Sweet Home Chicago

Now I know where I am! Cory and I are in Chicago. Right now, we are visiting my family in the north shore suburbs. We're here for their respective birthdays--which fall exactly two weeks apart. It's going to be my Mom's 80th (as seen above in front of a few of my pieces) and my Dad's 93rd.

Where Am I Anyway?

Whew...what a week. On Monday I went and visited Xavier Leonard at the Heads On Fire Fab Lab in San Diego. Tuesday I had lunch with Fae Desmond, Executive Director of Comic Con International at Filippi's Pizza Grotto on India Street, my favorite San Diego eatery since my first SC Con in '85. (If I remember correctly, one year, Dandy Don Simpson and I ate there every night of the con. And that was the place where Don got the idea for his wacky paper hats!)

Tomorrow Cory and I are heading to Chicago for a week to do family stuff.

Yes, I know the teaser is late. Well...the above is a slice of something-coming up.

Back From Vegas and a McCloud Clan Afternoon

Me with the McCloud clan at Meltdown Comics.

The ComicsPRO conference was a lot of fun.The Graphitti Designs presentation seemed to havegotten the message across that was desired. It's good to be back in the comic book saddle again.

The hotel, Texas Station, was totally surreal. It had a theme that was somewhat western cross pollinated with a Victorian train station motif. I've never been in Las Vegas and seen the casino bars and restaurants shut down. I failed to take any pictures but Jeff Smith did so maybe they will turn up on Boneville one of these days.

Yesterday, I met the McCloud clan at Canter's Deli for lunch. We did some quick shopping across the across the street at Family, and sped off to say hello to Bryan Lee O'Malley who was signing Scott Pilgrim books at Meltdown Comics.

Scott Pilgrim just got optioned for a movie at Universal--so I have my fingers crossed for him.

Also met Hope Larsen for the first time. She had the most amazing home-made portable drawing board travelling kit I've ever seen. Didn't get a good picture of it though

Bryan Lee O'Malley looking thrilled to meet the old Beanworld guy.

The McCloud clan (plus Sky's friend, Kendra) with Hope Larsen.

Hello I Must Be Going!

Back in the old days that are being written about on Boneville , my friend, Rick Veitch always used to say, "When Larry Marder goes silent--it usually means he's up to something interesting."

Well, I have been. Some of it I can talk about, some of it I can't--yet. Some of it I can hint at. All of it is good.

I'm wrapping up a presentation project for Graphitti Designs that will be given at the ComicsPRO gathering in Las Vegas at the end of this week. In fact, as soon as I'm done posting, it's out the door, into the car, and Bob Chapman and I will be hitting the road. (He gets to play Raoul Duke today and I'm Dr. Gonzo).

As a lot of you may know, I love contemplating, writing, and creating marketing projects intended to sell things in the comic book specialty marketplace. Bob Chapman is a great client to collaborate with.

And working with him has been a great warm-up for the Beanworld presentation I'm going to give @ Stumptown Comics Fest next month. It should be a good one!

Now the picture above. It's quite the historical photo. It was taken at WonderCon and it documents the actual moment when I gave away the first FREE Beanworld Action in almost a decade at a comic book convention. The first customer was none other than Bob Schreck of DC Comics who just happened to be walking by. (Actually, now that I look at it, maybe it's more of an hysterical documentation!)

Now . speaking of Beanworld Action Figures, we can segue into this week's Tantalizing Teaser, which is a day late (but hopefully not a dime short.)

Here it is:



This shows two sides of the same Beanworld Action Figure made out of a pizza box on a small laser cutter in the Fab Lab in Sustainable South Bronx, the incredible community organization founded by Majora Carter.

(The drawing of the shape was digitally drawn by someone else--who had never seen or heard of me, Beanworld, let alone a Beanworld Action Figure before and was following me tracing a finger in the air. Not a bad job at all!)

What's a Fab Lab?

Fab Labs are an outgrowth of a class that Neil Gershenfeld taught at MIT: "How to make (almost) anything."

He explains it far better than I can in this video.
Read about Fab Labs here.
Also the Fab Charter is worth a read.

Okay...so why is Larry Marder mixed in with all these amazing folks and organizations?

Well....let's just say:

Fab Labs bring out the Professor Garbanzo in me!

A Few Personal Thoughts About Dave Stevens

I was on the road when the news of Dave Steven's untimely passing flashed through the world of comics like a raging wildfire.

I really liked Dave. I did not know him that well--but he was a very good friend of many of my very good friends. And he spent several years at Eclipse Comics when I was on board at that publishing concern--both as Beanworld creator and a behind-the-scenes marketing consultant.

Dave was the first person that said that Beanworld Action Figures had "little faces." Which struck me as interesting because they were just little dabs of ink. He was such an incredibly gifted renderer, but he "got" what I was doing. I appreciated that.

He was not only an amazing artist he was also incredibly humble and gracious. I was at some convention or another when the comic book (or perhaps the catalog solicitation) sporting the cover with the above illustration showed up and Eclipse editor-in-chief, cat yronwode, and I were marveling at it when Dave strolled up and cat gave him a look-see.

I will never forget his reaction.

He said, "Oh dear. I could have done better. I left way too much purple on my brush."

I'm not the first to observe that Dave truly didn't seem to appreciate his own incredible talent. But the rest of us did.

I know he had a long, hard struggle the last few years and I hope he rests in peace.

He will definitely be remembered by a multitude of people who just adored the man and his work.