasting our work continuously for the entire run of the show. You can see my contributions here. Their heroic efforts on behalf of the sometimes forgotten little guys in Artist's Alley was under-reported in the comic book press and blogs but deviantart.com deserves real kudos for their sponsorship of the art community.

TWITTER: Good, bad, or indifferent: there is NOTHING quite like San Diego Comic-Con

That about sums it all up for me!

Larry

A wandering post if there ever was one!

2011-07-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

So today I received a tweet from Brian Jacoby, proprietor of Secret Headquarters: Comics and Games for Everyone! and proud pop of Fiona Grace of Tallahassee FL. They are both upstanding members of the Legion of the Legiuminati. Brian and I are both "members" of the weekly gabfest that takes place each Tuesday under the all encompassing hash tag of #comicmarket. (He's @SHQtallahassee & I'm @larrymarder).

His tweet was simple and to the point: "I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but it's been more than a month since you updated your Beanworld blog."

Well, I was kind of aware of it.
Been pretty busy lately.

One of the things I've been doing is wrangling details for Cryptozoic Entertainment on CBLDF Liberty Trading Cards. (This is a nice way of saying that I've been tracking down wayward creators and elbowing them in the ribs reminding them of impending deadlines of doom.)

Plus, I've been busy doing Presidential sorts of things behind the scenes at the Fund. We've had some great successes of late in the Courts in Alaska, Massachusetts, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

And we are working on a new case too. We're raising funds to assist an American who found himself in deep trouble over comics on his computer at the Canadian border. When things like this happen, it is always good to take a look at fellow CBLDF Board member Neil Gaiman's brilliant piece "Why Defend Icky Speech?"

Those volunteer activities spare time activities aren't the reason why I've been so quiet lately.

Nope.

I've heen quiet because I've been working on Beanworld.

That's right.

Beanworld!

I'm wrapping up and turning in Beanworld 3.5 to Dark Horse before Comic-Con.

Up above is the original pencil drawing for the Maximum Press story from the last century.

Below it is the re-mastered and re-colored page as it will be page 16 in 3.5.

The Big Guy, Mike Richardson, asked me to contribute something to Dark Horse Presents during Stumptown. Diana Schutz and I agreed that "Larry Marder needs to finish one Beanworld project before he begins another." That said, I have a pretty good idea what I want this one-shot, self-contained story to be about. I'll pitch it to Mike at Comic-Con. Hopefully he will go for most peculiar tale of the Beanworld I have in mind.

Then this fall it will be back to Book Four: Something More.
I wandered all over the place but, hey, it's a post, right?

Larry

60 years ago yesterday...

2011-05-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

...I was born.

When I arrived my head was all lopsided.
All my life, I've been told that my mother's first words when she saw me were:
"Why is his head shaped like a lima bean?"

I heard this story (often) as I was growing up.
Was I given my totem upon my day of birth?
Sometimes it sure seems like it.

A few years ago, I asked my mom to document it.
It's the drawing above.
I open my solo presentations "The Leguminous Life & Times of Larry Marder" with it.
Then it dissolves into the illo below.

I want to thank all my friends, relatives, colleagues, and fans who took the time to wish me a "Happy Birthday" yesterday.

Cory & I had a great "get-away"weekend and all of your well wishes made it even better.

With great love and fondness to you all,
(Plus a Hoo-Hoo-HA & a Hoka-Hoka-HEY for good luck!)
Your ol' pal,
Larry

Of canary birds and lightbulbs

2011-05-27T09:05:00.000-07:00

Not too long ago, I received an email from Dirk Schwieger in Germany. Dirk is a very longtime fan and friend of Beanworld. On his own, with a nod from me, he brokered a deal between Dark Horse & Ventil Verlag for a German language edition of Beanworld--or should I say Bohenwelt?
Ventil Verlag is small but cutting edge German publisher that focuses on pop theory, cultural studies & societal analysis.

As Dirk said when he first approached me:

"ventil has a soft spot for subcultures, they have read beanworld and have come to love it, and they are willing to spend their time and money for bringing it to german-speaking audiences (and into german, swiss and austrian book shops).

i have found a very helpful partner in crime in daniela seel of kookbooks, another german publisher specializing in cutting edge poetry, fiction and children's books. daniela is a respected poet, translator and editor, and she does an amazing job at bringing the sounds and metrics of the german version in line with the original.

So recently Dirk wrote:

"translation is finally completed but the 'canary bird' really broke my neck: on her first meeting with beanish, dreamishness talks about having heard "the canary bird laugh". i've gone through some lengths to investigate some kind of meaning into this, yet couldn't find anything but the possible allusion to a very high-pitched voice. is there some other kind of reference or motif i should know about?

My response was:
About the canary bird laugh.
It's something my Grandmother always ended every story with.
Instead of saying "And they lived happily ever after" she would end each tale with "And the canary bird laughed."

If you want to see the entire artifact: go here.

If you notice I dedicated TOTB #1 to her because she taught me how to "hear the canary bird laugh." So it's a happy chirpy, tweety, springtime song bird sound. A bit of private joke with my family.

These folks are my mother's parents: Larry & Laberda Post. For a while as a pre-schooler we lived with them and they were both very important people in my life. My grandfather , Larry, was in the printing business. He was a really great guy. He died when I was 11 and so I remember him a lot better than my sister or any of my cousins.

My grandmother pretty much got to see all her grandchildren grow into young adults.

Laberda (or Gran'ma Berda as I called her 'cuz I couldn't say her name when I was little) was a genuine character. She said and did the funniest things. Family gatherings can often become "Let's tell stories about Laberda" events. In my father's last days I reduced my mother to tears of laughter by repeating something her mother had always said.

It was a nonsense word.

My grandmother excelled at nonsense words and phrases.

She told stories about meeting the The Kitty & The Horsie and The Giant.

When she said "And the Canary Bird laughed" it meant "Story's over. Time for bed."

My love of storytelling comes from all over the place but I've placed the honor of my first and most important influence at the feet of my Gran'ma Berda.

Now I'm not the only professional storyteller amongst Laberda's grandchildren. My cousin, Janet Nolan (here with me above) writes children's books.

Picture books she calls them.

We're not just related.
We're great friends.

I'll let her intoduce herself to you:

If I found a bumper sticker that said “I break for good stories,” I would put it on my car. I love a good story I always have, and I’m not the least pick picky about what format the story comes in: television, movie, theater, or a song.

Though my favorite stories have always been in books. I consider a good book my ticket to travel – to a different time, place or reality. I love that books have the power to scare me, thrill me, make me laugh, and make me cry. And when I find that one book that educates me, challenges me, or opens me up to a new way of thinking, I believe I’ve found a gift.

My childhood was filled with gifts: The Boxcar Children, All-of-a-Kind Family, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and the Outsiders, which I have probably read ten times. Books were my foundation; they were my vitamins, my nutritious foods, and they exercised my brain in a way a classroom never could.

I started writing picture books about ten years ago. I wrote one story after another. Some were good, and some were not so good. It didn’t matter because I considered my early attempts at writing the artistic equivalent of singing in the shower, harmless but fun. But like anything, if you work hard at it, you usually improve.

My first book, The St. Patrick’s Day Shillelagh, came out a while ago. It tells the story of a boy who leaves Ireland during the Potato Famine and sails to America. On his way across the ocean, the boy whittles a branch from a black thorn tree into a shillelagh, which is a walking stick or cane. The shillelagh is passed down through the generations and its story told on St. Patrick’s Day of every year.

My second book, A Father’s Day Thank You, is a happy story about a little bear that does not know what to get his wonderful Papa Bear for Father’s Day. The little bear figures it out when he realizes the true meaning of saying “Thank you.”

My most recent The Firehouse Light tells the true story of a four-watt lightbulb that has been burning in Livermore, California since 1901. I was intrigued when I first heard about this amazing light blub.

I wondered how it was possible, when almost nothing seems to last, that a lightbulb never burned out. For days, I walked around thinking wow. While that lightbulb’s been burning, cars, telephones, televisions and computers were invented.

Cures for diseases were discovered, wars were fought, and roads, highways, and cities were built. And while so much has changed culturally, socially, and technologically, and economically in American society, a tiny four-watt bulb made of carbon filament and hand-blown glass kept burning. Who couldn’t be intrigued by that?

I just had to know more. One of the wonderful things about being a children’s writer is that I have the perfect excuse to pick-up the phone, call a stranger, and say, “I wonder if you have a moment to talk.”

I was lucky to find so many helpful individuals on the other end of the line. Through the amazing generosity of local historians, retired firefighters, and members of the Livermore Heritage Guild, who answered my endless questions, I was able to learn the lightbulb’s story. The book is beautifully illustrated by artist Marie LaFrance .The Firehouse Light was selected for The Society of Illustrator’s “Original Art” Exhibit.

The 110 year anniversary/birthday party for the bulb is this coming June. I'll be in San Francisco for the event.

This past weekend, my sister Kathy and I travelled to Shelby, Ohio, birthplace of the lightbulb, previous home of the Shelby Electric Company, and current home of the Shelby Museum of History, which has the most fascinating collection of historical memorabilia I've ever seen crammed into a tiny space.

We met up with filmmaker Chris Leps, who is doing a documentary on the lightbulb. Chris interviewed me for his movie Century of Light, which can be previewed at www.creative-umbrella.com. I can't believe I'm going to be on the silver screen! After the film premiers during the B-Day weekend, Chris says he will be showing it at independent film festivals around the country. Cool!

So here are some details for the big birthday weekend. On Friday June 17th, Chris's movie will be shown in Livermore, CA, at the Vine Theater.

Tickets will be limited.

Saturday June 18th is the official birthday party, noon to 4:00 in the parking lot of firehouse #6 in Livermore (I think). I know there will be bands, balloons, food, speeches, press coverage, and a book signing by yours truly. It's no charge and all are welcome.

I've included a link to photos taken of my visit last year.

If you love storybooks, kid lit, history and live anywhere near the Bay area, you might want to see what's going on in Livermore in a few weeks.

You can meet my cousin, Janet Nolan.

You can even try to get her to tell you a few good Laberda Post stories.

Well, that's it for today.

I know this because I just heard the canary bird laugh.

Hoka-Hoka Egg-Bot!

2011-04-23T13:59:00.000-07:00

.
Hey, Larry,
I recently purchased an EggBot kit, which is a device that lets you draw on eggs and other curved surfaces with a drawing program. Naturally, I thought "what better subject for egg decorating than.. beans." I'm clearly no Larry Marder, and there are obviously issues keeping pens aligned, but I thought you might like this nevertheless...
The Naimis

Here's the Egg-Bot in action. I was up a bit late Thursday evening to have some eggs to put on display at the office. I didn't get drawings of all the main beans (no Mr. Spook, Proffy or Beanish) before I went to bed, which I will try to remedy sometime this weekend and send you a picture of the full "gallery" next week, along with the drawings themselves. I did a Beanish egg and a Mr. Spook large size last night (the egg as Mr. Spook's torso rather than a drawing of Mr. Spook on the egg, though I wasn't completely happy with the results).
The Naimis

This is very cool and exciting.

Thanks for sending this along just in time for the appropriate holiday, The.

The hacker, fab, and maker movements are proof positive that in the not-so-distant future we will all be able to let our inner Beanish and Professor Garbanzo out and make stuff that is both cool and personal

I love living in the future!

Beanworld 3.5: Tales of the Beanworld

2011-04-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

The best place to start a long story is at the beginning.

So...

After Beanworld Book Three: Remember Here When You Are There! I started to work on the next original graphic novel in the series: Something More!

Last summer, and all conventions since, I've been handing out free little fold-up mini-preview of Book Four. Readers of the preview find out that the next book has stuff in it about the mysterious Orbulators. The last page implies, well, something more.

Those that understand Heyoka-speak understand that her answer to Proffy's whispered "what?" is the exact opposite--in other words this.

Time to flash back to another lifetime ago...

The "Asylum Story" as it was known at the time was a bit of an oddity.
(As a minor historical aside--in addition to the explanations in the link above, I also had Marvel Comics' mid-decade bully tactics used after their acquisition of Hero's World distributors on my mind. )

Rob Liefeld's Maximum Press went away and the color Beanworld story was never reprinted except for a very low print run ashcan comic that was printed from photocopies of the original art. That black & white ashcan with the green cover was titled "While We Were Eating." I'd sell them off of my table over the years and they recently sold out at last. (As I was reworking the material I noticed for the first time that pages 10 & 11 are flipped in the ashcan!)

There was actually some question between close friends of the Beanworld whether or not the Asylum Story was "in continuity" or not.

It is.

Proof positive of this is on display in "Here There" page 50.

Yep, right above the dessicated remains of Der Kveen are the artifacts from the last page of "Eating."

So as I was moving along with Something More! I recognized that I had some explaining to do to the majority of contemporary Beanworld readers who had little to no idea of these previous, almost forgotten story points.

My idea was to reprint it as a black & white stand alone comic.

I pitched it to Dark Horse when I was up there last summer.

In that meeting, brainstorming between Beanworld editor, Diana Schutz; Dark Horse VP of Marketing, Micha Hershman; VP of New Business Development, Michael Martens; and Marketing Director, Jeremy Adkins turned my single comic idea into a Yokai-style color volume.

It's called Tales of the Beanworld.

It totally makes sense.

It takes all the loose pieces of color work and puts them all together in one volume that can shelve with all the other hardcover books.

I would have never thought of that.

This volume takes all of the above material and through flashbacks twines it together into one new story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. There are 12 brand new new pages featuring just about everyone.

The "Asylum Story" has been revised and reworked and recolored.

Its new title is "While We Wuz Eatin'!" which is how Mr. Spook would have really said it.

It's a direct lead-in to Book Four.

Somewhere along the way, Diana started calling it "Book 3.5" and the name stuck.

I have to say, I 'm really liking the way it's looking.

More as I know more.

Larry

What is Beanworld 3.5?

2011-04-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

STUMPTOWN!

2011-04-11T16:51:00.000-07:00

8th annual Stumptown Comic Fest

Oregon Convention Center

Saturday April 16th 10-6

Sunday April 17 12-6

My Panels:

The Leguminous Life of Larry Marder

Saturday April 16 ● 12 - 12:45 ● Room A105

Beans have been part of Marder's life since the day he was born! The rich visual presentation covers the entire history of his peculiar fantasy dimension including discussion about Marder's many influences. This is your opportunity to discover why Beanworld has captivated readers from grade school to grad school since its first publication as a series of comic books in the 1980s. Now Beanworld is entertaining an entire new generation of fans. Get a glimpse into Marder's next Dark Horse Comics original Beanworld graphic novel "Something More!" And what exactly is "Beanworld 3.5" anyway?

Worldbuilding

Sunday April 17 ● 2-2:25 ● Room A106

Evan Dahm moderates a discussion featuring Carla Speed McNeil, Barry Deutsch, Jenn Manley Lee, Larry Marder, and Kel McDonald, as they share the challenges and rewards of intricate, in-depth world-building for your own fictional settings.

I'll be at table B-21

I'll have:

Series Two FLEECE Beanworld Action Figures!

Dark Horse Beanworld Hardovers

FREE Beanworld Action Figures

Cute Collectible Cards

Beanworld Orphan Drawings

Crazy Trade-Ins

and more!

And whatever you do, do not forget this!

It Came From The Beanworld Archives!

2011-04-08T15:46:00.000-07:00

"Late 1970s ~ 20" x 11" ~ Xerography, pen, colored paper, colored markers on cheap copy paper

So I was spending part of my day today thinking about the presentation I'm giving at Stumptown Comics Fest 2011 on Saturday April 16th at noon. (Mouch more on Stumptown in posts over the weekend). I was going through the Beanworld Archives looking for something else and lo & behold, the illo above appeared.

This is from the time I was doing a lot of exploration of how-to-abuse-the-Xerox-machine-at-work. I loved investigating the boundaries of 1970s xerography (a semi-lost art due to digital copying) using photographs I found in the dead files at the ad agency I worked at. Actually at this point, in the late '70s I was in charge of the dead files and for me it was a treasure trove of cornball model photography from the 60s and photos of crops and insects. I rescued all sorts of oddities from the going in the dumpster.

In that day of (analog?) photocopy machines you could really push things in weird directions by copying copies over and over and over again and all sorts of magical things would happen. Now that I think of it, maybe that still can happen, but in this world of digital accuracy I kinda doubt it. Not like back then anyway.

In this primitive world of Magic Tape, Spra-Mount and rubber cement I cobbled together this composition--most likely just seeing-what-I-could-see as I went along. There is are pre-versions of Beanish & Mr. Spook. There is a hint of the Chowdown Pool stairs. There is a more-or-less fully fleshed out Chow Sol'jer.

I don't know why the Madmen-era advertising models people are green. Relatives of J'onn J'onzz maybe.

It doesn't seem finished at all. But I find it interesting. Thought I'd share.

WONDERCON!

2011-03-30T09:09:00.001-07:00

Yes, I'll be at Wondercon this weekend. I'm listed in the directory as Beanworld Press. My table in Artist's Alley is AA-095.

I'll be signing at the Dark Horse Booth on Friday at 2.

Amongst other things, I'll have new fresh batch of Beanworld Plush Action Figures/Series 2 that Maryann made.

Plus, FREE Beanworld Action Figures, Crazy Trade-Ins, Beanworld Orphans for adoption, TFAW cards for a CBLDF donation, and other stuff of interest.

And of course, whatever you do, don't forget to do this.

THIS JUST IN!

Three hours high!

2011-03-21T11:32:00.000-07:00

That's right!
This stack of CBLDF artist sketch cards is exactly three hours high.

On Saturday night, I jammed at home while my fellow creators were doing the same in Chicago.
Did I have fun?
Hell, yeah.

And for an excellent cause too.
And I'm going to do it again on Wednesday.
Why?
Stay tuned!

LIBERTY JAM: the home version!

2011-03-19T09:36:00.001-07:00

If you are in town for C2E2--there is going to be a Liberty Jam in Chicago tonight.
There will be over 40 artists there creating cards for CBLDF Liberty Trading Card set.
I'm not going to be there.

But I am going to be having my own Liberty Jam: The Home Version during the actual hours of the event.

That's right--from 9 pm to midnight central time I'm going to draw as many Liberty artist sketch cards as I can from the comfort of my own studio.

(Those of you that have seen me get go into a zone at a Drink'n'Draw know that once I start you never know what is going to come out of my pen point!)

As I'm creating these one-of-a-kind original works of art--I'll shoot pics, and scan 'em and if I don't screw it up maybe even have some video to see online.

It's going to be a super moon tonight so things should be cracklin' everywhere.

Check in on me on Twitter and Facebook tonight and tomorrow I'll give a recap here including details for Creators who want to protect Liberty through Creativity.

You too will be able to donate your creativity to Liberty Trading Cards from home by playing Liberty Jam: the home version as CBLDF, Cryptozoic and our supporters are throwing the next Liberty Jams around the nation over the next month or two.

Stay tuned for all the exciting details!

The First Amendment guarantees the right to Free Expression. It ensures that no American can be persecuted for speaking their political, religious, social, or artistic beliefs. It protects controversial ideas, and has been the subject of many hotly contested battles. The CBLDF fights the battles where comics are contested.

Chicago Liberty Jam!

2011-03-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

Liberty Jams are one of the ways for creators who want to pitch in and support the Fund can contribute artist sketch cards to CBLDF Liberty Trading Cards.

If you are going to be in Chicago tomorrow night: be there!

And if you are going to be online tomorrow night from 9 to midnight central time: I'll be here and--well--I'll have more to say about THAT tomorrow.

The Secret Origin of CBLDF Liberty Trading Cards!

2011-03-18T15:45:00.000-07:00

This story begins with my friend and colleague, John Nee. I first met John when when WildStorm and Top Cow were still one entity called Homage Studios and I was on a three week temporary consulting gig that turned into six years at Image Comics.

During those years , John and I did lots of business together--some visible to the naked eye and many more behind the scenes. After WildStorm was acquired by DC we didn't much in the way of business (except this) but we stayed friends. And after we both moved on from our previous positions, we started doing some business-y things together again

So....

About a year ago, John became CEO of a cool new company called Cryptozoic Entertainment. It's just over the hills from where we live. John invited me to come over and take a look and, quite honestly, Cryptozoic blew me away. You can get a taste of how I felt that day by taking a tour yourself, right here. Cryptozoic is young, innovative, brimming with of energy and enthusiasm.

As John Nee had predicted, I hit it right off the bat with Crypto's management team Scott Gaeta, John Sepenuk, and Cory Jones. I was particularly delighted when Cory J told me that Comic Book Legal defense Fund is his favorite charitable cause.

A relationship with Crypto was born.
Technically I'm a strategic consultant.
Of course, none of us is quite sure what that is or isn't, but I'm in and out of the offices a great deal.

Last summer, I was strategically consulting in John Nee's office.

It was right after the issue of Liberty Annual 2010 I edited shipped.

Cory J came in and pitched me an idea.

A set of CBLDF trading cards.

It could have regular trading cards.

And bonus Autograph cards.

And Sketch cards.

The Works.

Cryptozoic Entertainment can donate their production and publishing services.

The Fund said yes.

Diamond Comic Distributors is waiving their fees.

Here's some stuff from the press release:

Irvine, CA—February 28, 2011: Cryptozoic Entertainment™ and the Comic Book
Legal Defense Fund™ have joined forces to protect creativity by collaborating on
a new trading card set. The Liberty Trading Cards set tells the story of the
fight to defend the First Amendment and includes chase cards from the greatest
creators in comics and entertainment. The set will be released in July
2011, with proceeds from the sales benefiting the Fund.

“Cryptozoic is one of the most exciting new companies in pop culture, and we’re thrilled to work with them on this dynamic card project,” says CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein. “Together we’ll be showing how the CBLDF has advanced Free Expression in comics and gathering one of the coolest collections of incentive cards ever assembled.”

The Liberty Trading Cards set will feature a base set
of seventy cards representing the history of comics censorship, from the
Seduction of the Innocent era in the 1950s to the modern day. In addition to the
base set, special hand drawn sketches and autograph cards by some of the top
talent in the comic book world will be featured in this release!
Already signed on to collaborate are Geoff Johns, Neil Gaiman, Darwyn Cooke, Gail
Simone, Mark Waid, Brian Azzarello, Paul Levitz, Denny O’Neil, Frank Quitely,
Phil Hester, and many more.

“The generous response from the creative community
has been overwhelming,” said CBLDF Board President Larry Marder. “The most
impressive gesture has been how many creators are briefly lending CBLDF their
Intellectual Property for this project only. Creators letting us borrow their
characters for these artists to sketch include Jeff Smith, Marc Silvestri, Erik
Larsen, John Layman, Jim Valentino, Matt Wagner, Rob Liefeld, Stan Sakai, Eric
Powell, Mike Richardson, and many others.”

Remember, the First Amendment guarantees the right to Free Expression. It ensures that no American can be persecuted for speaking their political, religious, social, or artistic beliefs. It protects controversial ideas, and has been the subject of many hotly contested battles. The CBLDF fights the battles where comics are contested. It's really going to be a hell of a thing once it's all said and done.

A lot of people are putting incredible amounts of their personal time, energy, and talent into CBLDF Liberty Trading Cards and we thank everyone who is for their generosity and donations.

Amazing Arizona Comic Con!

2011-03-11T16:30:00.000-08:00

Amazing Arizona Comic Con was held wayyyyyy back at the beginning of the year.
For those of you that follow my exploits on Facebook and Twitter, you might remember that this took place right after we got back from Antarctica.

Had to immediately jump back deep into life and regretfully never got around to publishing these excellent drawings and the pics of the artists.

So here they are:

Amazing Arizona Comic Con
Crazy Trade-In Drawings!

Cloe with her totally wahoolazuma crazy trade in drawings.

Mr. Spook & the Beanworld by Cloe!

Bass Boom'r getting in some Thump'l'bump'n by Cloe!

Zoe with her wild'n'waxy art for trade-in!
Zoe's gifted me with art before.

Beanworld assembled outside Proffy's Fix-It Shop by Zoe!

Beanish and Dreamishness by Zoe!

Wil Hines!

Over the Legendary Edge on their way to a Chow Raid by Wil Hines!

Every time I post Crazy Trade-Ins, I inevitably get an email or direct message from someone telling me that they can't get a con and might we do a trade via the mail.

I can't.

This is something I can only offer at comic book conventions and signings when my job that day is to meet fans and talk directly (to anyone who wants to listen) about Beanworld.

At home, in my studio, drawing time is for getting out the next book--and that's going way to slow as it is.

Unlike just about every artist in the business nowadays, I don't do commissions and even at a show, I just like to draw what I feel like drawing at that moment and that is how Beanworld Orphans come into the world looking to be adopted.

If you want to see the gallery of all the Crazy Trade-In drawings over the years go here!

