I've met the Clangers and nothing will ever be the same!

I woke up the other day to an email from Neil Gaiman.

In my world (and I suspect everyone else's) any day that begins with an email from Neil is a prime indicator that the day is going to be an extraordinary day.

And it was.

Neil wrote:

Larry,

Has anyone ever pointed you at Clangers, the UK TV series?

For years I've been wondering what Beanworld sort of reminded me of, and this evening watching a documentary it suddenly came into focus, and I thought, Clangers....

In a weird, upside down kind of way, mind....

N

I checked it out and watched the first Clangers that came up on YouTube: The Intruder.

I was immediately intrigued....then charmed....and by the introduction of the Music Trees I was Enchanted For Life!

I watched one episode after another.

My favorites being Music of the Spheres,
Music of the Trees,
and
The Tablecloth.

I wrote back to Neil:

No one has EVER mentioned the Clangers before.
Up until today, I've never HEARD of the Clangers, but now I've been thoroughly charmed and totally addicted!

And I am.

The Clangers were shown on BBC from 1969 to 1972. "The series was made by Smallfilms, the company set up by Oliver Postgate (writer and narrator) and Peter Firmin (modelmaker, animator and illustrator). Firmin designed the characters and his wife knitted and 'dressed' the Clangers. Music – which was often part of the story – was by Vernon Elliott."

The main characters are Major Clanger, Mother Clanger, Granny Clanger, Small Clanger, and Tiny Clanger. And then there is Soup-Dragon, Iron Chicken and the Froglets.

The little movies are described on Wikipedia as being "short stories about a family of mouse-like creatures who live on, and in, a small grey planet in dark space. They speak in whistles, and eat green soup harvested by the Soup Dragon."

The Clangers website says:

"A Clanger’s life is far from dull, theirs is a world where music grows on trees and notes, when collected may be used to propel space borne craft. It is a place where the most unexpected things can happen and usually do.

The problems and situation that arise, or perhaps arrive, in their world are of course, much the same as ours but as their circumstances are so different the ways they have of dealing with them are different - original, unexpected and often profoundly sensible."

Yeahhhhhhh...that sounds rather familiar, doesn't it?
And like Beanworld, there is a lot of emphasis on food!
Amazing stuff like Blue String Pudding and Soup Wells.

No need for me to blather on like and idiot...go see for yourself.

As Neil and I communicated back and forth on the particulars of my Clangers driven enlightenment, I told him that one of the extra-special reasons I found the Clangers so personally awe inspiring was : the Clangers have no mouths.

To digress a bit, anyone who has ever asked me about the possibility of Beanworld migrating to other media have generally heard me say something like:

"I'm game as long as whoever is considering it understands that the Beans have no mouths. Beans with mouths don't live in the Beanworld. Bean-like creatures with mouths are Veggie Tales, California Raisins, or those-two-worded-plush-doll-usurpers-from -over-the-sea-that-I-am-obligated-to -peacefully-co-exist-with. Beanworld can never have Beans with mouths!

Now that I've met the Clangers I recognize that one potential solution could be a narrator. Something to seriously ponder when (and if) the day ever comes when I'm told "But the audience won't understand it if they talk and don't have mouths"

As Cory always points out, no one was confused Dug the Dog while watching UP.
Dug did have a mouth but it didn't move as he talked.

As Neil wrote later:
And yes, the Clangers really did solve so many problems that you might get from Beanworld, including simply the problem of going "but this is too weird for the world?" and no, it's not.

He's right.
It's not.

I summed this all up when I wrote back:

"Meeting the Clangers has been is a game-changing/mind-blowing-experience for me and how to strategize negotiating with the Powers of the Entertainment Omniverse....something I haven't really been to keen on lately. Really cannot express how much this day has been appreciated here.

Neil's response was simple and to the point:

Dear Larry,
I made you happy!
This made my day.
Neil

And that, my friends, is a hell of a way to end a day!
Thanks, Neil!

Neil Gaiman/Larry Marder drawing up for auction at CBLDF!

The press release says:

The CBLDF celebrates the 20th Anniversary of Neil Gaiman's landmark
creation Sandman with an auction of incredible original art!

Up for grabs are exciting pieces of Sandman memorabilia, including
individual works from the 20th Anniversary Poster by Colleen Doran, Mark
Buckingham, Richard Case, Jill Thompson and more! Also included are art jams
featuring Neil Gaiman and special guest artists like Mike Mignola, Paul Pope,
Jeff Smith, Eduardo Risso, Darwyn Cooke, Amanda Conner, and many others! We are
also offering a special convention premium from 2004's Fiddler's Green
convention, and a 1994 copy of The Comics Journal with Neil on the cover!
To bid on these items, go here!

Ah, but for me, it's a lot more than that. First let's go to Neil's words that he recently wrote on Nov 6th on his blog while plugging an interview of mine.

"Larry and I were friends for years, stopped being friends during the McFarlane nonsense, when he was working for Todd and not making art, and then went back to being friends again when he stopped working to Todd and started
doing comics again." \

As I'm sure many of you are well aware, those were some pretty odd, and often stressful, times for me during those years. Private conversations you had with a friend, years later become evidence in a court of law. And all of a sudden you are being cross examined (literally!) by an attorney who's job it is is to try get you tangled up in your memories about things you didn't know you were going to have to remember years later. Probably the most painful thing about my years at McFarlane was the barrier that this put in my friendship with Neil Gaiman.

Well, once I was no longer employed by Todd McFarlane, Neil and I were no longer required to be in an adversarial position grimacing at each other across a bloody playing field.

The first time I actually ran into Neil was at a CBLDF function in New York City. It was so great to be able to shake his hand and hug him hello and not have it be strained. The pic at the left is a documentation of that meeting.

Anyway, for that event Neil did a whole bunch of drawing that took up about half a page on a 5" x 7" stock (really nice paper as I recall). It was first come first served as far as who picked out which drawing. But I definitely remember Jeff Smith, Jim Valentino, Colleen Doran and Paul Pope scribbling like mad that night. (Hmmmm, probably Nikki Cook too).

Well all of those drawings and a whole lot more, are up for auction for at a special CBLDF Sandman Birthday site.

And yes, there are some incredibly good drawings there, but, I'm not sure any of them are quite as unique as being a documentation of the rebirth of Neil Gaiman and Larry Marder friendship.

But that is exactly what this drawing is.

And it can be yours! Yes, I know times are tough, and money is getting ever tighter, but the good work that CBLDF does is just as important as it ever has been--if not more. So, if you like me and Beanworld and if you love Neil and Sandman--this is a hell of an artifact to have in your home!