GUNK'L'DUNK e-mail newsletter for fans of _Tales_of_the_Beanworld_ ___ / \ A | . . | | | | -- Hoka Hoka HEY! ----+ \_/ +---E | | | \-+-+-/ | | L L -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Issue 01, 20 September 1991 Gunk'l'dunk is here to provide a forum for fans of Larry Marder's _Tales of the Beanworld_ (TOTB), and to promote wider readership of this unique comic. Compiled by Jeremy York, jeremy@stat.washington.edu Submissions, and comments on content and/or format gladly accepted! Header art this issue by John Fiala, jf2z+@andrew.cmu.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INFORMATION AND ADMINISTRIVIA We have nearly 40 subscribers at the moment; a full list is appended to the end of this issue. A supplementary file, sent under seperate cover, is a TOTB index by Tim Tjarks (tjarks@iedit1.att.com). It contains plot synopsis for each TOTB through #17, lists of major and minor players, etc. Also, it begins with a fairly complete intro to the Beanworld. I've only read the intro and a little of the index, because I didn't want to spoil the surprises that are waiting in the issues I have yet to read. The idea of this newsletter is that it be written by the same folks who read it, so don't be shy about sending something in. If I get a decent flow of stuff for the newsletter, it should be going out about every two weeks. I'd appreciate it if you would label your e-mail like "this part for Bean News, this part for Misc. Discussion", etc, but free-form ranting and raving will be gladly accepted too. Also, more ASCII art gladly accepted. A complimentary forum to Gunk'l'dunk is the comix mailing list (send subscription requests to comix-request@world.std.com). That list is devoted to independently distributed, non-superhero comics, and TOTB discussions are welcome. The comix list allows for fast, spontaneous discussion which is impossible with a newsletter. If you don't feel like subscribing to the comix list, I will be including all the Beanworld discussion there in each Gunk'l'dunk. WANTED : More subscribers! Feel free to advertise this newsletter through any local means, and give my e-mail address out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTIONS From: Rick Innis Rick Innis, age 28, software craftsman about to start years of penury as a grad student (MSc this year, PhD after that), sometime poet, musician and writer, and a mean hand in the kitchen to boot. Dicovered ToTB when a friend lent me his flatmate's copy of the collected volume of ToTB 1-4; picked up #16 in a local comic shop a while ago; financial penury has prevented me from keeping up/catching up since, but soon, soon. Also partial to Redfox, Big Numbers, Vampire Lestat and Give Me Liberty. ********gunk'l'dunk******** From: dave (DCOSTA%DREW.BITNET@bitnet.cc.cmu.edu) My name is, as you know, Dave Costa. I'm a 19-year old sophomore at Drew University in New Jersey originally from eastern Massachusetts. My other comic-book interests have recently been dwindling and now include only _Hellblazer_, _The Sandman_, _Doom Patrol_, and _Miracleman_. I have read almost every issue of _Tales_, and it wasn't easy finding them all, as newcomers to the series must be discovering. I am also interested in weird music (Residents, ya-ya!) as well as role-playing- and war- games. In fact, I've been considering adapting the Beanworld into an RPG campaign, although now I think the Goofy Jerks might provide much better material. Boy that was a long introduction. ********gunk'l'dunk******** From: mike@b.cambridge.ibm.com (Mike Wojcik) I started reading Beanworld around #17 (which is about when I got back into shopping for new series after a period of only buying more issues of a few favorites like Cerebus and Zot!). I'm extremely impressed by the book, and I'd be interested in discussing it. Unfortunately, I won't be at this Internet address for long, and (what with moving on to grad school) don't know when I'll have a new one. [Don't worry, Mike. I plan on announcing each new gunk'l'dunk in rec.arts.comics and other places, so just keep plugged in -- jeremy] ********gunk'l'dunk******** From Rich Salz (rsalz@bbn.com) I'm 30 year old scientist at BBN working in distributed computing systems. Got into comics around Cerebus #70, then started buying every single B&W that came out. I started doing this about three months before the "glut" Beanworld lasted. ********gunk'l'dunk******** From : Tim Tjarks (tjarks@iedit1.att.com) I'm a computer scientist at AT&T Bell Labs in Naperville, IL, developing test tools for telephone switches. I'm originally from western Iowa. I'm 33, married for 12 years, and I've got four children. My interests are comics collecting (my collecting interest is DC comics, primarily Superman-family titles, Legion, "Showcase", and short run silver-age titles), watching and coaching baseball (coaching little league), and APAs. I currently a member (and Central Mailer, for a couple more months) of Legends APA . I've been buying, reading, and enjoying "Tales of the Beanworld" since the first issue. ********gunk'l'dunk******** A letter by am110@cleveland.freenet.edu (Philip J. Flores) appeared in TOTB #12; it's no surprise I missed this, because I had lost his name and have never read #12! Any other brushes with Beanworld greatness? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BEAN NEWS Good news, folks! The second Beanworld collection is on the way. Eclipse says that the book will be shipping in November 1991. Here are some excerpts from "Eclipse Extra" no. 83, their monthly trade info brochure: "Larry Marder's Beanworld : Volume Two collects material from the hard-to-find issues #5-7 of the comic book series Tales of the Beanworld. These issues received a Kirby Awards nomination for Best B & W comic in 1987. "The new collection contains four stories. 'The Float Factor' is the tale in which the artist Beanish first visits his secret muse, Dreamishness. "In 'Yeah, Yeah! The Clang Twang!,' the Boom'r Band, a wild and wacky trio of musicians, utilize Mystery Pods to create a new sound which has the beans dancing uncontrollably. 'This is my favorite issue,' says Marder. 'I just loved the concept of "perilous music!" ' "In a sequel to 'The Clang Twang' episode, the Boom'r Band's hit song inadvertently aids in Professor Garbanzo's creation of 'New and Improved Gunk'l'dunk,' an all purpose adhesive. Marder cryptically comments 'The music that is unfit for dancing finds a wholesome industrial use.' "In 'Proffy, the Snoopy Anthropologist,' which originally ran in two parts in TOTB issues #3 and #5, Professor Garbanzo vainly tries to observe the gambling customs of the avaricious Hoi-Polloi Ring Herd without influencing their actions. "A limited edition signed and numbered clothbound version with dustjacket will also be available, for which Larry Marder will 'individualize' each 'readymade' copy. "Larry Marder's Beanworld : Volume 2. Story and art : Larry Marder. 104 pp, b&w graphic album. Softcover $9.95. Limited edition signed and numbered hardcover with dustjacket, $32.95" Once again, that's supposed to be shipping in November according to Eclipse. The cover seems to be a scene from "Proffy, the Snoopy Anthropologist". ********gunk'l'dunk******** No word yet that TOTB #20 is close to hitting the stands, best guess is that it'll be another couple of months. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TALES FROM THE MARDERWORLD Only Mac and Fidonet hacks will probably be interested in this stuff -- The possibility of getting Larry on-line is getting closer. Thanks to Ron Hale-Evans I've obtained a share-ware Mac program (MacWoof) that makes accessing fidonet pretty easy. Here's what else will have to be done : * Find out if Larry has a modem, and whether he's even interested in being able to exchange electronic mail with us -- he's a busy guy. * If Larry's running version 7.0 on his Mac, we need to find him something called a serial tool. If he's running an earlier version, we need to find him that plus the communications toolbox. * Find a fidonet "boss" for Larry, hopefully one that's only a local call. I have no idea how one gets set up as a "point" under a fidonet "boss". * Pay the $25 MacWoof registration fee -- it'd be nice if we could chip in and pay for this ourselves. Also, I wonder what a fidonet boss charges its points... * Ideally, one of us with a mac should try the whole process of installing Macwoof, getting set up as a point, and experimenting with exchanging mail with an internet address. * Put together easy-to-follow, detailed instructions to send to Larry. Volunteers are needed -- if left to do this myself, it's going to take several months at least. First, we should wait and find out if Larry's interested... Also, is there an easier way to do this? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ESSAYS, STORIES, INFORMATION FILES, ETC Dave Costa (DCOSTA%DREW.BITNET@bitnet.cc.cmu.edu) sent me some stuff that will be of interest to new TOTB readers : BREAK-OUT: Bean culture evolves through this process. In issue #4, we saw one of the regular Beans discover Art and become Beanish. That issue also referred to the time when the Boom'r Beans discovered Music. It seems likely that at one point Proffy was also a normal Bean before she discovered Science, although this would have to be very, very long ago; in fact, before the arrival of Mr. Spook. Which brings me to... MR. SPOOK: He ain't a Bean! He is the HERO. But it appears that he is not what he was once supposed to be. Many of his qualities are similar to those of the Beans' "enemies" the Hoi-Polloi. Mr. Spook doesn't remember much before he found Proffy and some or all of the other Beans near death from starvation. Without Mr. Spook, the Beans would probably be in trouble. HIS FORK: Once upon a time, Mr. Spook had a big fork. Here is its story: The Big-Fish in the sky was flying around one day and saw what looked like some nice juicy worms. But when he chomped them he found that they had become a shiny fork that stuck painfully in his tongue. He floundered until he came across Spook who pulled the fork out for him. He then "gifted" the fork to Spook as the Hero's Reward. It turns out that the fork sweetened Sprout Butts and thus made Chow tasty, whereas it was once vile. Then some Goofy Jerks tried to steal the fork since it is made out of a valuable metal (known to the Jerks as Tubalu Squibrish and to the Beans as Notworms). They failed, but broke the fork back into its four component pieces. Three pieces were recovered and recombined into a pole, and the fourth eventually began following Mr. Spook around, but only the Big-Fish can repair the fork fully. [New readers will find more great explanations in the introduction to the Beanworld Index by Tim Tjarks (tjarks@iedit1.att.com), mailed under seperate cover] ********gunk'l'dunk******** Sources for obtaining _Tales_of_the_Beanworld_ (compiled by Jeremy York with Neil Ottenstein) If/when you find a shop that actually stocks TOTB, talk to them. Bother them. Ask if they'll reserve a copy for you. I think that one thing that TOTB fans can do to promote the book is just to buy it, and let the stores know that you'll keep buying it. A few fans can probably keep a store ordering it, so it'll be on the shelf for newbies to notice. The usual comics mentality/scene makes me very uncomfortable, and I've found a lot of comic shop employees to be either really weird or really aloof (though there are nice ones out there). However, I feel like we've got to grit our teeth and put up with it, or else simple market economy forces are going to shove us under. That said, here's ways to get back issues -- The Beanworld Press : Larry Marder has advertised in #18 and #19 that he is selling backissues from his own vaults. He promises that each issue you buy will be signed - a big plus! Here's more detailed info -- I take no responsibility for any mistakes or inaccuracies. When in doubt, check with Larry first. Prices are valid until NOVEMBER 1 Larry Marder's Beanworld : Book One (reprints issues #1-4) Soft cover (second edition) $12.00 Limited Edition signed Hardcover with original art $35.00 #1 "The Legend of Pop! Pop! Pop!" (sold out) xxxxx #2 "Too Much Chow" $8.00 #3 "Big Fish Story" $7.00 #4 "Beanish Breaks Out!" $5.00 #5 "The Float Factor" $4.00 #6 "Yeah! Yeah! The Clang Twang" $4.00 #7 "New & Improved Gunk'l'dunk!" $3.25 #8 "Deep Down; Down Deep" $3.25 #9 "A Gift! A Gift Comes!" $3.25 #10 "Pod'l'pool Past, Pod'l'pool Present" $3.25 #11 "Notworm Madness!" $3.00 #12 "Something Growing! Something Slowing!" $3.00 #13 "Cutie Cutie Boom Boom!" $3.00 #14 "Uh Oh!" $3.00 #15 "Jump'n Beanish" $3.00 #16 "Love and Sprout-Butts" $3.00 #17 "The Mystery Pods Must Go!" $3.00 #18 "Boom the Poing Poing" $3.00 #19 "Upsidedown & Backwards" $3.00 Prices include shipping if you live in the US; foreign orders pay in US funds only. Make check/money order payable to The Beanworld Press, Inc. Foreign orders : add postage as follows : (1-3 comics) $1.00/(4-6 comics) $1.50/(7-9 comics) $2.00 (10-12 comics) $2.50/(13-16 comics) $3.00/(17-19 comics) $3.50 (20+ comics) $4.00/Soft cover book $2.00/Hard cover book $3.00 Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Send orders to : The Beanworld Press, Inc. 1938 N. Sheffield Chicago IL 60614 USA Eclipse Comics : This information taken from Eclipse Back Issue Ad; although I requested and received it mid-September, it says prices good through September 31, 1991. However, the ad looks *identical* to one I received from them a year ago, and the prices listed haven't changed since last year's ad. Only issues through #16 are listed, though I'm sure they could provide you with 17, 18, and 19 as well, probably for the $2.25 price. Since they don't seem to update this list, we can't really be sure that they have all these issues in stock still. I *think* they give you credit (not a refund) for