Larry Marder's Beanworld: 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: