Thursday, December 31, 2009

More Beanworld: Hither and Thither


Publishers Weekly
"Where other fantasy authors are happy to mirror our present or past in their secondary worlds, embellishing their borrowed settings with a patina of imaginary magic and invented legend, Marder's Beanworld is its own highly original realm, with its own natural laws and mythology."


Good Reads
"I get the sense that he didn't come back to writing Beanworld until he was good and ready, and I'll be interested to see where he goes with it now."


The Beat
"BTW: the 3rd volume of Marder’s Beanworld saga, including new material 16 years or so in the making, came out recently. Recommended!


A Nice Cup of Rabies
Peggy knocked it out of the park with this beautiful drawing. Just fabulous.


Spunky Bean
" It’s about exploration – not in the physical sense, as the beans have a small and clearly mapped out world, but rather in the creative sense."


the electronic replicant
"(A)s simple as the life of the beans appears, there are signs that something happened just before the story began, something terrible that upset the process of life in the Beanworld..."


Every Day Is Like Wednesday
2009 Favorite Writer List


Every Day Is Like Wednesday
"(Beanworld) is, as has been observed, weird as hell, but for sheer entertainment value it is very hard to beat.


Reading, Watching, Playing
"Beanworld is deceptively cute and two-dimensional when you first look at it, but the more you read the more you realize how deep and multi-layered it really is."


Forbidden Planet
"This year sitting down and reading all three beautiful hardback volumes of Tales Of The Beanworld is my Christmas treat to myself."


Dave Rants
"The Best Comic Books Dave Read In 2009"


Four Realities
"(B)ook of the year is the all-new BEANWORLD BOOK 3 - REMEMBER HERE WHEN YOU ARE THERE. Runner up is BEANWORLD BOOK 1 - WAHOOLAZUMA, collecting the earliest Beanworld adventures. And in a surprise third place showing is BEANWORLD BOOK 2 - A GIFT COMES, collecting the balance of the original series."


Tomorrow ~ January 1st ~ STATE OF THE BEANWORLD 2010

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Catching Up!


Catching up with some mail for Leguminous Fan Art Gallery.
First up is from John Scrudder and his family.

Take it away John:

Meghan, age 7 with her Christmas copy of "Here There!"


Larry!

Meghan (7) opened up her 3 Beanworld books and went through the roof!
"I Got Beanworld, I got Beanworld, Oh my gosh, I got Beanworld!"
She has, since Christmas morning, read book 3 (which she calls book 5,because she had the 4 TPB before the hard covers editions) several times.
My son Ben (8) Has now also become a fan of Beanworld, as has the oldest boy, Luke (12). Meghan was Ecstatic to see the signed books - she completely flipped out! Both Ben and Meghan have composed letters to you. I thought I would share them with you.



Meghan's Letter:

"Dear Larry Marder,

I have some ideas for the Pod'l Pool Cuties. First they grow in a few months and they can look like this (A picture of her version is included from the original letter). And a few months later they can get bigger. And after a year they could be beans!
Thank you for the books! I also made a Pod'l Pool cutie in it's pool for you out of clay.
Your Pal,
Meghan.



Benjamin's letter:

"I'm a very big fan of yours, please respond back when you can.
I think that Mr. Spook and the Hoi poi are related. What do you think? Look at their hair.
Plus they are the same color and sort of look like they are made from similar shapes.
The mystery pods are eggs. But I don't think they've hatched because it is not warm enough.
An Airship could be built out of the four realities and could be powered by static electricity.
Anti-Bean.
Beanish gets mistaken for one!
Please put these ideas in your book.
Your good fan,
Benjamin Winters
--------

Larry,
Needless to say, this was the Beanworld Christmas. The kids were ecstatic and wrote their letters to you right away!

I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to have finally met you, and I know for Meghan, at least I hope, it has given her an inspiration that neither you nor or I had when we were growing up, the chance to meet the writers and artists of books that inspire us to be writers and artists.
It's really all she talks about now. Thanks again Larry for making this one awesome Christmas none of will ever forget!
Your Friend,
John M. Scrudder
My pleasure, John.

Georgia, age 5


Mr. Marder,

I have adored Beanworld for more than twenty years, and I'm delighted that the collected editions have given me the chance to introduce it to my daughter, Georgia Roberson. She's five years old now, just having started kindergarten, and for the last month or so we've been making our way through the Beanworld collections a bit at a time at bedtime. We just started A Gift Comes, and are on track to be ready for the third volume as soon as it's out!

The other day I showed her the fan art that you'd posted to your blog, and she *insisted* that she draw her favorite characters and send them to you. And so, with Georgia's compliments, here are her interpretations of a Pod'l'pool Cutie, a Goofy Service Jerk, and a couple of Mystery Pods.

(I've also posted these to my blog,
as I usually do with the drawings Georgia is proudest of.)
From a couple of devout fans, our sincerest thanks for Beanworld, and please keep up the great work!

Best,
Chris Roberson

These are great, Chris!
Argh, I regret it took me so long to get these posted but better late than never.
Nothing makes me happier than hearing about families that enjoy Beanworld together.


Conor, age 10

And last, but not least, Conor, son of ZenMondo.

Conor loves to draw Beanworld. I am including 2 images of his. One is Mr. Spook saying "Fear Me!" and the other is of a Cutie and a Bean. He is age 10 now. I must thank you Larry, for giving us something we can share together. Just this past weekend, as I was in my room reading, Conor passed by me on the way to the bathroom and just said "Hoo Hoo Ha" to which I replied "Hoka Hoka Hey" He smiled and said "that's right". Conor being Autistic, finds his own way to relate to those around him that may seem a bit odd to those that don't understand him, but in Beanworld, we have an entire VOCABULARY with which to communicate and explore not only your world, but his world together.

ZenMondo is the leading instigator behind the burgeoning Beanworld Wiki. We correspond frequently. He often passes along Conor's burning questions and keen Beanworld observations.

Very insightful stuff.

Even today, after all these years, the industry keeps trying to pigeon hole Beanw0rld as a book for grown-up when anyone who has ever actually seen a kid crack the cover of a Beanworld book has witnessed those kids tumbling directly into the Beanworld as surely as Alice tumbled down the rabbit hole.

If your comic book store doesn't rack Beanworld along with Bone, Owly, Sonic, and Muppets--it should give it a whack there and see what happens!

All the drawing mentioned in this post are in Leguminous Fan Art Gallery.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Fan mail from some Frickes!



On Saturday, my old friend Paul Fricke, who I've known for a zillion years. in regards to SOLSTICE SOL'JER posted on Facebook: You just blew my daughter Emily's mind.

Well Paul and Mary, your daughters returned the favor today!




Hey, Larry!

Hope you and Cory had a dandy Christmas!

I've attached pix of a Beanish ornament Laura (13) made for her younger sister, Emily (9) as an Xmas gift. Beanish certainly seems to be Em's fave right now. She and I both loved book 3 - lots to chew on. So excited Mr. Spook got his fork back! We both can't wait to read it again.

I got my comp copies of Bedbugs last week, blogged about it today. Thanks again for your help in shepherding this to fruition, and continual plugs. = - )

Happy New Year!

Paul

A while back when his daughter, Emily, was 8 she sent me a terrific drawing of Dreamishness -- on display in the Leguminous Fan Art Gallery.

Laura: these ornaments are absolutely spectacular and totally Wahoolazuma!
Emily: you have a very generous and talented sister!
Paul: You are so thoughtful to send these along so everyone can see them.

I'm incredibly happy that Paul's labor of love Night of the Bedbugs is on its way. Paul asked me take a look-see at what he was doing about a year or so ago. I found Paul's contemporary up-date of a Dr Seuss-like story to be incredibly charming and clever. The coloring is sensitive and appropriate. I knew it was just a matter of time before someone would snatch it up for publication.

And that turned out to be my (even older pal) Jim Valentino at Silverline Books who grabbed it on first sight as I hoped he would.

Highly recommended!
And check out the promotional video!



Night of the Bedbugs is (c) 2009 Paul Fricke/Blue Moon Studios

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Everyone wants to get into the act!




Our curious cat, Olive, "helping" me draw.
She loves to assist!

Happy Boxing Day !

And don't forget:
CBLDF Special Offer
Offer ends Dec 31, 2009

State of the Beanworld
January 1. 2010.

Friday, December 25, 2009

There's a Beanworld Christmas present waiting for you@Bleeding Cool!


Want to see the rest of this drawing?

It's waiting for you under the Bleeding Cool tree.

And make sure you check out the rest of the Christmas treats @Bleeding Cool!

Thanks to Rich Johnston for asking!
------------------------
And don't forget:
Offer ends Dec 31, 2009

State of the Beanworld
January 1. 2010.



Thursday, December 24, 2009

Louis Armstrong reading "The Night Before Christmas!"

Pops could swing it no matter what he doing!

"Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!"

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

A Grand Holiday Tradition!

It's the holiday season and with it comes a plethora of holiday rituals, superstitions, and traditions.

Chicagoland's local television giant, WGN, had three great Christmas animation shorts that they ran continuously from Thanksgiving through the season.

Every kid growing up in the 50s, 60,s and 70s who’s home antenna could receive WGN-TV’s powerful signal has the content of these shorts seared into their memory.

The most powerful was this one--The Three Little Dwarves.

If you grew up in that part of the Midwest, in that time frame, you can go up to virtually anyone and sing "I'm Hardrock. I'm Coco." And it is almost impossible that the other person won't respond by singing "I'm Joe" in the deepest bass voice they can muster.

I remember teachers being totally stymied with all the "I'm Joe" laughter that would roll around with every season.

Once Christmas vacation was over, the animation went back in the film library and out of one's daily thought process. But every year, the film would reappear to every kid's delight.

I have found that if you didn't grow up in the Midwest and have access to WGN, there is a good chance you've never seen (or even heard of) this bizarre holiday classic.

The animation is quirky, jerky and the puppets look, well, weird, particularly Santa.

And so, without further ado—it’s time to visit Hardrock, Coco, and Joe!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

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





"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.
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!


Friday, December 18, 2009

CBLDF Special Offer!



The other day, I was talking about the two exclusive, limited edition, signed Beanworld posters I created for Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

The first one nowadays formally called "Codex Beanworld" is the one that seems to kick up the most interest when Beanworld fans first see it.

The second "Yoo-Hoo, Mr. Spook!" is also the source of much speculation as to what I might mean.

Over the weekend, I'm going to talk about the creation of these images and what they may mean (or not mean).

But in the meantime, Charles Brownstein, Executive Director of the Fund, noted that the supplies of these posters are dwindling very quickly and the inventory might not last long very long.

He came up with a great idea that makes it possible for you, the fans of Beanworld, to adopt these posters from the comfort of your own home.

Become a member of CBLDF NOW and you can adopt one of the posters as your Membership Premium.

If you are already a Member you can qualify for the premium by purchasing an early Membership renewal.

The funds raised in this membership offer help support the First Amendment legal work the CBLDF performs on behalf of the comics community. As I've said before, I know times are tough, and money is tight, but the good work that CBLDF does is just as important as it ever has been--if not more.

Here is how you do it!
Start by clicking here.

Chose your desired Level of Membership.

Click on it to learn more regarding the level of membership.

Under Premiums click
“Please send premium, if available, with my membership.”
And click on “Add to cart”

Fill in all the empty data blanks
and then
click on “Proceed to Check Out"

On that page at Step 4 “Payment Information”

in the second block titled “Order Comments”
type in your preference of poster:

1) Codex Beanworld

2) Yoo-Hoo, Mr Spook

And place your order.

You will receive a confirmation from CBLDF.

Indicate which of the prints you’d like under Order Comments as indicated below, but unfortunately, because supplies are so limited there can be no guarantees.

This is a first come, first served offer.


Offer ends at midnight December 31, 2009.


Thursday, December 17, 2009

Noelco and World Peace!


Over on Facebook I mentioned, as I tend to do on an annual basis, that the Norelco Santa Ad is hands down my favorite Christmas commercial of all time.

My pal, Steve Bissette and others have weighed in with another great one, R. O. Blechman's spot for CBS.

I talked a little about the Blechman piece on FB after my friend, Betsy Gomez, posted it there a while back.

I wrote: "Man do I remember this CBS spot that ran when I was in high school. I'm not a person who who remembers a lot of details about animation but I do recall that this was by R O Blechman. His work was seemingly everywhere in the late 70s and early 80s and I think his influence cast a long shadow...from people like Keith Haring all the way to me. The sentiment of the spot's message is as true now as it ever was."

(Now that I see I meant to say late '60s not '70s...oh well)

In its short span Blechman's spot knocks the message of Peace on Earth right out of the park.
But is it a great ad?

What is it selling?
Watch CBS?
You were already watching CBS to see it.
That puts it into the realm of behavior reinforcement.
You are a fine person because you are watching CBS.

Now, if the goal of the spot was to say that "CBS is promoting world peace and to be kind to the environment"...well, those were not exactly the corporate goals of the Columbia Broadcasting System under William S. Paley!

Now on the other hand, the Norelco ad had a very tight sales goal.
Sell more Norelco razors.

Norelco entered the 60s facing declining sales of electric razors.
Its market share was declining.

The company made two critical marketing decisions:
Football and Santa.

Sales went up.
The company believed that their "Noelco" ad campaign was a big part that success.

I've always thought that this was, in part, because it marketed to kids and this was one of the only times of year where kids were ostensibly involved in making purchases for their Dad.
In those days, I firmly believe it was harder to know what get for Dad or Grandpa than it is today.
Kids didn't know what to buy.
How many jokes have there been over the years about sweaters, ties, shaving stuff, and other types of Christmas gifts over the years?
Plenty!

But by making this jolly Santa ad, they got the attention of the kids and helped make the suggestion that this a jolly good present for the man of the family.
(After all, it was competing with stuff like this doozy!)

The company believed that this was a good campaign and up-dated it at least two more times over the years.

So.
On the one hand...did world peace go up?
Uh, no.

Did Norelco razor sales go up?
Yes.

So.
Noelco?
Better ad.

Blechman spot?
The tight, concise story telling of this powerful 60 second micro-drama makes this arguably the best Christmas animation of the entire decade of the 1960s.

And that is what I was thinkin'....
What do you think?


Wednesday, December 16, 2009

HERE THERE: Hither and Thither

It's been a while so it's time to tune into some more Beanworld buzz!

Read Anout Comics "I love how Marder can take shamanistic traditions and transplant elements into a story that also includes the hero’s journey, pop culture references, slapstick comedy, and the life cycle of a plant. "

Jog - The Blog " Halfway between an experimental clip art webcomic and a gag-heavy serial newspaper strip, Beanworld is just too damn peculiar to look its age..."


Jog - The Blog Featuring a fascinating conversation between Jog and Tucker Stone that goes into Beanworld territory.
"TS: I wonder what anybody makes of Beanworld. People talk about in the sense that they like it, but I don't know that I've ever read anything about it that's gone beyond that, something that goes beyond to the "I like it because of..."[Tucker gestures to indicate a paucity of substance.]"

Mike Sterling's Progressive Ruin
"Once again my need's been awakened to see how the whole Beanworld story eventually works out, while at the same time never really wanting it to end. "

Glow In The Dark Thoughts
" There are so many little secrets in this book. The book is refreshingly simple, yet surprisingly deep. I highly recommend a reading."

Living Between Wednesdays
"...a couple of nights ago I sat back and read the continuing adventures of Mr Spook and Professor Garbanzo and the Pod’l Pool Cuties, occasionally heaving great sighs of contentment. What a time to be alive!"

HEEB Hannukah Gift Guide "Deceptively simple illustrations of a quirky symbiotic universe come to life like a psychedelic sea monkey farm. Crumb, Kirby, Jung and Seuss collide in this surreal ride.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Hoo●Hoo●HAs & a Hoka●Hoka●HEY!



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

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?


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?

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.


Thursday, December 10, 2009

Hoka-Hoka Jeff Smith!



Oh man.

In all the excitement of the last few weeks, I've overlooked something very important.
Time to fix that.

I want to thank my ol' pal, Jeff Smith, creator of BONE and RASL, for writing the introduction to "Remember Here When You Are There!"

While we were working on the first hardcovers, I told my editor, Diana Schutz, that it was my dream to have Jeff write the intro to my comeback book.
She agreed. Great idea!

However, I confess I was a bit nervous asking Jeff for this favor.
Even though we have known each other for a very long time, I know how busy he is and how many requests of this sort he gets on an almost daily basis.
So I waited until the very last moment to ask.

How last moment?

Uh...Diana writing and saying that solicitations are due now and and asking if Jeff going to write the intro so it can be solicited properly.

Uh-oh.
That's what I get for being so procrastinatingly shy.

So I wrote and asked Jeff, and asked him if he could find the time to do it, and how I really regretted waiting until the last possible moment to do so.

His answer was brief and to the point.

"Lar, if it wasn’t last minute, it wouldn’t be comics.
Of course I’ll write it. I wouldn’t let anybody else touch it!"

What guy!

I can not begin to tell you how wide my grin was when the piece came in and I read for the first time his words "Beanworld is a mixture of Krazy Kat, Tinker Toys, and Haiku… "

Cracked me up then, cracked me up just now.

So a very big Hoo-Hoo-HA & a Hoka-Hoka HEY to Jeff plus a hearty Wahoolazuma for the great news that The Cartoonist is going to be aired on PBS.

Oh yeah, the above drawing, as you can probably figure out, is from The Bean Book.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Larry Marder will be a Guest of Honor at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con !


Comic-Con announced their Guest List for 2010.

I'm on it.
(And so are some of my favorite people in the art form.)

Next year is the 25th anniversary of the publication of Beanworld #1 and this will be part of the celebration. My thanks to the folks @ Comic-Con who decide these things and have made it so.

More about this and many more things in my New Year's State of the Beanworld posting but this news just couldn't wait.

Also....
A new Hoo●Hoo●HAs & a Hoka●Hoka●HEY! coming soon!


Thursday, December 3, 2009

Where to buy Beanworld!


People have been writing and asking where they can find Beanworld.

Here is a list of folks I am certain are doing Beanworld e-business.

Things From Another World

Powell's Books

Amazon

Amazon UK

Panel to Panel (with free bookplate)

Barnes & Noble Borders

Mile High

For a walk-in-the-door comic retailer close to home there are at least two places to start your search.

Comic Shop Locator Service.

The Master List of Comic Book Stores

Here There: here and there.



This isn't going to be an edition of Hoo●Hoo●HAs & a Hoka●Hoka●HEY!
Not quite yet.

Some great letters about Here There! pop-pop-popping into my mailbox and I'll start posting and commenting this weekend.

But I wanted to grab a few moments To update you about some of the online commentary that I'm aware of.

Comics Alliance :"...it's as beautifully weird as anything he's ever done. "

Are You A Serious Comic Book Reader: "People work too hard at trying to “get” Beanworld and not simply observe the Beanworld. To enjoy what is truly the most immersive comics experience ever, you must begin like the still growing characters: Clueless, overwhelmed by the world around you."

Read About Comics: "Beanworld continually has surprises just hiding up its sleeve, and this new volume is no exception. I love how Marder can take shamanistic traditions and transplant elements into a story that also includes the hero’s journey, pop culture references, slapstick comedy, and the life cycle of a plant. There’s nothing else out there quite like Beanworld. If you’ve never read it before, please, check it out."

Roasted Peanuts: "I've been obsessed with Beanworld for months now, and to actually have not just one, but a thick book of new stories, it seems almost like too much. It is wonderful."

And last but not least--this Facebook post from Don Murphy (yes, that Don Murphy) : "Don Murphy has his copy of Beanworld vol 3 already and is off to the bathtub to read it!"


Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Hoo●Hoo●HAs & a Hoka●Hoka●HEY!




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.
--------
This "strongly recommended" just in from Dave Rants!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Birthday Cory!


This year is one of those years
that my beautiful, good natured wife Cory's birthday
falls on Thanksgiving.

This year, like all years, we have so much to be thankful for.

I think most folks know that the core of the relationship between Beanish and
Dreamishness is about as autobiographical as anything gets in Beanworld.

The illo above was almost the cover of Here There.
When we decided to use the other cover,
Cory said "I like that drawing so much. It's a shame not to use it."

I said "Tell you what. I'll post it
on my blog
on your birthday."

And so that's just what I did.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Neil Gaiman and The Bean Book


This past week, on Tuesday, Neil Gaiman tweeted:

19:01 Things that make me happy: Larry Marder is bringing out a new BEANWORLD book! 15 years after the last. bit.ly/67VO1N #

19:04 Larry Marder's Beanworld is a most peculiar comic book experience, a mashup of Jack Kirby, Native American myth, Marcel Duchamp, and R Crumb
#

20:04 I should have known: the Beanworld creator is @larrymarder in the Twitterworld.
#

And those are words that made me happy too.

Which now, brings us to this:


You see, once upon a time, long long ago, in a land far, far away, Cory and I had breakfast with Neil Gaiman.

(Okay, so you can see it was in 1992 and we were all in Chicago. I'm pretty sure Steve Bissette was there too.)

It was on this occassion that I hit up Neil for a sketch in "The Bean Book."
What's the Bean Book?
It's a 5 3/4" x 8 1/2" black sketchbook that used to be so common on the convention circuit.
Oh, they still exist.
But they are far less common nowadays.

The rules of my book were simple:
"Draw anything you'd like but please have it make some reference to beans."

I carried it around for years.
1986 to 1994 to be exact.

After it filled up, I put the entire project aside.
Last year I bought a new sketch book with the intention of starting a second round....but I keep forgetting to bring the book with me when I travel.

So.
I guess I'm going to add two things 2010's list of things to do in order to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Beanworld.

First.
Scan and post the multitude of amazing pages from Bean Book One.
And really so many of them really are incredible.

Two.
See if I can get a second Bean Book up and running.

But I think today is a good day to give a look-see at what is in its pages by showcasing Neil's sketch.


Climbing up the Picture Plane



"Look at any given element.
Is it a symbol?
A picture?
A pure shape?
It’s everything all at once!"

The above is quoted from Climbing up the Picture Plane over at Scott McCloud's blog.

In addition to my pal Professor McCloud's words of encouragement, there are a bunch of pages from Here There that haven't been previously printed in any way, shape, or form.

It's also well worth a look-see to remember how Beanworld tracks within Scott's own "goofy terminology."

Saturday, November 21, 2009

3 Emails of Interest.

Email number one

Hi Larry--
Congratulations on the imminent birth of volume III. I can't wait to see the seasonal big-big clock tick one closer to the apocalyptic "boogie woogie beantown" you teased us once back in one of the old letter columns -- the one where everybody was zipping around the city on float-powered skateboards.
I'm writing because I just got myself appointed volunteer webmaster over at toutfait.com the Marcel Duchamp journal. I know you've often mentioned his influence on your work but have yet to see anything really substantive on the family resemblance. Do you know of anyone who's researched this who might like to submit an article for us? You of course are always more than welcome to contribute, but I know your time is tightly allocated.
Thanks for all the years of beanishness,

Robert Scott Martin

Well this is rather exciting news, Robert!
In the presentation I give from time to time, I talk extensively and specifically about the influence Duchamp had on me and how it shows up odd ways in Beanworld. But that talk has never been published and although it has been taped, as far as I know, it's never shown up on YouTube or anything like that. Next year is the 25th anniversary of the publication of Beanworld #1 and I'm sure I'll be giving the talk again at various times and places.

For now, the above is part of an " interview" I did in 1992. I can't remember where it was published but the entire piece can be seen here.

I have a feeling when time allows, I'll contribute something to toutfait.com.

And quite possibly someone from the Beanworld community might feel inspired to do so sooner than me.

My biggest priority for next year is going to be...oh wait....I'll put that news in my New Years post.
So that will ave to wait for now.

For now....let's move on to email number two

Larry,
You and I have "met" though we've never actually met.
Twice.

That is to say, there are two different anecdotes that, once I relate them, MAY make you think to yourself, "Oh yeah... I remember that guy." "

Meeting" One - Fall '92 - My then finace, Kimberly, calls Beanworld Press from our apartment in Seattle and she is pleasantly surprised to find "Mrs. Larry Marder" on the other end of the line. She explains that her fiance (aka me) is a huge Beanworld fan and that she'd like to purchase a hardcover edition of Volume One (Eclipse ed.) as a gift for me. Cory is such a warm presence on the phone that they get to talking and Kimberly mentions that we're expecting.

Now, we were very poor at the time and my birthday is a scant 7 days before Christmas, so I was only going to get one combined birthday/Christmas present. I was ecstatic when I tore open the paper to expose a beautiful hardcover edition of my favorite comic with not only a signed/numbered sketchplate, but an additional drawing of a baby bean labled "Geoffrey, Good luck with your own Lil' Cutie! Larry". My daughter, Aubriana, is now 16 and for as long as she can remember she has known that there is a special drawing of Aubri-as-a-bean in the Beanworld book that she and her daddy read together.

"Meeting" Two - Summer-ish 1997 - I'm working as a Flash programmer at a PR firm in Washington, DC. The fact that they..er.. we take on clients like Philip Morris is making me a little more nauseous every day. I am bored at work and surfing the net. I either stumble upon or re-stumble upon BeanWeb. I happen to make a connection between one of its sections, "Science = Magic?", and a phone conversation I'd recently had with my brother about Arthur C. Clarke, and was inspired enough to drop Mark Irons a note. He replied, requesting my permission to publish a portion of my e-mail on the site. Flattered, I agree and since that day, whenever I Google myself, my name comes up in conjunction with a site that is a resounding tribute to my favorite comic book of all time.

Either of those ring a bell? If not... Hi Larry! I'm Geoffrey Hawley and I've loved your leguminous creation(s) since issue 10 of Tales of the Beanworld hit the stands at Zanadu Comics (Seattle). I began voraciously hunting down the nine I had missed. Around this time, I had another goal: filling in the gaps in my Flaming Carrot collection. These quests, combined, had me visiting every comics shop in the metro-Seattle area. The majority were little hole-in-the-wall "We've got BOTH kinds of comics! X-Men with Cover 1 AND X-Men with Cover 2" kinds of comic shops. As you can probably imagine, the person behind the counter looked at the 20-yr-old asking for "Beanworld" and "Flaming Carrot" and saw an escapee from the psych ward... who happened to be a vegetarian.

Larry, your creation exploded into my head like few others have. You are in the same league as Moebius, Jack Kirby, Bob Burden, Winsor McCay, Jim Woodring, Chris Ware, Jason, Chester Brown, Mike Mignola, Paul Chadwick, and Mike Allred in my estimation. I am currently attending college to be an elementary school teacher and recently learned the term "mentor book(s)". These are the books that writers find that they return to again and again - a well from which it would be impossible to dip too many times. For me those mentor books (and two films) are:

-McCloud's "Understanding Comics"
-Burton/Selick's"Nightmare Before Christmas"

-Luigi Serafini's "Codex Seraphinianus"

-Don Hertzfeldt's "The Meaning of Life"

and -Larry Marder's "Tales of the Beanworld".

Beanworld and "Understanding Comics," in particular, shaped not only my tastes as a comic book enthusiast, but every piece I've concocted since my exposure. They had a lasting impact on not only my artistic vocabulary (the shapes and lines I use to compose my pictures), but on my perception of art in general. Issue 4, "Beanish Breaks Out", is such a compact representation of my career aspirations. I long to produce art and have the community as a whole say "Yeah! We dig your artistic creations! Come and absorb vitamins & nutrients thru' your head. Soak trace minerals thru' your feet." Artists as a whole share a lifelong empathy with Beanish as we nervously ponder, "Are they rejecting my break out? ...gosh... Am I gonna have to return to a life of chow sol'jering?" Your elegant depiction of complex, important topics (like anthropology, the benefits and pitfalls of scientific R&D, and ecology's tenuous balance) with simple drawings and whimsical language are an inspiration to me on several levels both artistic and in matters of social conscience.

But let me give you a little more of my history with your beans: During my early 20s in Seattle, one of my dearest friends was Rich Goodwin. I introduced him to Beanworld and he was hooked. Rich had a huge impact on my sense of humor and often undertook Andy Kaufman-esque public pranks by enticing his friends to say and do bizarre things as we walked the hills of the various areas of early 90s Seattle. An exercise that Rich and I would do often was to ride on a public bus within which he would quiz me on all things Beanworld - "What is gunk'l'dunk?", "What are the four realities?", "Where did Mr. Spook get his trusty fork?" - and each time I would answer correctly. Both of us used voices loud enough that we were certain we could be overheard by those in our immediate vicinity. It gave us hours of amusement to have drawn-out conversations using as many Beanworld-specific words and phrases as possible knowing that those around us had no idea what we were talking about but that this bizarre topic had an undeniable inner-consistency.

Does that make any sense? It did to us, and it was a great source of amusement for us. In my mid-20s, I lived in Colorado Springs and got involved with an esoteric theater troupe. Those were vibrant, heady times with all-night conversations about cosmology, the Persian Gulf War (conducted by Bush the senior), Tom Waits, and Screaming Yellow Zonkers. Several of these friends of mine were open-minded enough about art that I could convince them to try some of my less-mainstream comics. Beanworld was a stand out. Everyone loved it. We talked about it whenever we gathered. Later many of us decided to rent a house together. We wanted this to be like a commune with all of us pitching in on everything and sharing everything. Without even a formal discussion, it just came to be known as "Beanworld." To this day whenever I'm in Colorado Springs, I'll usually run into someone from back then and they'll say, "Remember that time up at Beanworld when you and Raven drew on that huge piece of paper together for like twelve straight hours?" or the conga sessions or the hikes by moonlight on mountain trails. My attic room at "Beanworld" was festooned with huge copier blow-ups of panels from various B&W comics.

