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

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

SPOILER Hoo●Hoo●HAs & a Hoka●Hoka●HEY!

SPOILER ALERT!

"Spoiler is slang for any element of any summary or description of any piece of fiction that reveals any plot element which will give away the outcome of a dramatic episode within the work of fiction, or the conclusion of the entire work"

Hoo●Hoo●HAs & a Hoka●Hoka●HEY! is a modern day online letter column for Beanworld fans.

On the docket is Remember Here When You Are There!

Italics are me--roman font is you guys!

--------------

Last chance...if you haven't read Here There yet...
it's probably a good idea to avert your attention elsewhere.

--------------

Read further at your own risk!

--------------

I believe it's easier to follow my comments if I address the questions as they are asked.

Anonymous wrote:

In looking at the Float Force effect on the slats and chips ridden by the adult beans and by Mr Spook, I notice that the b&w striated effect that takes place looks similar to that on both Beanish when he "jumps" and on the Float Factored Mystery Pods - but there is a significant difference - the chips and slats retain their solid outline... I'm wondering if this is significant? Is that a graphic indication that they are not "charged up" as much as the Mystery Pods? Or am I reading too much into this?

In my opinion, it is impossible for a Beanworld reader to inject too much meaning into his or her understanding of what he/she is reading.
What you get is what it is.
For you.

Sometimes I get to fool myself into believing that I'm making decisions purely for aesthetic (or even technical) reasons and then, at a later date, Beanworld lets me know the decision I made has a much deeper meaning than the visual solution I was going for at that date and time.

That was one of those moments.


(I did think it was kind of odd that the super-charged chips that the Cuties use are represented as solid black rather than solid white which would make them look distinctly different from regular old non-charged chips...)


This is another one of those decisions.
Over many, many, I mean many years I played around with designs, shapes, and patterns for the fully activated Chip Skates.
(I suspect some of those have showed up in Beanworld Archive postings and will continue to.)
Only when they were in black did it feel right.


Drained of power?
White chips felt right for that.

Black chips.
Striped chips.
White chips.

The Bean-made processes that put these changes into effect are many.
Only a few have been mentioned let alone revealed.
We all have a long way to go together on this.
But in Book Four there will be a lot more revelation in this particular direction.


Finally, and this is something I thought about a long, long time ago, but I'm reminded of it because of such a focus on making tools, etc, in the new volume - where do old tools, broken tools, old Look*See Shows, etc go? Recycling in the Beanworld? Where do used spears in the Hoi Polloi realm go? Do they just fall down forming Der Stinkle?


I always thought that this would be a questions Beanworld fans might ask a lot.
It's only recently that it has become a frequently asked question.

I've already scribbled out many pages of notes regarding this. I even have a (mostly) finished story regarding the Look-See Shows.

Oh, and the 2008 eight page color story for MySpace Dark Horse Presents #14 ? Even that was only half a story and the other half is still waiting to find an appropriate slot. And, if you remember the tale, it's conclusion will answer a bunch of your questions. This stuff will probably be explained in full in Book 4 (or Five).

As far as Der Stinkle goes.
We have hardly scratched the surface, literally, of Der Stinkle.
The only existing hint of Further Adventures in Der Stinkle is shown in the poster "YOO-HOO, MR. SPOOK."
It's a teaser of a very big moment in the Beans' future!

Next letter.


JohnH wrote:
I have to admit, I first picked up Beanworld by reading (gasp!) illegal copies on the Internet. I know, shocking! But it showed me how wonderful Beanworld is, and I have bought Book 2 in print since then and hope to get Book 1 soon, which hopefully I can then use to show other people why I am so obsessed with the beans.

This is the counter argument to piracy.
It leads to paying customers eventually.
It's not something I can condone, but, very few people can honestly say they've never made use of a pirated something-or-other at least once in their life.

It wouldn't be a Beanworld letters column without rampant speculation about what everything means, so here goes!

You got that right, John!

One thing I have noticed from the earlier issues and struck me is the nature of the Beanworld's ground. What I noticed about it first came when the poisoned Sprout-Butt landed after Mr. Spook's Pod'l'Pool emerged from Gran'Ma'Pa. The patterns on it seemed to change from poisoned to a more normal Gran'Ma'Pa pattern gradually starting from when it touched the soil of the Beanworld. Then, too, there is the weird shape of the Beanworld island, how it is lopsided, weighted down on the left, that it is literally out of balance! Then there is the effect of gravity, which only appears to affect the Beans, and then by drawing them to the surface of the island. Very interesting! Well to me anyway.

To me too!
This is a very perceptive observation.
Well worth speculating upon!

One of the things I wonder about the most in the new book is the strange image of Big Fish swimming by the worms that are too big to eat. Could those be important in some way?

How can they not be?

The Cuties are growing up nicely into full-fledged characters. There seems to be some differentiation between them in personality, with one acting as leader and another taking after Proffy. Could they become apprentices for Mr. Spook and Professor Garbanzo?

The answers to that are, in fact, a primary story arc of Summertime.
What's gonna happen as the Cuties grow up?
Will they become Chow Sol'jers or are they going to become something new?

Thanks again for Book 3. Hopefully we won't need to wait as long for the next cycle!

Nope.
My answer to this question is simple.
The last interval was 15 years.
The next will be more like 15 months.

Next letter.

Shawn O'Hern wrote:

Just devoured volume 3 in one sitting. Like catching up with old friends. While I like having such a huge chunk to read at one time, I'm sad to have to wait an indeterminate amount of time for new material.

Any hint as to when we can expect new single issues or web comics?
Pretty please?

See "State of the Beanworld" at New Years on this very blog!

As for Here There...literally gasped when Beanish invaded the Hoi Polloi ring to examine the hearts' effect on the sprout butt - it felt like such a violation. I wonder if there will be more ramifications from this. It definitely seemed to upset the natural order of things.

When that sequence wrote itself, I was shocked at Beanish's behavior.
My mind was on fire "Can this be right?" was my overwhelming concern.
It took a while for me to accept the direction this major development was taking the story.

But when I saw where it was leading, it started making sense.
A lot of sense.

Beanish's seemingly bizarre behavior challenging the social codes of his tribe is also one of the main story arcs of Book Four.

Very intrigued by the sister Cutie's Proffy-like savvy. And by their odd growth development. Also not sure I understand what effect Heyoka had on the bean template and why it reversed when she left it.

Check out pages 266-268 of Book Two: A Gift Comes . As you will see the change in Here There was actuaally a reversion to the original "factory specifications."

That she becomes the Cuties' teacher is not what I expected at all.

I'm glad you didn't see that one coming!

I also noticed that Mr Spook's reference to invaders from the sky could allude to that color Beanworld story from Asylum of years ago in addition to the Goofy Service Jerks' attack. Any plans to reprint that?

Yes.
It does allude to that.
There is even proof of the fact that the story occurred within the pages of Here There!
That story will be re-jiggered and appear somewhere, some day.
Maybe ome sort of special Beanworld Apocrypha Color volume ala Usagi Yojimbo: Yokai.

Thanks again for bringing back Beanworld!

You are welcome!

Hoo●Hoo●HAs & a Hoka●Hoka●HEY!

Hoo●Hoo●HAs & a Hoka●Hoka●HEY! is a modern day online letter column for Beanworld fans.

On the docket is Remember Here When You Are There!

Italics are me--roman font is you guys!

From Tabkend:

I think it should be stressed that if people haven't picked up the Holiday Special, they definitely should. It might help the perspective on the evolution of the Cuties, particularly in their interactions with each other.

Nobody will be disappointed when they pick up the graphic novel, I think.

Makes me wonder, will the other "seasons" be as long as Springtime has been? If you're going with mostly graphic novels, it definitely changes the pace of what we were used to so long ago.

Tabkend, the following seasons will be as long or short as the stories tell me they are supposed to be. That said, I believe that the Summertime cycle will be much longer than Springtime's 700-ish pages. There are a very large number of things that must happen within the frame work of Summertime. Most have barely been hinted at.

Regarding formats, unless the business formulas of the marketplace change drastically over the next few years--somehow the current model of graphic novel publication and distribution collapses and an unforeseen insatiable demand for indie periodical comics arises that make a profit--I am very happy with the current arrangement.