Duchamp, Beanworld, and Ant Farming.

2011-01-26T13:22:00.000-08:00

La mariée mise à nu par ses célibataires, même
Multi media on two panes of glass with two panes of glass
with materials such as oils paint, lead foil, fuse wire, varnish and dust. 1915-1923 (unfinished)

I often talk about the enormous influence Marcel Duchamp's masterwork "The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even" had on me over the years particularly as I was fine-tuning and honing the Beanworld.

"The Large Glass," as it's often nicknamed, is sort of like a diagram of shadows from another dimension that are suggestions for animated activities to be interpreted by the viewer in his or her own imagination.

Not bad stuff for 1915.

Duchamp referred to this other dimension as the Inframince.
It translates from the French into something like "very thin."

Sometimes on a panel or giving a presentation, I'll jokingly refer to Beanworld taking place in a "two-and-one-half dimensional space. " What I mean is in the Beanworld there appears to be very little difference between foreground, middle ground, and background. The Beanworld as a visual and dramatic tableau is indeed "very thin." Always to be looked at from one side and going infinitely left, right, up, and down.

Sometimes I call it "endless ant farm space." As if the Beanworld takes place between two panes like the ulta-classy Duchampian Large Glass and also like the silly post-war toy co-invented by Milton Levine who recently passed away.

I never owned my own ant farm but I remember friends and neighbors having one. Clearly the idea of it stuck in my head all my life, don'tcha think?

Rest in Peace Uncle Milton.
Your influence cast a very wide net indeed.

Amazing Arizona Comic Con Today and Tomorrow!

2011-01-08T05:47:00.000-08:00

This Chinstrap penguin sincerely regrets it won't be able to send its hard earned pebbles at Amazing Arizona Comic Con but you can!

See you there!

Larry Marder, CBLDF, & Amazing Arizona Comic Con

2011-01-06T15:32:00.000-08:00

Well.

I'm home.

So what's the craziest things one can do after coming back from the White Continent?

Get in a car and drive through the desert to Arizona: that's what.

But that is exactly what I'm doing: tomorrow morning I'm getting up nice and early and hitting the road again.

I'll be at the Amazing Arizona Comic Con all weekend.

Mesa Convention Center
263 N. Center St.
Mesa, AZ 85211

Saturday,January 8, 2011: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Sunday, January 9, 2011: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

I'll be in two places at once.

I'll be at the CBLDF table doing my CBLDF thing.

What will the CBLDF have?

Liberty Annuals (edited by me)

Signed books by Frank Miller, Jeff Smith, Neil Gaiman, Bryan Lee O'Malley, Geoff Johns, and more.

And a few surprises too.
I'll fill you in on those as they develop.

On the Beanworld front?

Crazy Trade-In Drawings.

Books.

Cute Collectible Trading Cards.

T-Shirts

TFAW Cards

Beanworld Orphan Drawings.

FLEECE Beanworld Action Figures.

"Something More" previews.

FREE Beanworld Action Figures.

And don't forget this!

If you would like to volunteer to help me so I don't have to be in two places at once: let me know!

Back from the White Continent!

2011-01-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

This is me on Christmas afternoon on Salisbury Plain (the other one).
The critters in the background as fart as the eye can see are King penguins.

They are big, noisy, and incredibly curious.

In case you were wondering where I've been off to--Cory and I were on an Antarctica adventure. The offical log of the trip is here. Our pics and commentary will be posted as we go along into the new year and our return to Reality.

For me that will start by going to Phoenix within 24 hrs of my return to the US for:

Amazing Arizona Comic Con

where I'll be doing things regarding Beanworld and CBLDF.

What sort of things?.

Come to the con and find out!

As soon as I find out definite plan I will post and pass it along asap!!

Going South For The Holidays!

2010-12-01T09:12:00.001-08:00

Wayyyyyyy south!

But I will be back in time for
Amazing Arizona Comic Convention
January 8-9, 2011
Mesa Convention Center, Phoenix, AZ

This convention is looking more and more....
well....amazing every day.

Comic book entrepreneur extraordinaire,
Jimmy Jay and his crew,
are putting together an incredibly dynamic show.

I'm really looking forward to being in on the action and
having an opportunity to hang with old pals!

I will be perched in Artist's Alley.

Also in the news:
CBLDF Wins 2010 Downs Intellectual Freedom Award!

And don't forget:
CBLDF Has The Best Gifts For The Fan In Your Life!

Now THIS is news!

2010-11-16T10:53:00.000-08:00

Prince William getting married?

The Beatles library on iTunes?

The new Bruce Springsteen boxed set?

Marvel killing off Ultimate Spiderman?

What EVER!

None of that news holds a candle to the reemergence
of one of my favorite advertising mascots:
Speedy Alka Selter!

After putting their toes in the water
(so to speak)
with a rather odd Lindsey Vonn ad featuring
what seems to be some sort of Speedy totem
on the tip of her ski,
Alka Seltzer's current corporate owners
have brought the little guy back.

This is big stuff for me.
Why?
Because I love advertising mascot characters.

They are as much part of my psyche as any comic book or cartoon character.

So I have to tell you folks,
I'm very pleased to see that Speedy Alka Seltzer
seems to be making a comeback in television advertising.

(Although the new commercial seems to be a bit of a story retread
of a current Frosted Mini-Wheats ad)

(And let's not even get into THIS!)

You can read my previous posts
singing the praises of Speedy
here and here.

"Down, down, down the stomach through,
Round, round, round the system too,
With Alka-Seltzer you're sure to say,
Relief is just a swallow away!"

From the Beanworld Archives!

2010-11-02T14:13:00.000-07:00

8 1/2" x 11"

The cheapest bond paper imaginable
Black markers and color pencils
Late 1970s

At recent convention appearances, I've made it no secret that Beanworld Book Four: Something More has been slowly taken over by the Boom'r Band.

I set out telling one story and this other one, in a direction I hadn't foreseen, took over. Recently I've learned that this does fold back into the story I originally set out to tell.

The side track is the Origin of the Boom'r Band.
This tale of the Beanworld has been hinted at from time to time, most significantly in a frame of
Beanish Breaks Out! (TOTB #4 and/or page 112 of Wahoolazuma!).

While going through my accumulation of notes regarding the Boom'rs, I found the drawing above. This is part of the going-backwards process I often talk about.

Beanworld started out as a complicated entity and I kept simplifying it, parsing it down, narrowing its scope intil I discovered Gran'Ma'Pa (or maybe Gran'Ma'Pas discovered me...not quite sure!).Then I started moving forward with the comic that became Tales of the Beanworld #1.

I cant say with certainty what year this piece was drawn.
I think late 1970s.

If I recall correctly it an early attempt at a Beanworld story about a human being (it might have been me) who is transported to Beanworld (I've forgotten how) and finds himself (assuming it was me) in a Bean-body.

And in a (clumsy) Wizard of Oz-ish riff finds himself on a red and yellow boardwalk that he follows on his adventures until he...he...I'm not sure as I don't think I ever finished it.

That's The Visitor, surprised, in the lower left hand corner.
That's about all I can recollect.

By 1980 I had come up with the Boom'r Band trio.
They had a different look but they had their current instruments.

In the sky are the four symbols of the Beanworld Tarot.
Two of those symbols came down to the ground as Mystery Pods.
The other two came down even further and became two of the Four Realities.

I really like some of these Beanworld-ed of instruments.
The bass balalaika still works for me.
And the Bonging-thing with the hammers too.
The Harp-ish thing isn't so bad either.

What really jumps out at me though is wooden structure sure looks like something from Angry Birds doesn't it?

There Is Still Time For Larry Marder's World Famous Third Eye Halloween Costume.

2010-10-30T12:27:00.001-07:00

Yes, my leguminous friends, it's the 11th hour for Halloween costume procrastinators: But, I, Larry Marder, can come to the rescue for folks that need a simple, yet effective costume for parties this weekend.

I'm not quite sure how many times I've concocted this particular two-phase costume over the years but it's been several times a decade. Because I've moved around so much and drifted in and out of social circles, both personal and professional, over the years, there has always been a fertile new audience for my subtle yet powerful one trick-pony of a costume.

A little bit of History:

It started at Hartford Art School of the University of Hartford.
The Art School had the reputation the best Halloween Bacchanal on campus.
It was legendary really.

This epicness (as they would say nowadays) was based on two things:

First, the quality of the costuming from art students from 1969-1972.

The second was some sort of punch that was mixed up with god-knows-what in it but I'm quite certain its main ingredient was pure grain alcohol This punch had a campus wide notoriety somewhat akin to Four Loko today.

I discovered right away in art school that when it comes to masquerades (and what is now known as cosplay) that I stink.

People always ask me how come I never try to make some sort of Beanworld costume.
Cuz I'm not creative enough in that way.
Personally I have absolutely no idea how one might do that.
Zero.
But I do like minimal costumes.
And this is mine.

Frame from "Ducks Yas Yas" (c) Robert Crumb

Truthfully I'm not quite sure where the idea came from.
Over the years, I've settled on it being influenced by a frame of a Robert Crumb comic called "Ducks Yas Yas."

I really liked the guy with the third eye.
Decided to do one myself.
Minimal but memorable.
And give it a little bit of sequential art punch line.

Stage Directions for
Larry Marder's World Famous
Third Eye Halloween Costume.

Part One.
Affix third eye to your forehead.
Go to the party.
Take the ribbing that is inevitable for having such a lame costume.
"Hey you're a creative guy. That's the best you can do?"
Sheepish smiles and a lot of shrugging are the proper responses.

Part Two.
Let the festivities settle in.
Wait until everyone has seen everyone else's costume.
Then wait more until the fun-seekers are getting appropriately loose (inebriated, medicated, whatever one's poison is).
Wait further still until folks are starting to shed various pieces of their burdensome, uncomfortable costumes and falling out of character and starting to look more and more bleary eyed.

Then you strike!

Go to the bath room and affix Third Eye #2.
Start circulating.
Say nothing.

It generally takes a while but at some point someone will notice that you have switched eyes. There will be a moment of recognition/comprehension as to the absurdity of what you have done.

They will giggle.
They will laugh.
Depending on what some have been up to they might guffaw.

Like Beanworld itself, it's deceptively simple bit of theater but full of meaning.
It works.
It wll be a hit.

Try it sometime.
You have my permission to download my drawings, print 'em out, cut 'em out and use mine.
Or make your own!

Now let's celebrate by grooving to that Halloween anthem of greatness by the Shaggs!0

I'll be pretty busy this weekend for a guy who isn't supposed to be at APE!

2010-10-15T14:10:00.000-07:00

I'm not an official guest at APE.
I'm not setting up at my own table.
But I'll be dropping in just the same.

I'll be doing signing and drawing type stuff for CBLDF here and there.
Catch me if you can!

Offers for Crazy Trade Ins and What-The-Big-Fish-Said are open for business!
Unique TFAW Cards will be available for a donation at CBLDF table.

Here are the things I know I'm scheduled to do.

Saturday 10/16 at 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm
CAM Alternative Press Expo Party: Storytime! and Graphic Details
Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission StreetSan Francisco, CA, 94105

It's a great show and it's not going to be up a whole lot longer
and it's well worth the Look-See!

Also....I have a workshop on Sunday 10/17 at 12 pm (aka noon aka midday)

It's called: Marketing a Comic That's Easier to Read Than to Describe.

Presenting a comic as peculiar as Beanworld to the public is hard today;
imagine how difficult it was more than a quarter of a century ago.

I'll share my story of the strategy I deployed to get myself discovered,
find a publisher, and how I found the right message to break through the clutter
of the mid-80s comic book marketplace.

I'll have some artifacts on hand that hardly anyone has has seen before
plus a whole bunch of stuff quite unseen for a long, long time.

Hear how the lessons I learned then have sustained Beanworld's public image to this very day!

Also on Sunday 10/17 4:45-5:30
CBLDF: The Fight For Intellectual Freedom

More than 50 years after Frederic Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, comics and other media still come under the attack of censors.
Charles Brownstein, executive director of the CBLDF, is joined by cartoonist Keith Knight
and other panelists for a discussion of current trends in comics censorship and how we all can get involved in protecting intellectual freedom.

I'm one of the others!

Trade In One Of Yours For One Of Mine!

2010-10-15T13:53:00.000-07:00

Am I crazy?
Maybe!
But here's the deal.

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 you agree that 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!

Beanworld on the verge of going APE!

2010-10-12T12:30:00.001-07:00

I'm not a guest at APE.
I'm not setting up.
But I'll be dropping in.
I'll be doing signing and drawing type stuff for CBLDF here and there.

Here are the things I know I'm scheduled to do.

Saturday 10/16 at 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm
CAM Alternative Press Expo Party: Storytime! and Graphic Details
Cartoon Art
655 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA,
94105

It's a great show and it's not going to be up a whole lot longer and it's well worth the Look-See!

Also....

I have a workshop on Sunday 10/17 at 12 pm (aka noon aka midday)
It's called: Marketing a Comic That's Easier to Read Than to Describe.
I'll be talking about how I first marketed Beanworld and have continued to for a quarter of a century.
And I still haven't a clue as to how to describe it.
And I'll be talking about how I've managed to market around this dilemma!

Also on Sunday 10/17 4:45-5:30

CBLDF: The Fight For Intellectual Freedom
More than 50 years after Frederic Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, comics and other media still come under the attack of censors. Charles Brownstein, executive director of the CBLDF, is joined by cartoonist Keith Knight and other panelists for a discussion of current trends in comics censorship and how we all can get involved in protecting intellectual freedom.

I'm one of the others!

LIBERTY ANNUAL 2010 is in my hands!

2010-10-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

In one of those great slices of life that make my life so much fun--I just happened to be in the CBLDF offices in New York this afternoon when the first cartons of Liberty Annual 2010 arrived.

Am I happy?

Yeah, I'm very happy.

If you are in for New York Comic Con be sure to stop by at the CBLDF/Image Comics/Beat Bash Thursday night.
I'll be there!

Larry Marder's NYCC Schedule!

2010-10-03T14:15:00.000-07:00

Thursday Night!
CBLDF’s NYCC Welcome Party,
Presented by Image Comics & The Beat!

Friday-Sunday!

New York Comic Con

Saturday Night!

St. Marks Comics
Dark Horse
Event!

Sunday Morning!
Dark Horse Signing

It's not Tuesday but here's a Teaser!

2010-09-22T10:01:00.001-07:00

This frame is connected to one I teased you with a while back.

I'm deep into a significant sequence that sets into motion events having lasting ramifications the Boom'r Band, Professor Garbanzo, the rapidly growing up Pod'l'pool Cuties, and even

Beanish and Dreamishness are (indirectly) in on it.

An earlier rough of this sequence has been hinted at before. Same actions (more of less) but replaced elsewhere into the ongoing continuity. It's directly related to the MDHP #14 online comics "? & !"

I work in such a strange slow fashion. I'm totally unable to sit down and write a story with a beginning middle and end. A Beanworld story is a bit like a Joseph Cornell assemblage. Instead of sculptural bits and pieces, the found objects I work with fall out of my head in no apparent order. I work with these story shards until they feel right.

But when they do feel right, then all sorts of doors open and linkages that previously weren't there appear. It's that kind of week. Thought I'd share a bit of it with you.

Déjà Vu All Over Again.

2010-09-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

Panel from "The First Amendment: It's Why We Fight!"
LIBERTY ANNUAL 2010.

This post is about something I care very much about and I'm very proud to be affiliated with.
It's the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States of America. The press release is here.

You can read the brief in its entirety here.

The First Amendment is an elegant bit of prose written a long, long time ago by folks who couldn't possibly imagined the world that we find ourselves living in today.
(see illo above).

Sure the language comes across as a bit quaint but the message is concise:
The Government can't pass laws dictating what an individual can speak or publish. In the United States of America freedom of speech isn't a privilege--it's a right guaranteed by the constitution.

No one is allowed to tell us what we can say or or think.
Not ever.

Of course, that has never stopped people from trying to do otherwise now and again.
That's why the First Amendment, in its tightly written simplicity, is such a valuable part of the Constitution.

Today, I'm here to tell you about how Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is pitching in and as a friend-of-the-court has filed an amicus curiae brief in a case that is soon going to be heard before the Supreme Court of the United States.

That case is called Schwarzenegger v. EMA.

The law that was passed by the state of California and signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger bans the sale or rental of any video game containing violent content to minors, and requiring manufacturers to label such games.

The Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) believes that this law is unconstitutional and has spearheaded the appeal to have the law reversed.

CBLDF thinks so too.
The Board of the Fund (in all fairness I will remind you that I'm its current President) states that if allowed to stand "California’s law would reverse fundamental First Amendment principles by creating a new category of unprotected speech, diminishing the First Amendment rights of minors, and reducing First Amendment protection for new media."

Think about that.
A state legislature gets to create a whole new category of speech that it's decided isn't eligible for protection under the First Amendment and by doing so claims the right to chip away at the free speech rights of people working in a new media as they come along, y'know, like video games.

"The CBLDF argues that the law under review is the most recent example of government improperly attempting to regulate content by using junk science, and calls upon a history of moral panics against media that includes the 1950s crusades against comics that crippled the industry and harmed the art form. The CBLDF asks the Supreme Court to deny California this attempt to roll back protections guaranteed by the First Amendment, as it and other courts have correctly done in the past."

Well, this hits close to home for those of us that love comic books and are painfully aware of what happened almost six decades ago when we were the targets of a similar moral panic. Junk science was provided "indisputable proof "that comic books were harmful to the moral health of America's impressionable Baby Boomers. It was loudly argued in public and private that comic books were a malignant force undermining the very foundations of civilized society in the post war period.

The Business-of-our-Art-Form, as I like to think of the comic book industry, was severely damaged in the 1950s.
Lives were ruined.
Careers destroyed.

The appendix in a history of the era, The Ten-Cent Plague, lists the names of about 1.000 industry professionals who never worked in the medium again. In the prologue of the book, one Quality Comics studio artist, Janice Valleau, when asked why she never worked in the comic book industry again repled: "My God. I couldn't go back out there--I was scared to death. Don't you know what they did to us?"

Comic book creators and publishers were demonized. Junk science was pushed forward in books and in Senate hearings to "prove" that the negative influence of comic books was a primary motivator and root cause of post-war juvenile delinquency.

I oughta know.
I'm one of those kids they were talking about.
I started going to school in 1956 in the direct aftermath of the horrors that destroyed the comic book industry of the 1950s.

It's a story I tell often enough but in 3rd grade, circa, 1959-60, I drew a picture of Batman in crayons at school. This so alarmed my teacher that my parents were called and told that I was well on the road to ruination because I was obsessed with comic books. My mother was horrified , of course, and it wasn't until I was an upperclassman in high school that comics were once again allowed in our home.

Dime novels, early cinema, Jazz, radio, pulp magazines, comic books, Rock & Roll, and now video games all have been accused in one or another of undermining the status quo in a harmful way. When comics were attacked in the 1950s, our industry didn't seem to have any friends.
The targets of moral panics rarely do.

That's why I believe it is so important for everyone who loves the inter-meshing worlds of comics, games, TV, and film to understand just how important it is to defend our First Amendment liberties when they are being attacked or violated.

Don't just take my word for it, listen to someone who lived through it before: Stan Lee who posted on this subject.

"Comic books, it was said, contributed to 'juvenile delinquency.' A Senate subcommittee investigated and decided the U.S. could not 'afford the calculated risk involved in feeding its children, through comic books, a concentrated diet of crime, horror and violence.'

The more things change, as they say, the more they stay the same. Substitute video games for comic books and you've got a 21st century replay of the craziness of the 1950s. States have passed laws restricting the sale of video games and later this year, the Supreme Court will hear a case about one of those laws, this one passed in California. Why does this matter? Because if you restrict sales of video games, you're chipping away at our First Amendment rights to free speech and opening the door to restrictions on books and movies."

That's why so many other organizations are filing amicus briefs in support of EMA. In the past, the CBLDF would often be a co-signer on other amicus briefs. This time, we as a Board, after careful consideration, we concluded that this one hits too close to home. Our collective past experience brings too much to the table.

We've been there.
We've done that.
We want the Supreme Court hear about our history and consider our experiences.
It's our duty as people who are protected by the First Amendment to make sure that everyone else is too.

Because like I said before: the First Amendment isn't a privildege-it's a right.
It can't be taken away.

Or as Jeremy Bentham (the real guy-not the one on LOST) said:
As to the evil which results from a censorship, it is impossible to measure it, for it is impossible to tell where it ends.

---

Protecting the First Amendment isn't cheap.

CBLDF is a grassroots organization that exists because of the generous support of the comics community.
The donations of individuals and small businesses add up to make CBLDF the first responder to First Amendment emergencies when they arise.

Please support the CBLDF’s work by making a monetary contribution and by following us and spreading the word on Twitter and Facebook.

Crazy Trade-Ins from Floating World!

2010-09-01T15:28:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday, I made an appearance at Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco
The Storytime! show is really quite extraordinary and very informative.
We wanted to focus on the process of creating comics and the show really demonstrates how all of the artists in the show work out their stories.
Everyone does it differently.
(Hope Larson's thumbnails are something to see!)
My stuff looked a lot better up on the walls then it did when I was sorting through it on my studio floor. Context is everything, huh?

Duh....I forgot my camera and failed to get any pictures.
The exhibit is up until November 14 and if you are going to APE--you really want to pop in and give the show a look-see.

Then last Wednesday, I did a signing at Floating World Comics in Portland OR.
It was an opportunity to see old friends, make new ones, and have a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Many thanks to Jason of Floating World for working with Diana Schutz and making the whole thing happen in a very short period of time.

And there were even some particularly excellent Crazy Trade-Ins.

Riley, age 8, wasn't a bit shy to show me her Beanworld originals. She insisted I take several pages because "It's easy to make more." When I asked her who her favorite Beanworld character is, hands down it was "Pod'l'pool Cuties." More of Riley's fantastic artwork here.

Kids love the Cuties. Doesn't matter what stage the Cuties are in--they are popular as can be.I've written about it before, and will again, but it amazes me how they took over the book and in turn Beanworld fandom. There really needs to be Cutie merchandise of its own--don't you think?

Speaking of merchandise: please post your wish lists of what you most need to have!
We'll speak of this again later

This watercolor illo of Beanish pondering Kant came from the incredibly talented Dylan Meconis.

Totally cracked me up.

I was truly complimented she took the time out of her busy schedule to join the Beanworld Trade-In craziness!

One of the things that also came out of that night was me agreeing to come up again next spring for Stumptown Comic Fest April 16 &17, 2011.

In a day or two, I'll post about something that happened at Floating World that reminded me that a post about the Eclipse Comics hard covers from two decades ago is long over due.

Will there be...???

2010-08-23T13:20:00.000-07:00

Secret Sketches?

Crazy Trade-Ins?

TFAW Cards?

Free Beanworld Action Figures?

Ohhhhhhh yeahhhhhh!

TUESDAY
August 24th

CARTOON ART MUSEUM
7:00-9:00pm

655 Mission Street
San Francisco CA
(between New Montgomery and Third Streets)
(415) CAR-TOON
With Lark Pien!

WEDNESDAY
August 25th

Floating World Comics
6-8pm

20 NW 5th Ave #101
Portland OR

Hoo-Hoo-HAs & a Hoka-Hoka-HEY!

2010-08-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a long, long time since I answered my mail here.
So let's get to it!

Dear Larry,

I took this picture for you today while walking in Boston's historic North End neighborhood. This mosaic greets visitors to the local branch of the public library. It looks like Proffy's dream from Beanworld.

I am eagerly awaiting the next book!

Best,
Brad Friedman

I love knowing that this mosaic exists.
Brad, you're so right to think about Proffy' dream when looking at this.

Whoever made it was thinking along very similar, but ultimately a bit different, lines as the creation of the 23 Realities in Proffy's dream: A Gift Comes!-page 317).

Thanks so much for taking the time to snap the pic and send it along.

Larry,

I wanted to upgrade my TALES OF THE BEANWORLD books from paperback to hardcover until I saw that they were reduced in page size. What was the reasoning on doing this?

Todd Tamanend Clark

Excellent question, Todd...

Quite a few of the photographic film negatives from the old comics were lost. This was not a huge deal because I never sold my original pages and was in possession of every page of the Tales of the Beanworld.

The original negs were often kind of shoddy anyway. Many were shot as favors or at discounted prices and didn't always accurately reflect the drawings on the pages. Fine lines often closed up or got fuzzy or disappeared altogether.

So we went back to the source material and scanned it all digitally. The production department at Dark Horse A really talented digital artist at Dark Horse, Matt Dryer did an astounding job capturing the fidelity and crispness of the original artwork . Thanks to the iron will of Diana Schutz and the DH production department the hardcover books totally look exactly like the scans--and the scans look like the drawings.