Some of yours that I distinctly remember were:

"Infesticate? Ya? Ya!" and "One eyeblink later" from pages 13 and 22 of issue 2

"So Mr. Spook explained." from page 9 of issue 3 "Looks good! Feels good! Sounds good!" and "I don't feel like doing anything." from pages 12 and 17 of issue 4

"It's true! My fork has an alien origin!" from page 15 of issue 5

"Hoka-Hoka-Hey!" from page 5 of issue 10 and the last panel on page 17 of issue 12.

If you can picture those reproduced at about 18" x 18" interspersed with other enlarged panels from Burden, Charles Burns, Steve Purcell, and others, you'll get some idea of how whimsical the walls of my room looked.

After my daughter, Aubri, was born in 1993, I lived a much quieter, family-centric life and taught myself the various tools needed to develop interactive multimedia. I've been a multimedia developer for the majority of the last 13 years. As anyone who spends any time with computers knows, one has to perpetually come up with usernames and passwords. Whenever its my choice and it satisfies the username parameters, I always choose "beanish".

Leading up to SPX 2002, it was announced that they'd be accepting submissions for that year's anthology from anyone, as long as it honored the biographic theme. I decided to finally write and draw a comic. 14 agonized-over pages later, I submitted my story on Jorge Luis Borges and literally nearly fainted when my first-time-submitting-anything-to-anybody story was selected and published.

Two years later at the maiden voyage of MoCCA, I premiered my first (and only, to date) self-published comic with a dedication to you on the inside cover. It has received many glowing reviews. Last year, I Googled your name and "beanworld". It was just something I'd do frome time to time. It had been over a decade since you had set aside Tales of the Beanworld to go work your magic at Image and I never really expected that the search engine would return any results that I hadn't seen a hundred times before, but hope lingered on. Next thing you know I'm calling my two dearest comic-loving friends and stammering on and on about how Larry Marder's making new Beanworld!

Larry Marder's making new Beanworld!! And so it came to pass. And when did "Larry Marder's Beanworld Holiday Special" arrive in stores? On December 17th, 2008. ...which also happened to be my 40th birthday.

Ain't life cool?

So anyway, thank you for all your hard work on your utterly charming creation and for returning to this story that has meant so much to me, my daughter, my friends, and my life. Words can not describe how excited I am to receive a WHOMPing huge new chapter of the saga of the beans when "Remember Here When You Are There!" arrives later this year. I've wanted to write you for so long but feared that I might gush too much and seem.. I dunno.. creepy? Hopefully that's not the case and I can get your mailing address and mail you my comic.

Thanks again,

Geoffrey Hawley

Oh yeah...life is oh so cool!
Meeting #1.
Yes, absolutely, I quite remember Cory insisting that I stop whatever it was that I was doing and sit down and inscribe your book because the clock was ticking and she had to get it into the mail in order for it to arrive on time. That is how Cory was, and is to this day, about getting me to do important things like that. Quite frankly, left on my own, I'll space out and sometimes, even though I have the best of intentions, I'll plain forget.



Meeting #2.
Deeper Issues.
Yes, I remember this page too.


The term "mentor book" is new to me.
But I get it.

And it is a lot better a term than the one I used to use which was "gateway book." which was to me a book that was a little like the Kansas farm door that Dorothy opens in Wizard of Oz to reveal a new world exploding with potential.

But I think the idea of a book that's "a well from which it would be impossible to dip too many times" is far more appropriate.

That's quite accurately describes the relationship I have with the work of Jack Kirby, R. Crumb, George Herimann, and Basil Wolverton.

I don't know if I've ever seen your 2002 SPX Borges piece or not.
I like Borges but I admit I haven't read a whole lot of his stuff.
I read the Labyrynths anthology in my late 20s, and even though I can't say I remember all the details of the stories, the haunting tone of the tales has stuck with me all these years.
Particularly the one about the library.


I sent a copy of your letter along to my editor, Diana Schutz and her reaction was pretty on the money: Too bad we don't have lettercols anymore.
Which is true.
For now, this blog will have to suffice.
Which brings me to email number three, also from Diana:


Larry, just got word: as expected, Beanworld book 3 took less time on the water than we allotted. It's due to ship from Diamond 11/25 for an in-store on-sale of 12/2. Perfect timing for Christmas shopping.


D.

I'll say!
So there's some news after all.
The on-the-shelf arrival of Remember Here When You Are There is now seemingly only days away!
The fifteen year wait is now less than 15 days from being over!


Thursday, November 12, 2009

Something You Should Know!



New England retailer, John Rovnaks, and the good folks at paneltopanel.net are running a terrific promotion for Remember Here When You Are There.

At no additional cost to you, the Beanworld fan, you can purchase a Here There graphic novel and receive a limited edition signed color bookplate--using a drawing that won't appear anywhere else.

One of my heroes, Gene Colan said "...I think Panel To Panel.Net is a sensational venture. One that I'm eager to lend my name and hand to!