I've been asked if I wanted to consider Dark Horse's Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo model of comics first and collections later.
I thought about it.

And recognized that, for better or worse, I'm not that disciplined of a story teller.

I approach storytelling like a musician.

I come up with a little fragments of stories like a musician will come up with a ditty, riff, or hook and shuffle them around in a very grand scale.

Then, changing metaphors, as the story begins to take shape, I mess around with them in a process that is more similar to trying to finish a Joseph Cornell box than an issue of Tales of the Beanworld was. I was re-jiggering pages and sequences within Here There until the very last possible moment.

I really enjoyed exploring the subtle nuances of telling a long form story. What I really liked was getting to page 150 and recognizing that I didn't need page 2o and 21 and just yanking them and adding something else. If those pages had already been published, the entire story just might have veered of into something else. ( I just pulled those imaginary pages numbers out of nowhere. They aren't real.)

I now know, with no doubt whatsoever, that the long form, self contained graphic novel is the way that I'm supposed to work.

The Beanworld Holiday Special is still available.

From Kenny Hobbs:

Probably easier to follow my comments if I address the questions as you ask them, Kenny.

Soooooo many questions now.

The Secret Path to Something More???

What what what?

Here is cryptic answer number one.

When? When? When?

Nowhere near as long as you might think.

The hearts seem to be tangible objects that affect other characters... are the Boom'r's music notes the same?

Cryptic answer number two.

Looks like it huh?

I refer everyone to the cover of TOTB #21 and this too.

Why do the Cuties know so much?

Is it because they're still connected to Gran'Ma'Pa in the Pod'l Pool?

That would make sense wouldn't it?

What happens when they leave it?

Good question!

Is whatever went wrong with the original beans going right with the Cuties, and if it did, what does that mean for the original beans?

"We'll understand it all by and by."

And now I look at those prints my brother got me and wonder, what's the deal with this "chow factory" thing they visit, and what's the story behind the long thin beans?

It's a game plan that Beanworld provided for me to ponder.

Now that particular posting was in February 2008.

In March of 2009 something happened and I rediscovered something that had been lost.

Although I have spoken about it to people at conventions (pretty sure I talked about it with the Serious crew at Baltimore) it deserves an updated post of its own.

I'll try to remember to do so soon.

And why does Mr. Spook visit Der Stinkle again... apparently long enough to cause Proffy to worry? Or was there an emergency while he was gone on a pre-planned expedition? Heck... Don't even know if that's Der Stinkle! Maybe it's somewhere else!

Maybe.

Maybe not.

I think my favorite panel was when Proffy was talking to Beanish about the Float Force and talks about "something more." And then Beanish just LOOKS at him so weird.

Kenny, that little moment is one of my favorites too.

Phew.
That's enough for today.

I'll post more later.

As Dino used to say "Keep those cards and letters coming folks."

Hoo●Hoo●HAs & a Hoka●Hoka●HEY!

A.V. Club

As far as I know, this is the first online review
for Remember Here When You Are There to appear online.

Don't worry about reading it....it doesn't contain any spoilers.

My favorite passage is:

"...it has the internal rhythms of an excellent poem, and a strong and striking vision that’s entirely unique. In spite of the vague lesson about how environments are interconnected and we’re all part of a connected chain of life, there’s rarely any sense that any of this means anything, and yet it’s strangely addictive, like watching a civilization build itself within a bottle.

It appears that Thanksgiving pushed back deliveries to comics shops to Thursday, December 3rd.

You can send your keen observations and burning questions regarding Remember Here When You Are There! right here.

Anyway....if you have something you'd like to say in public about Here There! you can say it here.

If you want to say it in private, the email address is larrymarder@gmail.com.

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This "strongly recommended" just in from Dave Rants!

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

You can send your comments and questions for Beanworld Holiday Special right here.

The first online review has already been posted at CBR and I thought it was right on target.

Also, an interview with Zack Smith went online too at Newsarama.

Anyway....if you have something you'd like to say in public about BHS--you can say it here. If you want to say it in private, the addie is larrymarder@gmail.com.

And now, I gotta get back to finishing the cover for Remember Here When You Are There! 'cuz Dark Horse needs it asap!