We also knew, as long as we were starting from scratch anyway, that a size change was something to seriously contemplate. I admit, I was cautious about reducing the page size but I also knew that a slightly smaller 6" x 9" final product was a format that had wider commercial acceptance and once I saw just how inconsequential the reductions actually were--I never looked back. You can see for yourself in the picture (below) I just snapped of a random page in both formats.

I don't think anything is lost in the transition--but I'll leave it up to other Beanworld fans to give their opinions.

Ever see these, Larry?

http://www.mightybeanz.com/

$1 each, over 100 to collect, nice carrying case too. I thought they'd be nice to scrape the picture off if possible and paint your beans on them.

yuppicide138

No, Yup, I've never seen them before.
Pretty nifty toys.

The site itself....map, the music, the bad puns, the ridiculous attitude is the sort of thing that can keep me awake at night whenever some one asks about turning Beanworld into something-other-than-what- it-already-is.

It's this anxiety that somehow no matter what I am promised (or even guaranteed) that somehow Hollywood will transform Beanworld into something like this.

No can do, folks, no can do.

Hi Larry,

I was going through a box in storage when my eye caught a glimpse of an envelope bearing a familiar green “bean.” Inside, was a letter and a stash of chip drawings purchased from you at San Diego Comic Con in the time leading up to the full blown “commission piece” you did for me. Hope all is well!

Kind regards,
Kevin Noonchester

As I told you at Comic-Con, Kevin, it's hard to believe its been 25 years since the first time you came up to my table in 1985. You were one of the very first Beanworld readers I ever met that was an actual kid! Up until that point, I really didn't know that a middle schooler was capable of following the intricacies of Beanworld.

Now, everyone knows differently, of course.

That's quite a stash over Beanworld "chip drawings" you accumulated one-by-one over the years.

And the letter?
An personalized, original drawing of Beanish before TOTB #4?
Hey, that's a pretty cool thing to own if I do say so myself!

Hi Larry,

This is a long shot, writing to you, since you probably get thousands of fan emails and I'll probably not get a reply, but:
Isn't Beanworld about our circulatory system?

I don't want to bother you with details of why I think so (including the shapes chosen for the 4 realities and the bacterial/viral infection of the poppers etc), I'm just surprised that no one seems to have mentioned this anywhere on the Web.

Thank you for Beanworld and for your time.

Dominic Wan
Singapore

To the best of my sometimes leaky memory, Dominic, no one has quite made this observation before. It's a fascinating new interpretation of Beanworld.

As I always say, whatever resonance a Beanworld reader feels emanating while reading the book is true. If you think it, if you feel it: it's there.

It's a pact, a covenant between you and the Beanworld.
I'm just the guy who delivered the pages.

If you are local to San Francisco or Portland OR next week....I'll be appearing at:

TUESDAY
August 24th
CARTOON ART MUSEUM
7:00-9:00pm

655 Mission Street
San Francisco CA
(between New Montgomery and Third Streets)
(415) CAR-TOON

With Lark Pien!

WEDNESDAY
August 25th

Floating World Comics

6-8pm

20 NW 5th Ave #101
Portland OR

Marder to sign at Floating World Comics August 25th!

2010-08-14T18:04:00.000-07:00

Floating World Comics
20 NW 5th Ave #101
Portland OR

Wednesday, August 25th,
6-8pm

Details here!

Pssssst! Oregonians....

2010-08-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

WHO: Larry Marder
WHAT: Book signing
WHEN: Wednesday, August 25th, 6-8pm
WHERE: Floating World Comics, 20 NW 5th Ave #101, Portland, OR 97209
(503) 241-0227

Save the date and time.
More details as the develop!

My Leguminous Comic-Con Wrap Up 2010!

2010-08-05T12:06:00.000-07:00

This was my first time as a Guest of Honor at Comic-Con and I have to say--everything I ever heard about the GoH experience is true. They take superb care of you every step of the way. Cory and I send along our great thanks to all the members of the Con Committee and the army of volunteers who make Comic-Con work with amazing efficiency on the ground. Particular thanks to my GRT: Tiff Hudson who made sure I showed up at all my obligations in plenty of time.

A few observations regarding the con itself.
Yes, it's gotten so big you can't begin to take it all in.

The sensory overload of crowds and displays and attendees in costumes and giant bags and swag and thundering noise put Comic-Con in a class of events up there with Mardi Gras and Super Bowl. Doesn't bother me a bit. The idea that there are one-way halls and entrances/exits is something that I've become accustomed to now--a few years ago it drove me nuts. Now it's just part of the way things are.

I have to admit, I've never set foot in Hall H in my entire life and I reckons there is a good chance I never will. That part of the convention is off my radar completely except for hearing anecdotes from friends and fans.

I really liked the placement of Artist's Alley all the way at the end in Hall G this year. Clydene placed me in a great spot. The aisles were wider and the noise level wasn't anything that bothered me where I was. Some folks thought the Alley was too far away from the larger artists tables and although that was probably true--I don't think it had a lot of impact on my fans. I think because Hall G is next to the fabled Hall H...it's possible we had foot traffic because it was the closest set of doors downstairs. Don't know but it felt like it.

As far as a metric for measuring foot traffic, I do know this--I broke a personal record in the amount of FREE Beanworld Action Figures I gave away. 3 1/2 pounds. I don't think I ever gave away more than 2 1/2 before. Zombie, Crazy, Battle Damaged, and Dead remain the most sought after of the lot. But Tee-Hee is definitely making a surge.

I received an Ink Pot from the Convention for Achievements in Comic Arts. This means a lot to me. People assume I've won all sorts of awards. But I haven't. I've only been nominated for one (a Kirby) once and that was in 1987. As I said in my dazed acceptance bit of babble "I've spent a lot of my career working for and with folks who have enough awards to crack the foundation of their homes. But this is one of the only times where my work has been recognized."

Scott McCloud immediately turned it into a FLEECE Beanworld Action figure merchandise display and I had the little fella working for on the table the rest of the show.

I'm a New York Times certified geezer!

I got a terrific write-up in by Peter Larson in The Orange County Register: Now our neighbors can see what Cory's husband actually does all day.

Some really nice words about the indescribable Beanworld experience from kli.
"It is the kind of book where you generally recommend it to someone by shoving it into their hands so it can be experienced directly."

I had a good time on all of my panels--as far as I know the only one that has turned up as a public documentation is “Graphic Novels: The Personal Touch” that featured Gabrielle Bell, Howard Cruse, Vanessa Davis, Jillian Tamaki, Carol Tyler and me--moderated by Shaenon Garrity. I'm rather quiet in that one--I was far more interested in what my fellow panelists had to say that hearing myself speak but I did mange to get in some pithy observations here and there particularly about the quality of printing reproduction these days.

The "Indy Writers Unite" panel was an odd collection of mostly writer/artists and it's reported on here.

In a lot of ways, the most remarkable panel I did was "The Funny Stuff: Humor in Comics and Graphic Novels." I more or less dropped out of it in the middle as I had front row seats to one of the most bizarre and surreal panels I've ever had the honor of sitting on in my quarter century of panel participation. As far as I know, it wasn't written up anywhere in depth. All I can say is: it was a classic example of funny-weird not funny-ha ha. However, I did get a chance to make one of my favorite points that I consider Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q to be the greatest satirical gesture of the entire 20th century.

Image comics/Shadowline Fractured Fables hardcover was launched at Comic-Con. My contribution isn't Beanworld but it's very Larry Marder just the same.

I did two Sketch-a-Thon stints at the Cartoon Art Museum table. One was with Scott Shaw! I think I laughed more in that hour than any other hour the entire run of the show. Lot's of cartooning fun

Well, that's as much time as I can steal for a blog post today.
More stuff as I remember it.

And my next post will be about this.

Babbling at Comic-Con!

2010-08-01T16:48:00.000-07:00

An impromptu interview with Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool at Comic-Con.

Isn't quite this and isn't quite that is about as Beanworld as you can get--don't you think?

2010-07-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

I wrote about my 2010 CBLDF/TFAW contribution a few weeks ago and here is the rest of the story. The email sent to solicit the art community's participation will help explain it to you:

Hi Larry,

Last year, Things From Another World and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund teamed up with you and other fantastic comics professionals to help raise more than $30,000 for the CBLDF’s annual auction at San Diego Comic-Con. Now we would like to ask you to participate in our Second Annual SDCC Autograph Card/CBLDF Auction event by generously donating an original piece of art to this effort.

We’re already off to an excellent start this year! We are thrilled to announce the participation of our flagship partner, Image Comics, one of the premier comic book publishers in the nation. The stellar folks at Image Comics are serious about supporting the CBLDF, and they are kicking things off with donations of art from many of their colossally talented creators!

However, we are determined to pack this event with every one of our favorite creators, and we hope that will include you! It's a wonderful way to support the First Amendment rights of the comics community while promoting your signings in San Diego.

As with last year, we are asking artists to create original works of art to donate to the CBLDF auction at San Diego Comic-Con. In exchange, you will receive 500 free limited-edition autograph cards of your sketch to distribute in San Diego, and we will also give out additional copies of your autograph cards at our booth during the Con.

I think this idea of TFAW's is sheer genius.
Under the guidance of Andrew McIntire, Elisabeth Forsythe, and the TFAW crew this project ended up making a substantial contribution to CBLDF though the auctioning of our original art.

Blank card

I hate to admit that I totally forgot about this until Saturday at noon when I was signing copies of Fractured Fables at the Image booth and saw a stack of someone else's cards sitting on the table next to me and realized I had not received my stack of cards.

No worries.
A quick flurry of texts uncovered the mystery--my cards had been mis-delivered to the Dark Horse booth.

Soon I had the cards in hand along with a nifty new CBLDF donation box with the "Look! I'm customized!" card tucked into it.

Folks started dropping their contributions into the slot and I started whipping out cards--each modified and personalized according the the contributors wishes. Often I'd ask for an emotion and was glad to serve up whatever came into my mind.

During slow times, I'd prepare a few in advance so Cory could keep the ball rolling when I was away from the table doing panels and the like. they are showcased in a new gallery you can find here.

Lots of fun.
Simple to do.

Each card is something that isn't quite an original drawing and isn't quite a print.
Isn't quite this and isn't quite that is about as Beanworld as you can get--don't you think?

Customized card tweeted by Chris Blanchard
" My Comic Con gift from @larrymarder via my brother."

Kids draw the darndest Beans!

2010-07-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

One of my greatest joys since the Beanworld reboot has been just how popular the book has become with the kids of the 21st century.

I get reports from parents and teachers all the time--a boy or a girl sits down with a Beanworld book and something starts zapping back and forth from the printed page directly into the child's mind back to the page and so on.

Is it the deceptive simplicity of the iconic art?
Can it be the intertwined concepts that make up the rules and laws of the Beanworld?
Maybe it's the maps and glossary.
Maybe it's just that this generation is totally poised to grok what I mean when I say: Beanworld isn't a place; it's a process.

This is all rather remarkable to me because I've never actually had a target audience in mind as I've written and drawn Beanworld tales over the decades. As I say all the time: Beanworld more or less writes itself and I often feel like a glorified scribe getting it all down on paper as fast as I can once it starts to emerge and flow.

Who the Beanworld audience/readership is really has little to do with whatever I (or my publisher) wants it to be.

It's a contract between Beanworld and its readers of all ages.

Beanworld has been around long enough now that folks that read it when they were kids can now share it with their own children and Beanworld appreciation becomes a shared family activity. This is something I could never have imagined when the first Beanworld stories came together in a comic book stories I genuinely believed no one would ever read.

But those stories are in fact the first few chapters of Wahoolazuma! and are the entry point for kids into the Beanworld.

Interaction with Beanworld fans (of all ages) is why I go to comic book conventions.I love the questions and observations.I like to talk about my influences.I like to talk about whatever a Beanworld fan wants to talk about.

That's why I'm there.But the most fun is interaction with young readers who "get it" and immerse themselves in the whys and wherefores of the Beanworld.

One of the true highlights of my 2010 Comic-Con was when this kid kept coming back and very politely requesting the loan of some blank beans and the use of a Sharpie and proceeding to make his own personalized Beanworld Action Figures. He's show them to me and saunter off. He came back several times--both alone and with his older brother.

Some one carried this drawing all the way from Tallahassee FL on behalf of Fiona Grace Jacoby-age six. Her Dad, Brian Jacoby is the proprietor of Secret Headquarters: Comics and Games for Everyone! and a very good friend of the Beanworld's. Fiona Grace's drawing skills have come a long way since her first contribution to the Leguminous Fan Art gallery in 2009.

