Thursday, October 4, 2007

Mr. Spook Getting Bad News While Doing Some Masonry Work

Okay...this is a weird one from the Beanworld Archives. It's not dated but judging by the content it was drawn around 1978-79.

Here are the clues contained in my sleuthing.

Mr Spook is more or less the character that he is today--except for his feet.
The other Bean, however, has a design that was later abandoned and greatly simplified.

Mr. Spook is reading a newspaper.
That points to the earlier plot fragments as shown on page 128 of Larry Marder's Beanworld Volume 1.

The mosaic-type decorative design that Mr. Spook is making on the wall, looks like the sort of asymmetrical, abstract designy stuff I was putting on my own walls during that period of time.

This is clearly "pre-Beanish" but "post-Jik & Zik."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who-eee, fascinating stuff. Particulary how you 'found' the Beanworld we know and love by wildly simplyfing these earlier freewheeling ideas, or rather boiling it down, focusing onto purer designs and themes.

That's something I wish I was a lot more adept at - although the Beanworld comics have inspired me for the better. :) It's very interesting to see your process at work.

Anonymous said...

Oooh, this is fascinating. It would be great if Thursdays were "Beanworld Archive Day" and you could post this cool stuff once a week, along with the Tantalizing Teasers on Tuesdays.

Anonymous said...

I had a dream last week after falling asleep while filling out my store's monthly Diamond orderform...

"Absolute Beanworld Vol. 1 includes the first 21 issues of Larry Marder's acclaimed Tales of the Beanworld series. Also included are over 50 pages of early concept work, sketches, ashcans, and series notes from writer/artist Larry Marder. Absolute Beanworld retails for $100.00 and is being advance solicited for May 2008, to coincide with the launch of a new Beanworld series."

Well, not really, but it makes a better story if it came to me in a dream. Also, my birthday is in May, so...