any part of an order that's out of stock. When in doubt, contact Eclipse directly. Larry Marder's Beanworld : Book One (reprints issues #1-4) Soft cover (second edition) $10.95 Limited Edition signed Hardcover with original art $30.95 #1 $25.00 #2 $ 7.00 #3 $ 3.00 #4 $ 1.75 #5 $ 1.75 #6 - #16 $ 2.25 each Write your order on an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper, including your name and address. Minimum order is $4.00. Pay in US funds only, by money order or by check (drawn on a US bank), also by American Express for orders over $20. Shipping charges already included in prices for US customers. Non-US customers, Eclipse's method for figuring shipment is pretty complicated, get in touch with them yourself, or e-mail me. Send orders & inquiries to : Eclipse Comics PO Box 1099 Forestville, California 95436 USA 1 - 800 - 468 - 6828 (credit card orders, toll free call) (707) 887 - 1521 (the secretary there is very nice) (707) 887 - 7128 (FAX - if paying by American Express, and order is over $20, you can fax them your order) Westfield Comics (info courtesey of Neil Ottenstein) : The address for Westfield Comics is 8608 University Green P. O. Box 470 Middleton, WI 53562 USA Customer Service: (608)836-1945 They have a minimum monthly order of $10. The discount is 25%, but if you order $75 or more then you get an extra discount of 5%, and if you order $150 or more the extra discount is a 10%. They changed this year from ordering one month in advance to three months in advance. So, basically you order just about when the retailers do. We have long since ordered Tales of the Beanworld 20, but I do not think we have ordered 21 yet. Other Sources : Forbidden Planet in London is an interesting place. I don't recall what neighborhood it's in, but look it up in the phone book and get yourself a handy A-Z street map book at any newstand. They have hundreds of titles on their shelves, and usually a decent selection of back issues and trade paperbacks. There's another smaller more indie oriented store in the same neighborhood, but I've forgotten the name of it. I got my first TOTB at FP, and from reading the lettercol, it seems that several other Americans have gotten their first exposure to TOTB while in London. FP has several other stores in the UK, but I don't know how good they are. Are there any mondo mega comic stores in the US or elsewhere worth making a special trip to? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTESTS - no volunteer judges/moderators have popped up yet. I will pull this section soon if no one speaks up. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION From Ron Hale-Evans (Evans@binah.cc.brandeis.edu) Has anyone noticed the similarity between Beanworld and alife systems like cellular automata (e.g. the game of Life)? People who like Beanworld may want to read *The Planiverse* by A.K. Dewdney, about a 2D universe inhabited by little 2D intelligences. Has a bit of the same feel, plenty of illos, and plenty of detail. [Is this anything like Flatland? That's a real old, mathematical sort of book about a square who lives in two dimensions; the square meets a three dimensional sphere. That story is very sterile, though, and has ideas about social classes and women that are offensive to some - jeremy] ********gunk'l'dunk******** From Dave Costa (DCOSTA%DREW.BITNET@bitnet.cc.cmu.edu) Would y'all say that the first TP is worth ordering just for the reprint of #1 (as I have #s 2-4) and whatever "unpublished material" is included? [My opinion is yes, yes, yes. "The Legend Of Pop! Pop! Pop!" is the most action-filled TOTB ever, and shows creatures and things from elsewhere in the Big Big Picture unlike any others you've seen. Also, the extra material is a two page essay by Larry, "The Evolution of My Personal Myth", and four pages of old sketches from the formative days of the Beanworld --jeremy] ********gunk'l'dunk******** From comix@world.std.com From: otten@quark.umd.edu (Neil Ottenstein) Beanworld is just about the most fun comic that I have ever read. It is a sheer delight each and every issue. It is jsut too bad more people don't regularly read it. At the SanDiegoComicCon Larry Marder had a stack of one issue just sitting there for free(!) and I don't think a large percentage of them were taken. The only shop in my area around here which gets it is The Closet of Comics and they seem to get about 10 copies of each issue. I don't think any other shop gets any. ********gunk'l'dunk******** From Jeremy York (jeremy@stat.washington.edu) Rich Salz (rsalz@bbn.com) posted to the comix list, asking what we thought of the jump-cut style in #19. I