Another repeat young Beanworld fan artist: Treasure Olson!
This year, Treasure was able to write her own letter and showcased her own Bean characters for me--plus she used a Beanworld Action Figure in a bit of multi-media collage. Really cool for age 6 if you ask me.

I had a lengthy chat with her Dad who delivered her drawings and he filled me in on all the Bean adventures Treasure is creating on her own. Her favorite character of her own is "Cookish" so that the one I drew for her in trade.

I think I was given this trade-in drawing at the LA Book fair and it hid out from me until today. The name Greg is on the back. I haven't found any other information. Thanks, Greg!

This goth Bean was a trade in from Teresa Gonsoski.

I love these trade-in drawings at conventions.
Next opportunity will be at New York Comic-Con in October.

Comic-Con is concluded!

2010-07-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

Larry Marder and Inkpot award

Once upon a time, long long ago...starting in 1985, each summer I'd go to this oddball little conclave in San Diego called Comic-Con.

I spent all my time there in this place called Artist's Alley giving away FREE Beanworld Action Figures, and making drawings and selling my Beanworld comic books.

Larry Marder at Comic-Con in the 1980s. Photo by Cynthia Fluharty

I just got home from Comic-Con 2010.

It's no longer odd.
It's about as mainstream as Cannes or the Super Bowl gets covered in detail by all the major news and entertainment media.

It's no longer small.
It can't even be kept inside the confines of the cavernous convention center.
It spills out into the street and up the walls of the surrounding buildings.

That all said...I'm pleased to report I still spent almost all of my time sitting in this in place called Artist's Alley giving away FREE Beanworld Action Figures, and making drawings and selling my Beanworld comic books.
Although, I do have a few more things on display nowadays.

I had a great time.
Actually I had the time of my life.

I'm going to post in a sprawl over the next several days
but I want to immediately thank the Comic-Con International Board and committees that chose me to be a Guest of Honor and so professionally deployed all the operational details that made my experience so pleasant and smooth.

A particular shout-out to Tiff Hudson who was my GRT (Guest Relations Team) volunteer and made sure I was well taken care of and in time to all my obligations.

More to come!

Things you can do today at Comic-Con!

2010-07-22T06:57:00.000-07:00

Beanworld Leguminatus Prime, Queen Paula
scored the first FLEECE Beanworld Action Figure!

1:30-2:30
Room 4
Beanworld and the Leguminous Life of Larry Marder!

Don't take my word for it: take Newsarama's advice for
"SDCC 2010: Potentially Overlooked Panels."

Plus, you'll want to see if Scott McCloud will be able to get a word on edgewise?

Tonight:
CBLDF Comic-Con Welcome Party!
8:00pm - 11:30pm
Westgate Hotel
1055 2nd Avenue
San Diego, CA

CBLDF Comic-Con Welcome Party, sponsored by Image Comics, in association with SeenAllOver.com, Soulcraft Comics and IHEARTCOMIX! Festivities include a WALKING DEAD Live Art Stage, featuring the book's co-creator Charlie Adlard and presented by Dr. Sketchy's!

PSYCHENAUT, multimedia sound and vision by Paul Pope!
DJ set by Franki Chan of IHEARTCOMIX!Plus, a photo booth provided by seenallover.com!
All this, and an auction preview gallery, featuring ETNIES/SEEN custom designed sneakers, the TFAW.com art auction, and a gift bag for the first 300 contributors!

Come dressed in your zombie finest and party down!
Free for CBLDF Members
$10 to $20 suggested donation for non-members!

Comic-Con 2010 Beanworld/Larry Marder things to not forget:

2010-07-20T21:17:00.000-07:00

Larry Marder is in Artist's Alley: DD-17

Larry Marder's schedule.

Crazy Trade Ins!

I might be CRAZY but sketches
like this and this and this
will get YOU one one of these!

Here is the deal!
Come by my table in Artist's Alley (DD17) 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 you agree
that I can post your sketch in theLeguminous Fan Art Gallery.
And it would be nice if I could get a snapshot of you and your art

More Larry Marder stuff!

2010-07-17T14:17:00.000-07:00

Ooops!
When I posted my Comic-con schedule I forgot to say where I'll be for most of the run of the show. I fixed it on the schedule but here it anyway

LARRY MARDER in ARTIST'S ALLEY: DD-17

Also in Beanworld News is this:The above T-Shirt will be on sale at Comic-Con both at Graphitti Designs big booth #2315 and at my little slice of a table in Artist's Alley. (Hey, have I mentitoned that's DD-17?)

It's also going to be solicited and sold through all the Graphitti Designs distribution channels for the month of October.

It's a no-brainer that if this shirt goes well, the follow up has to be one that says "HOO-HOO-HA!" right?

Larry Marder ~ Comic-Con Schedule ~ 2010

2010-07-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

LARRY MARDER in ARTIST'S ALLEY: DD-17

Thursday, July 22

Beanworld and the Leguminous Life of Larry Marder
1:30-2:30
Room 4
Panel

What is Beanworld?
Where does it come from?
How did it all begin?

Comic-Con special guest Larry Marder and moderator Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics) celebrate the 25th anniversary of Marder's most peculiar comic book experience with a visual presentation and a lively dialogue about his many influences. This is your opportunity to discover why Beanworld has captivated readers from grade school to grad school over several generations. Be the first to get a glimpse into Marder's next Dark Horse Books original Beanworld graphic novel, Something More!

CARTOON ART MUSEUM Sketch-A-Thon
5:00-6:00
Booth #1930
Larry Marder and Scott Shaw!

CBLDF Comic-Con Welcome Party!
8:00pm - 11:30pm
Westgate Hotel
1055 2nd Avenue
San Diego, CA
Party

CBLDF Comic-Con Welcome Party, sponsored by Image Comics, in association with SeenAllOver.com, Soulcraft Comics and IHEARTCOMIX! Festivities include a WALKING DEAD Live Art Stage, featuring the book's co-creator Charlie Adlard and presented by Dr. Sketchy's!

PSYCHENAUT, multimedia sound and vision by Paul Pope!
DJ set by Franki Chan of IHEARTCOMIX!
Plus, a photo booth provided by seenallover.com!
All this, and an auction preview gallery, featuring ETNIES/SEEN custom designed sneakers, the TFAW.com art auction, and a gift bag for the first 300 contributors!

Come dressed in your zombie finest and party down!
Free for CBLDF Members
$10 to $20 suggested donation for non-members!

FRIDAY, JULY 23

Graphic Novels: The Personal Touch
2:00-3:00
Room 4
Panel

You know when you read it: that certain something that sticks out in a graphic novel. It's the personal touch, a work that draws on the life of the creator or the people around him or her. Call the work autobiographical, call it reality -- many times it results in truly personal and inspiring comics. Comics creator and journalist Shaenon Garrity (Narbonic, Skin Horse) talks to Comic-Con special guests Gabrielle Bell (Cecil & Jordan in New York), Howard Cruse (Stuck Rubber Baby), Vanessa Davis (Make Me a Woman), Larry Marder (Beanworld), Jillian Tamaki (Skim), and C. Tyler (You'll Never Know Book 1: A Good and Decent Man) about their very personal work.

Indy Comics Writers Unite!
4:30-5:30
Room 3
Panel

Another in our series of "Year of the Writer" events, this panel focuses on independent comics writers (and some writer/artists!). Moderator Mark Waid (Amazing Spider-Man, Irredeemable) talks to Van Jensen (Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer), Larry Marder (Beanworld), Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), and Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise, Echo) about the fine art of writing comics without capes (on the protagonists, not the writers themselves).

Saturday, July 24

Fractured Fables
12:30-1:30
Image Comics Booth #2729
Signing

FRACTURED FABLES, a star-studded all-ages anthology from Shadowline and Image Comics, will have its coming out party at Comic-Con and creators are lining up for exclusive signings at the Image Comics booth to celebrate! Phil Hester, Larry Marder, Nick Spencer, Shannon Wheeler, Bill Morrison, Jill Thompson, Josh Williamson, and Royden Lepp

CARTOON ART MUSEUM Sketch-A-Thon
5:00-6:00 pm
Booth 1930
Larry Marder and Andrew Farago

Sunday, July 25

The Funny Stuff: Humor in Comics and Graphic Novels
12:30-1:30
Room 8
Panel

The world of comics isn't just about dark and mysterious superheroes. There are a lot of great funny books out there. The Cartoon Art Museum's Andrew Farago talks to Comic-Con special guests Peter Bagge (Hate), Howard Cruse (Wendel), Nicholas Gurewitch (The Perry Bible Fellowship), Keith Knight (The K Chronicles), Larry Marder (Beanworld), and Doug TenNapel (Monster Zoo) about the humorous side of comics.

Dark Horse
2:00 - 3:00
Booth 2615
Signing

Larry Marder. FREE filled-in TFAW cards

Hoka-Hoka-Liberty Comics!

2010-07-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GIVE ME FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Image Comics to release LIBERTY COMICS 2010 in October, benefiting the CBLDF

Berkeley, CA - 15 July 2010

What do Frank Miller, Jeff Smith, Geoff Johns, Jim Lee and Image Comics have in common?

They all support the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, which protects your right to make, sell and read the comics you love. Image Comics is showing its continued support for the CBLDF with the publication of LIBERTY COMICS 2010 this October.

The CBLDF is a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the First Amendment rights of the comics art form and its community of retailers, creators, publishers, librarians and readers. The CBLDF provides legal referrals, representation, advice, assistance and education in furtherance of these goals.

LIBERTY COMICS is the annual ensemble of comic book greats, all of whom have donated their time and energy to support the CBLDF. With two issues published to date, LIBERTY COMICS has raised over $50,000 for the Fund.

LIBERTY COMICS 2010 will feature some of the best in the industry, including a new The Boys story by GARTH ENNIS & ROB STEEN, the first new Megaton Man adventure by DON SIMPSON in over a decade, an all-new Milk & Cheese story by EVAN DORKIN, a preview of The Contrarian by SCOTT MORSE, a new Conan tale by DARICK ROBERTSON, Boilerplate by ANINA BENNETT & PAUL GUINAN and "Why We Fight!" by LIBERTY COMICS editor LARRY MARDER.

LIBERTY COMICS will also feature all-new short stories and illustrations by GEOFF JOHNS & SCOTT KOLINS, FRANK MILLER, GABRIEL BÁ & FÁBIO MOON, PAUL POPE, JEFF SMITH, TERRY MOORE, DAVE GIBBONS, BRIAN AZZARELLO & JILL THOMPSON, ROB LIEFELD, COLLEEN DORAN and SKOTTIE YOUNG as well as all new covers by JIM LEE and DARICK ROBERTSON. Design for the entire package is contributed, as always, by Richard Starkings and John Roshell from Comicraft.

"The comics community would be at a great loss without the CBLDF around to protect our First Amendment rights," says Marder. "LIBERTY COMICS is such a great way both creators and comics fans can show their support. Creators break into their busy schedules, donating their time and creativity. Fans can express their appreciation by purchasing LIBERTY COMICS from the CBLDF or from their favorite comics shop. I think this year's LIBERTY COMICS will be the most diverse and cool issue yet!"

Adds Image Comics Publisher Eric Stephenson, "We've always been enthusiastic in our support for the CBLDF, but it's both an honor and a pleasure to be involved with the many fine creators donating their talents to LIBERTY COMICS. Larry's put together an outstanding book this year!"

LIBERTY COMICS 2010, a 48-page full-color comic book from Image Comics, will be available October 6, 2010. All proceeds from LIBERTY COMICS will benefit the First Amendment legal work of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund! Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of four major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit http://www.imagecomics.com/.

###

-------

So, yep, I'm the Editor this year.

CBR has a story from an interview with me and the exclusive look-see at the Darick Robertson's awesome Conan cover.

Sharp-eyed Beanworld fans will find a bit of information that just might pique their interest vis a vis the next graphic novel.

Anyway...between this project and Storytime! I've been a mighty busy bean the last couple of months. But it's so much fun to work with all my fellow creators in such positive endeavors.

And now , after popping my head up to give you this news...it's back to Something More for me.

CBLDF/TFAW Auction!

2010-07-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

BIG BEANWORLD ORPHAN!
8" x 10" drawing in an 11" x 14" hand decorated mat.

CBLDF Benefit Auction
Saturday, July 24
7:30-9:30
Room 3

This is it, the CBLDF's biggest auction of the year! Support free speech and walk away with incredible original art! Highlights include original art by Arthur Adams, Paul Pope, Tara McPherson, Ben Templesmith, Jim Rugg, David Hine, Shaky Kane, and many more. This auction includes highlights from auction initiatives by TFAW.com, Image Comics, and SeenAllOver.com, as well as original art created at the CBLDF Master Sessions. Stop by CBLDF booth (#1920) for a complete auction list. All proceeds from this auction will benefit the First Amendment legal work of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Olive the cat investigating!

The reason why this original over-sized drawing was created can be found here. I don't generally work anywhere near this big--in fact the last drawing I made this size was for Scott McCloud's 50th birthday. It's a rare opportunity for Beanworld Fans to adopt a BIG Beanworld Orphan and help a good cause in its fight to protect the First Amendment rights of the entire comic book community.

If you click through to the sketches you'll see that Beanish has no eyes. That's because I'll be drawing in the expression of your choice when I'm signing the cards in exchange for a "let-your-conscience-be-your-guide donation" into a handy-dandy CBLDF Contribution Can.

On Sunday from 2:00 - 3:00, I'll be enhancing and signing TFAW cards for FREE at the Dark Horse booth.

I'll have my entire Comic-Con schedule up in a day or two.

Tuesday Tantalizing Teaser!

2010-07-06T11:31:00.000-07:00

Maryann Charmoz of ByTheLakeArt just wrote
and said the Beans are bagged and on their way!

So if UPS is willing and the crick don't rise,
a bunch of these these squeezably soft li'l cuties
will be ready for you to adopt them at SD10.

After Comic-Con
Maryann and I will offer
Fleece Beanworld Action Figures
of all sizes and colors for sale from her site.

If you can't one this go 'round...
there are going to be plenty more chances in the future.

Keep watching here for more details.
(And, oh yes, they are going to be very reasonably priced!)

Storytime! Graphic Novels for Kids of All Ages

2010-06-29T14:48:00.000-07:00

Storytime! Graphic Novels for Kids of All Ages

June 26 – November 14, 2010

Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
(415) CAR-TOON
(415) 227-8666

Tuesday to Sunday, 11am – 5pm
Closed Monday and on the following holidays:New Year’s Day, Easter,
Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

Admissions
$7 – Adults
$5 – Students & Seniors
$3 – Children (ages 6 – 12)
FREE – Children (age 5 & under)

Over the past decade, graphic novels have exploded in popularity with children and teenagers. The Cartoon Art Museum’s latest exhibition, Storytime! Graphic Novels for Kids of All Ages, features the work of ten influential cartoonists whose work broke new ground in bookstores and libraries.

Their graphic novels are promoted as product for the children and young adult marketplace but these innovative graphic novels are captivating to readers of all ages.

Co-curators Andrew Farago and Larry Marder have placed a special emphasis on the creative processes used by the individual artists. Visitors are invited to peek over the shoulders of the creators and follow along from the first sketchbook doodles all the way to the printed page.

Highlights of Storytime! include:

*A behind-the-scenes look at the creative process of acclaimed children’s book creator Mo Willems as he shares production art from his book Elephants Cannot Dance!
Classic tales from Little Lulu, drawn by Irving Tripp and written by Virginia Hubbell, including never-before-seen thumbnail sketches and typewritten scripts.
Larry Marder’s Beanworld, a compelling fantasy with profound insights into themes of ecology, culture, and art; a most peculiar comic book experience.
Stan Sakai’s Eisner-winning samurai epic Usagi Yojimbo.
Smile (A Dental Drama), the new autobiographical graphic novel set in San Francisco, by Raina Telgemeier, artist of the Baby-sitters Club graphic novels.
Harvey Award-winning cartoonist Lark Pien’s children’s books Mr. Elephanter and Long Tail Kitty.
A sneak peek at Dave Roman’s upcoming comedic sci-fi graphic novel Astronaut Academy.
Eisner-winning creator Hope Larson’s newest graphic novel, Mercury, an engaging combination of history, romance and magical realism.
Jeff Smith’s epic cartoon/fantasy BONE, which redefined the world of graphic novels. Smith’s contribution to Storytime! appears in the latest BONE graphic novel, Tall Tales, published by Scholastic.

Programming featuring Storytime! artists will take place throughout the duration of the exhibition. Details regarding these events will be announced as schedules are confirmed.

---------

Next time, I'll fill you in on the Secret Origin of Storytime! and how it all came to be.

TuesdayTantalizing Teaser!

2010-06-22T10:30:00.001-07:00

Getting there.

Hand made in the Berkshire Hills
ByTheLakeArt

Beanworld: Hither and Thither!

2010-06-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy lately I've been neglecting my usual outlets to communicate with the world that exists outside of the four walls of the inner sanctum of my studio. Had some 'puter troubles too. Those are never fun.

My mail box has had stuff piling up for a while now and it's time to break the log jam and share some things with you over the coming days and weeks. Let's start with this:

This is graphic is from an essay on energycollective's blog titled "The Big Big Picture" written by Michael Tobis.

As he wrote:

"This is my crude attempt at the Big Big Picture (thanks to Larry Marder for the name) of our actual circumstances, focusing on climate. (There are other slices through it that are equally daunting, and they have similar shapes.)

The point is to think of the world as a feedback control system, with nature as the plant, humans as the feedback loop, and economic behavior as the actuator."

I'm a cartoonist not a scientist.
Everything I do seems to be grounded more in sense of touch rather than logical thought but my work often seems to strike a resonant chord amongst members of the scientific community.
(This would stun and amaze my high school science teachers I assure you!)

Anyway...the piece has some truly interesting ideas and is well worth a read!

Brian McDonald at Hellsquid International posted an insightful piece about various aspects of the history of Beanworld that are often overlooked:

"It sounds a bit silly on the surface, but again, if you look at the details, how every little piece fits together, and nothing is wasted, you see the hidden depths that Marder has put into this work. Not only into the ecosystem, though. Marder has put pieces of his own life into the book. "

And one last thing.
This will get its own secret origin blog post but the word is out on this.

The First Time I Drew Professor Garbanzo and the 23 Realities!

2010-06-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

I recently came across this curiosity in the Beanworld Archives.
As far as I can reckon, it's the cover that I sent to Eclipse Comics for the solicitation of Tales of the Beanworld #21.

It's a relatively finished piece with all the PMTs in place as if I had intended for this to be the actual art I would color later by hand cutting adhesive screen tone with an X-acto knife on clear acetate overlays. One acetate layer for each color of the four colors of the printing process (black, cyan, magenta, yellow) to be turned into film negatives and then made into plates ready for printing. Having started my career in a film stripping room at a printer, I knew I wasn't particularly skilled at angling screens to prevent moire patterns. But I was knowledgeable enough to compensate for that by always using only one screen pattern over a solid color. Doing so greatly limited my palate but it worked most of the time--excluding the awful pink cover of TOTB #9 which makes me cringe to this day!

Comparing the cover above to the one below, I can see why I redrew it. I simplified the composition by eliminating the other "shards," remembered the "dream pattern" shading I used in earlier issues and changed Proffy's expression to one of more puzzlement.

I get a kick out of discovering these lost pieces.
Hope you do too.

Hey kids! It's Tuesday Tantalizing Teaser time!

2010-06-01T13:39:00.000-07:00

A panel from "Something More."
Here's a hint.

How did the Beanworld end up the United States of Tara?

2010-05-29T14:07:00.000-07:00

Well over a year ago, after the Dark Horse Holiday Special shipped I got the following email:

I can honestly say that I have been a fan of Beanworld for pretty much my entire adult life. I remember reading issue #1 and not understanding it at all. I also remember heaving a sigh of relief when I put it down and grabbed a New Teen Titans book where they go searching for the long lost Doom Patrol.

But hey I was around 11 or 12 not an age known for discerning tastes. It was several months later and having arrived on the shores of puberty I discovered Issue #4. I read the hell out of that comic! If there is a better book to hand to somebody who is leaving childhood behind and dealing with their place in suburban 80's culture, I never found it.

When I got to High school I met the boy who would become my best friend, Andy Speer who was a hell of a cartoonist for a 13 year old. I showed him my Beanworlds and he loved them! He read them over and over. I had stopped buying comics in high school, but as a freshman in college I went looking for Beanworld. Andy had taken mine with him to school and I wanted my own set.

I went to a comic shop (Million Year Picnic in Cambridge MA) and the sales-guy found the issues for me and also got me to buy some Grant Morrison Animal man comics and Frank Miller's Dark Knight. Then I was hooked on comics again.

In my Junior Year my live in girlfriend and I broke up, a month later I realized she had taken my entire Beanworld collection. Who says girls don't like comics. Fortunately Boston was a place in the pre-internet world where you could pretty easily rebuild a Beanworld collection.

I remember how psyched Andy was when his drawing of "Cheech Bean" was printed in the letters column of an issue(#17 I think). It was one of his favorites and he showed it to everybody. Tragically he lost his battle with Cancer a short time later. The world was robbed of a great natural artist and one of the best people I ever knew.

Anyway I graduated college, and with no idea what I wanted to do decided to go to Art school. I went to the Museum School in Boston where another girl managed to get my Beanworlds (She didn't steal them, I gave them to remember me by. Wow that seems weird looking back at it.) so I had to rebuild my Beanworld collection again. By this point I was getting a pretty big collection of comics, since apart from the Beanworlds the rest just don't just disappear.

A few years later I moved to Los Angeles and met my wife to be. Her first Christmass gift to me was a collection of the Beanworld Ashcan books she sent away for.

A few years ago we went to Comic-Con, I asked at the Image Comics booth since I was hoping to get a Beanworld original art page, but I think you had moved on to McFarlane Toys by then and apart from (If I remember correctly) Jim Valentino telling me you never sell your art.

Since then every few months I have looked online but I couldn't even find an E-mail for you. So I was very excited to find your blog a few months back.

Now in the present, I'm a grownup and my comics live in the garage, except for a spinner rack we keep in the house. Last month I got to put a new issue of Beanworld in the rack for the first time and it looks great there! I hope there are more to come."

The email was from Ben Lewis.
In general, I don't take private commissions but Ben requested a topic I just couldn't not take a whack at.

Then a few months after that I got another email from him.
He explained that he's the Propmaster on the Showtime series United States of Tara. He said USOT "is shooting at a comic shop next week. If you have any posters or comics you want to send my way I can probably dress them into the show. We're going to be shooting at a store called Amazing Comics in Long Beach, a week from Tuesday. We'll be shooting at various places around the shop so I'll be able to put whatever you have for me in some shots somewhere."

I wrote back and said "What a great offer! I really don't have any genuine posters but I do have the hardcover books and of course the ability to whip up faux posters quickly."

And that is indeed what I did. I knocked out a handful of 18" x 23" posters and had them printed up at FedEx/Kinko's sent 'em off to Ben at the USOT office. You can check them out here.

A few weeks later, I wrote Ben and asked him how it all went. He wrote:

"Oh we shot it. We ended up putting a poster on door and it was pretty prominent. In fact one of the executive producers asked me 'Who the hell is Larry Marder and why is his name in the middle of frame?' He likes comics so we gave him the hardcovers at the end of the night."

I greatly enjoyed that.
That was last fall. I didn't exactly forget that about USOT but it wasn't exactly on the front burner of my mind either.

That is until a few weeks ago when the episode "Dept of F’d Up Family Services" aired and went into Showtime rotation. I immediately started hearing from all sorts of folks from all over the world about it. People kept asking in "How did something like that happen?"

Well...that's how it happened.

Like everything that has to do with Beanworld it was a process.
It started when a kid stumbled upon Beanworld and embarked upon a lifetime of personal interaction with Beanworld--sharing it with his friends and loved ones.

It really doesn't get any better than this for me.
Thanks, Ben

TCAF & those Crazy Trade-Ins!

2010-05-15T13:11:00.000-07:00

For a couple of years I've been hearing more and more good things about the Toronto Comics Art Festival aka TCAF.

Everything I'd heard was true and more.

What a great weekend it was.
I got to meet a whole passel of creative people for the first time including: Eric Orchard, Jason Turner, Abby Denson, Jim Zubkavich and many others.

Got to say hello to old friends like Dan Clowes, Jim Woodring, Evan Dorkin, Dave Roman, Raina Telgemeier, Spike, and Charles Vess.

But I really didn't have a chance to have an in-depth conversation with any one of them due to the fast pace of the show. Fortunately the Great Northern Nexus Mark Asquith and I did have a chance for a lengthy chat towards the end of the show.