Me too!

As my ol' pal Stephen R. Bissette has said, "If we can't get more John Rovnaks in this world, let's all support the John Rovnak we've got...".

Couldn't have said it better myself!

LARRY MARDER'S BEANWORLD VOLUME 3:
REMEMBER HERE WHEN YOU ARE THERE!
w/exclusive signed P2P bookplate
$19.95

Fifteen years in the making, Remember Here When You Are There! completes the "Springtime" cycle of stories, in which the perfect harmony of the Beanworld is interrupted for the first time.Larry Marder's Beanworld is a most peculiar comic book experience, inspired by equal parts Jack Kirby, Native American mythology, Marcel Duchamp, and Robert Crumb. Now, Marder returns to his sui generis creation with the first in a series of original Beanworld graphic novels!Chock full of characters new and old, this volume sees the Pod'l'pool Cuties learn to fly; Beanish efforts to write a love song; and the long-anticipated return of Heyoka and the Big Fish to the Beanworld!

Each Copy purchased here, at Panel to Panel, will include an exclusive signed bookplate created by Larry Marder.

-------------
THIS JUST IN:

Check out the P2P interview with Larry Marder here!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

A NEW Tuesday Tantalyzing Teaser!


While we are all waiting for Remember Here When You Are There! to arrive and go on sale, I thought I'd show you something completely different.

It's an uncorrected panel (without its lettering) from a non-Beanworld, non-Dark Horse project that I'm doing for an old friend of mine.

I don't believe the project has been announced yet.

When it is...you'll be the first to know.

Meanwhile, there are also several unannounced Beanworld Dark Horse projects slotted onto next year's work schedule.

More on those later too.



Wednesday, November 4, 2009

“Myths communicate with each other by means of men and without men knowing it.”



Claude Levi-Strauss has died at age 100.

I’ll be honest; I didn’t realize that he was still alive.

I quite enjoyed reading his books long, long ago in the ‘70s. The influence his writings had on me is hard to measure. I never read Levi-Strauss in any sort of academic setting which might have been a good thing for someone like me.

I’ve said it before and this is as good a time to say it again. One of the things I learned from Duchamp is that an artist can read philosophy and science and pick and chose the bits and pieces, and stir it into the recipe of the art piece he or she is baking. I definitely did that with Levi-Strauss. The fact that I used a cooking reference to make that point is kind of Levi-Strauss-ian. That’s definitely what I did with the shards and fragments of Levi-Strauss’ writings as they found homes in my thought processes.

I can’t claim that I understand most of his writing, it’s very dense. But I fixated very early onto one idea of his: myths aren’t just false stories or silly fairy tales but that underneath the nonsense of mythology there is a message that makes sense.

What the words of the myth describe isn’t what the myth is about. Underneath or inside the myth with all its outlandish and puzzling plot twists and character transformations there are messages from some other time and place. The thing to study in mythology is its structure.

I drive my friends crazy as I poke around looking for the underlying structure of films TV shows, books, and comics. It was through Levi-Strauss that I discovered the structure of the Grail Myth which can be summarized as this: The bumpkin must prove himself worthy to be in the presence of great the Grail's enormous power.

So that can be Parsifal not asking the Fisher King what the Horn of Plenty is, Dorothy not asking what all the excitement is about regarding the Ruby slippers, or Luke Skywalker flipping up the mechanical gun sight and trusting the Force.
And on and on.

Levi-Strauss’ writings compared about 800 myths of the South American bands of the Ge language group. The one myth that had the most profound influence on me was The Origin of Cultivated Plants (which pretty much means maize/corn).


So many of these stories started out with something like “in addition to the meat they hunted, the people mostly ate rotten wood.”

Rotten wood?
What’s up with that nonsense?

Depending on the individual transcription there would follow all sorts of crazy adventures, but generally in the end, a deity most often named Star-Woman (often in the shape of frog or mouse) would reveal the existence of corn to the worthy, and they no longer had to eat rotten wood.


After I had a few Beanworld stories under my belt, I decided to see if I could try to write a story like that.


The result was Big Fish Story, now found in Wahoolazuma!
I got close enough to my goal to be pleased with the result.


Levi-Strauss famously said “Myths communicate with each other by means of men and without men knowing it.”


I can’t exactly explain why I think that is true, but I do.

Whatever Beanworld is, it is nestled in a tradition of storytelling that goes way, way back into….hmmmmm…where does it go back to?
Not so sure.
Somewhere!
Somewhen.

It shares a structural foundation with all sorts of myths that lead to other myths that lead to other myths. I think that is why a common appreciation of Beanworld is that it somehow resonates inside the imagination of the reader. I think that goes back to Levi-Strauss' observation that “Myths communicate with each other by means of men and without men knowing it.”

Well, anyway, I learned a lot from reading pretty much all of Levi-Strauss’s published works, and I learned even more from reading about Levi-Strauss.

Two survey books were pretty important to my thinking about of Levi-Strauss. Claude Levi-Strauss: An Introduction by Octavio Paz and Claude Levi Strauss by Edmund Leach.

Both highly recommended.