responded that it helped pull us back down to familiar ground, instead of coming unstuck in the story (like Heyoka!) and losing interest. I mentioned one of my favorite sets of novels, Gormenghast, by Mervyn Peake. The first two books build up an incredible setting and cast of characters, as a new king is born in a decaying sprawling castle. But the young king eventually leaves the castle, as you know he must, to venture out into the Big Big Picture in the last book. The settings get so weird and whirl by so quick that the final book is hard to follow -- you can't relate to anything after the familiar setting is completely abandoned. The jump-cut style in #19 avoided this sort of problem by bringing us back to familiar characters and places. Rich Salz (rsalz@bbn.com) replies : You liked Gormenghast? I thought the first two were really neat, but I only read the third because I couldn't leave it unfinished... :-) I liked the jumpcut style for the same reasons you did. The main thread was VERY funky, and needed "lightening." The big hatbox is funny! ********gunk'l'dunk******** From Tim Tjarks (tjarks@iedit1.att.com) Most amazing revelation (to me) in the latest issue: Those are MASKS that the Spear Flingin'Flanker's wear! ********gunk'l'dunk******** From comix@world.std.com From Jeremy York (jeremy@stat.washington.edu) Just what the heck is going on with Heyoka? The other breakout beans play parts that exist in human society too - artist, inventer, musician, hero. But what's a Heyoka? What do they do, and why? Mr. Teach'm comments that there's one for every Pod'l'Pool world - why? Do they all float away like this Heyoka? I wouldn't think so, 'cause everyone seemed to be surprised to see her when she floated into the factory area. I think this is the single weirdest thing I've seen happen in the time I've been reading Beanworld. From comix@world.std.com From: autodesk!unreal!robertj@fernwood.mpk.ca.us (Young Rob Jellinghaus) The analogy that leaped into my mind was the Native American equivalent of the heyoka. There were Amerindians who did everything backwards; I remember little about them, but I seem to recall they were associated with powerful magic and vision quests. Seems to fit.... [about this being the weirdest issue, Rob says...] Rats! And here it's the only issue I've ever read... hope the other issues won't be anticlimactic.... ********gunk'l'dunk******** From Jeremy York : In #19, Mr. Teach'm is lecturing to three young heroes who look something like Goofy Jerks, but their "tails" aren't tu'ba'lu squib'r'ish, and their heads are famous comic characters. The Charlie Brown lil' mister was obvious (with the strip from his shirt as a tail, what a riot); another looks familiar, maybe from Krazy Kat and Ignatz? I'm not sure about the one who's all chin. Finally, I and many other readers I'm sure would like to hear from any of you who know about some of Larry's influences -- such as Native American mythos, Marcel Duchamp, George Herriman, etc. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTRIBUTERS/SUBSCRIBERS eda@persoft.com (Ed Almasy) barger@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Jorn Barger) mkb@mica.berkeley.edu (Mike Brodhead) jacob@taitastigon.tcs.com (Jacob Butcher) bc@last.cac.washington.edu (Brian Chin) chryses@xurilka.uucp (Phong T. Co) bam8rlc@cabell.vcu.edu (Richard L. Corcoran) vicka@wrq.com (Vicka Corey) DCOSTA%DREW.BITNET@bitnet.cc.cmu.edu (Dave Costa) cro6@midway.uchicago.edu (John Crocker) paul@media-lab.media.mit.edu (Paul Dworkin) tiktok@milton.u.washington.edu (Steve Feldon) jf2z+@andrew.cmu.edu (John Charles Fiala) WUGCRC@wums2.wustl.edu (Dan Flasar) am110@cleveland.freenet.edu (Philip J. Flores) GRF101@psuvm.psu.edu (Glenn Frantz) goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) EVANS@binah.cc.brandeis.edu (Ronald Hale-Evans) ST701134@brownvm.brown.edu (Danny Horn) rick@cstr.edinburgh.ac.edu (Rick Innis) kenj@kambo.asd.sgi.com (Ken Jones) yummyfur@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Stephen K Jusick) jamesc@eng.sun.com (James Langdell) don@tse.UUCP (Don Marks) warden@triton.unm.edu (Scott Micheel) otten@quark.umd.edu (Neil Ottenstein) samr@gargoyle.uchicago.edu (Samuel A. Rebelsky) nestene@css.itd.umich.edu (Peter Waard Riley) rons@midway.uchicago.edu (Josh Ronsen) sadoyama@argon.berkeley.edu (Eric Sadoyama) rsalz@bbn.com (Rich Salz) schlatt@math.berkeley.edu (Mark Schlatter) tjarks@iedit1.att.com (Tim Tjarks) mike@b.cambridge.ibm.com (Mike Wojcik) jeremy@stat.washington.edu (Jeremy York) karl@tiger1.prime.com (Karl E. Zimmerman) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End, Gunk'l'dunk #01