And had a chance to meet and chat with Bob Heer of Gunk'l'dunk who also brought me the raw beans needed for FREE Beanworld Action Figures. Thanks so much, Bob.

I greatly enjoyed giving my "The Leguminous History of Larry Marder & The Beanworld" talk.
It's changed over the years and it's now includes a lot more discussion about my influences. I'll be giving some version of it at Comic-Con this July. The Q & A was particularly lively and vivid, talking about Art and Science and everything in between. I believe a good time was had by all.

I sat at my table the entire run of show drawing and talking and drawing some more.
A lot of good sketches and drawings went to good homes!

As always there were Crazy Trade-Ins.
Pics of them start here.
A few pics of the artists and such starting here.

Thanks to all connected to both the TCAF & Beguiling crews particularly Christopher Butcher, Peter Birkemoe, and Gina Gagliano. Gina got me hooked up early with their techie guy, Parrish, making sure the PowerPoint presentation was pre-loaded and ready to go.

TCAF is such a well run show. Very dedicated & attentive staffers & volunteers. Highest possible recommendation!

And last, but hardly least, a hearty Hoo-Hoo-HA & A Hoka-Hoka-HEY to Natalia Lopez who was drafted by the amazingly efficient Gina into watching my table when I was upstairs giving my panel.

I'm pretty sure Natalia didn't quite know what she was getting herself into...but she got to witness first hand what it is happens when kids & grown-ups are snagged by the FREE Beanworld Action Figures display and the light bulb of recognition goes off over their heads.
Thanks, Natalia. You were a life-saver!

Larry Marder at TCAF this Saturday & Sunday!

2010-05-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

WHO: Larry Marder & many, many more
WHAT: Toronto Comic Artys Festival
WHEN: Saturday May 8th, 9am-5pm & Sunday May 9th, 11am-5pm
WHERE: Toronto Reference Library, 789 Yonge St., Toronto, Canada, 416-533-9168
WHY: Because admission to TCAF is Free

I'll be perched at table 115.

The Leguminous History of Larry Marder & The Beanworld
Saturday, May 8th, 2:15 – 3:15pm - Novella Room

Learn how beans have been part of Larry Marder’s life since the day he was born! The rich visual presentation covers the entire history of his peculiar fantasy dimension including discussion about Marder’s many influences. This is your opportunity to discover why Beanworld has captivated readers from grade school to grad school since its first publication as a series of comic books in the 1980s. Now Beanworld is at Dark Horse Comics entertaining an entire new generation of fans. Be the first to get a glimpse into Marder’s next original Beanworld graphic novel Something More!

Don't forget this if you want to trade drawings
And whatever you do...don't forget this either!

Also....according to the Nantional Post it seems that a few folks wouln't mind having dinner with me like: Jason Turner and Tara Tallan.

TCAF: Help!

2010-05-03T17:16:00.000-07:00

As I was driving to Comics Unlimited for Free Comic Book Day last Saturday I realized I was in a jam and in need of some help from any of the Leguminati attending TCAF this Saturday.

I don't think it would be a very good idea to transport FREE Beanworld Action Figures over the border. Even if it is okay to bring uncooked vegetable matter into Canada...I wouldn't relish trying to explain to a customs agent what exactly a FREE Beanworld Action Figure is!

So here is my clarion call for assistance: will someone be able to go to the market and get me a bag of large lima beans like the one seen above?

Please let me know.

Tomorrow, I'll post more about the show but the schedule just went up and on Saturday I'll be dpoing a solo panel:

The Leguminous History of Larry Marder & The Beanworld
Saturday, May 8th, 2:15 – 3:15pm,
Novella Room

Learn how beans have been part of Larry Marder’s life since the day he was born! The rich visual presentation covers the entire history of his peculiar fantasy dimension including discussion about Marder’s many influences. This is your opportunity to discover why Beanworld has captivated readers from grade school to grad school since its first publication as a series of comic books in the 1980s. Now Beanworld is at Dark Horse Comics entertaining an entire new generation of fans. Be the first to get a glimpse into Marder’s next original Beanworld graphic novel Something More!

Art is EVERYTHING!

2010-04-22T13:38:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, after parting ways with the cushy security of being the President of McFarlane Toys and returning to the uphill climb of guiding Beanworld back into the marketplace, I had an interesting conversation with Neil Gaiman.

Neil made an offhand observation that really stuck me as being totally accurate. It went something like this: if you randomly choose 100 comic book fans and ask them to read a copy of Beanworld; about 90 of them will be left scratching their heads. Of the remaining ten, five will love it. And to five of those ten it will be the best thing in the world.

As time passed and I contemplated this analysis, I realized that my mission had to be not to try to convert the pre-existing members of the 90 over to the ways of Beanworld but to cast the widest of nets in constant search of new groups of ten and the five hidden within. The best tool, of course, being word-of-mouth in one-on-one conversations.

This is a story of all of those things and much, much more.

On the first day of C2E2, not long after I had whipped up the day's batch of FREE Beanworld Action Figures, a couple of guys came up to my table. Now, I'm pretty sure I wasn't remotely properly caffeinated yet, and as the folks who have worked with me over the years know, at that point in the day, it's kinda hit or miss with me if what you are saying is going to sink in on the first pass or not.

So the guys came up and starting talking very, very fast about about the-tattoo-section-of-the-con-floor-and-how-one-of-them-was-gonna-get-a-Beanish-tattoo-today-and-if-he-could-sneak-in-fast-could-I-draw-a-sketch-asap-for-the-tattoo-artist-to-follow?

Uh, yeah, sure, I mumbled.

Then at some point, the two guys started to bicker back and forth.
Well, bicker isn't the right word, but it was the sort of back and forth that goes on between really good friends and the proverbial light bulb went off over my head and I knew I totally recognized the friendly competitive banter between these two strangers in their Midwestern accents and without even thinking I asked: do you guys have a podcast?

And I'm not even sure I was looking up when I asked this, I might have been doing a drawing or something. But the answer was Yes. They sure do have a podcast and they were in amazement that I knew about 11 O'Clock Comics.

And then they were off in search of the tattoo artist.
Not long after, they were back, and the inking session was all set up and all that was needed was the sketch itself for the artist to follow.

The podcast guy, Vince Bonanvoglia aka VinceB, knew precisely what he wanted. He described the drawing as it is seen above. I think the only real contribution I made was the motion squiggles of Beanish's dance. I was a bit worried about adding extra dashed lines for Vince to endure but as you can see in the photo below, the flinty determination of Vince's mission is reflected in his eyes along with a slight smile of appreciation that he was already-this-far in his mission. I snapped Vince's pic with his bare arm and the artwork on display and off they went.

I settled into the rhythms of the table (Make sure you get your FREE Beanworld Action Figures and don't forget to take a FREE Beanworld micro-comic and FREE Beanworld propaganda!) People coming to trade and all the stuff that goes on during the run of event at a con.

I guess an hour or so later, the guys were back and VinceB's mission was accomplished as seen below.

Hillary Barta and Skottie Young already knew about Vince's tattoo by the time I ran into both of them. And so did the 15-or-so people who came by my table and said "I'm giving Beanworld a try because the guys on my favorite podcast talk it up all the time. Oh, and I just saw VinceB's tattoo."

Even the tattoo artist, Brian Stringer, came around later and we chatted about Vince's tat and the podcast

The one time I heard the podcast was last winter after the link to episode 97 turned up on my daily Google report. The 11 O'Clock Comics guys are are 100% Midwestern comic book fans. No one on the east or west coast blogger folks I mentioned 11 O'Clock Comics to at C2E2 to had ever heard of the podcast.

But people in the Midwest sure know all about it.

The 11 O'Clock Comics guys are hardcore comics fans.

And they are hardcore in all genres!
Hardcore super heroes.
Hardcore indies and alternatives.
Hardcore art collectors.

Their podcast sounds like a bunch of guys hanging out. That's 'cuz it is. The sort of conversations they have remind me of the hours long talks I'd have every Saturday from 1976 'til '86 with Ross Kight and the regular customers of Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow comic book store in Rogers Park. And the kinds of conversations I'd have with Gary Colabuono, Chris Ecker, and the Moondog's Comics crew from '90 to '93.

A few words about Vince's first person narrative about the day from his POV as told on the C2E2 podcast 105. These observations will only make sense after you hear the podcast...but here goes:

What happened with Vince, Brian, and me last Friday is the sort of thing that happens to me when I say "And then Beanworld took over."

I know when I say stuff like that it can come across as flippant, calculated, or arrogant.
But...
Vince and David, total strangers, came to my table and through spoken rhythms and cadences I recognized them. And somehow Vince got nudged into choosing Brian Stringer in Tattoo Artist Alley in a way was total instinctive...and Brian, a complete stranger, knew knew who Vince was.

Vince, who had thought long and often about it, got his Beanish tattoo and seemed to have had the exact experience he had been hoped to have. All the stars lined up.

Was it co-incidence?
Synchronicity?
Destiny?

Or was it Beanworld?
Did Beanworld take over?
Did Beanworld know?
That is crazy talk, of course, but that is the sort of stuff that had swirled around Beanworld for many a year.

I'm so glad it happened in Chicago.
Maybe that is the only place where something like that could happen.

Finally....getting back to Neil Gaiman's analysis...the 11 O'Clock Comics' wildly ecstatic recommendations are exactly word-of-mouth endorsements coming from one of the five an off-beat comic like Beanworld thrives upon.

Art is EVERYTHING, after all.

Beanworld's Larry Marder @ LA Times Festival of Books: Saturday, April 24!

2010-04-21T13:51:00.000-07:00

I'll be doing a signing with Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at
LA TIMES FESTIVAL of BOOKS

Saturday, April 24th ONLY
2-5 pm

Zone G -Booth # 754

Dark Horse Beanworld Hardcover Books!
Beanworld Orphan Drawings ready for adoption!
Cute Collectible Beanworld Cards!
Sketches!

FREE Beanworld Action Figures!
(and other stuff I can't think of at the moment!)

All proceeds of sold books, memberships and donations
go directly to supporting the work of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

Crazy Trade-Ins @ Wondercon & C2E2!

2010-04-21T09:33:00.000-07:00

So once again, I ask myself: am I crazy to do this?

Nope.

Beanworld fans of all ages spent a lot of time plotting and planning their drawings to trade with me. Everyone really knocked 'em out of the proverbial park!

The drawings I traded with Beanworld fan artists 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 might have kerfluffled some of the names and spellings--if I did write me at
larrymarder[at]gmail.com and I'll make the correx pronto.

Am I going to continue the trade-ins?
Yep.

So far it has been a thoroughly manageable program and a lot of fun.

So it is a go for TCAF and SD10!

Will I make trades through the mail?
Sorry, no can do.
I just don't have the time to manage anything like that.

C2E2: We gonna pitch us a wang-dang doodle!

2010-04-16T05:28:00.000-07:00

Today C2E2 begins.

This is the song rattling through my head.

Willie Dixon song performed by Howlin'Wolf.

Totally Chicago.

Let's show these East and West Coast folks how Chicago really rocks!

C2E2: Hey, CHICAGOLAND! Trade In One Of YOURS For One of MINE!

2010-04-15T06:28:00.000-07:00

I might be CRAZY
but sketches
like this and this and this
will get YOU one one of these!

Held over for the time being...here is the deal!

Come by my table in Artist's Alley (D10) at C2E2
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 yuu agree
that I can post your sketch in theLeguminous Fan Art Gallery.
And it would be nice if I could get a snapshot of you and your art too!

My apologies to the artist featured above.
The trade was made at WonderCon and
I still haven't posted the drawings and names from WC yet.
That stuff is in California and I'm in Chicago.

C2E2: Don't Forget!

2010-04-15T06:18:00.000-07:00

C2E2: Dark Horse Signing Friday!

2010-04-14T08:33:00.001-07:00

SIGN & DRAW!
Friday, April 13
3-4 pm
DARK HORSE booth #458

Collectible FREE sketches on TFAW cards.

Folks have been asking about what other programming I might be doing.
Although I lobbied for some and so did others on my behalf--Beanworld came up empty.
(No Sprout -Butt today!)

I don't think the New York-centric programming board
really quite understood what Beanworld is and
that Chicago is THE Beanworld town in so many, many ways.
(C'est la guerre!)

On a more up-beat note:
I WILL be presenting the new and improved
"The Leguminous History of Larry Marder & the Beanworld!"
at TCAF for those of you that will be attending that con.

And San Diego too, I'm sure.

As far as Chicago goes...oh, well...maybe next time!