GUNK'L'DUNK e-mail newsletter for fans of _Tales_of_the_Beanworld_ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Issue 07 2/29/92 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. This newsletter is sent out irregularly - whenever there're enough submissions! Compiled by Jeremy York, jeremy@stat.washington.edu Submissions, and comments on content and/or format gladly accepted! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INFORMATION AND ADMINISTRIVIA Ooops! Last ish, I managed to foul up the mail spool on my machine, and some copies of Gunk #06 didn't get delivered, but I have no idea who this happened to! Hopefully, I've improved my mailing procedure. Let me know if you missed issue #6, and I'll wing one your way! Companion file this issue -- Larry Marder Interview part I!!! It's taking Larry a while to edit and add to the interview, and I'm willing to wait -- he's got more important things to do. But a third of it is ready, and should arrive in your mailbox along with this issue!!! New! Incredible! Instant access to Gunk'l'dunk archives through the aether! Get 'em by anonymous ftp from ocf.berkeley.edu (thanks and kudos to David Goldfarb, goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu). To use ftp from a unix machine, type "ftp ocf.berkeley.edu"; when prompted for your name, type "anonymous"; when prompted for your password, type your e-mail address. Now you're hooked into ocf.berkeley.edu; type "cd /pub/gunkldunk", then "ls" to find out what's there. To get a file, for example the sources file, type "get sources"; it will be copied to your machine. Finally, type "quit" to get out of ftp. To use ftp from other machines? I haven't a clue. Ask a local wizard. David has this to say about the ocf ftp archive : "IP numbers are 128.32.234.14. If you can't get through to ocf, try some of the individual machines in the cluster, such as lightning, tornado, monsoon, earthquake, or headcrash. The cluster is just a tad flaky, so there are times when it's off the net entirely; if you can't get in at some time, try again later." Or, backissues always available from me on request. WANTED : More ASCII art! I'd try, but I'm no Beanish. Somebody out there's gotta have some time to waste... WANTED : More subscribers! Feel free to advertise this newsletter through any local means, and give my e-mail address out. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTIONS Welcome new subscribers! wombat@nfinit.enet.dec.com (Christopher M. Conway) sez : "I'm a comp jock currently working at DEC's Albuquerque workstation plant. I'm married, and it was my wife who turned me on to comics in general via Dark Knight and Watchmen two years ago. She has since regretted it! I started with just Cerebus. Then, on the recommendation of a friend, Sandman. On others recommendations, Moonshadow and Elektra: Assassin. Got into V for Vendetta because it was Alan Moore. Things have snowballed; I've gotten more into the Indies as I've been reading RAC and talking with other people. Current "must have" list: Sandman, Hellblazer, Cerebus, TOTB, Miracleman, Naughty Bits. I get other stuff as available: Big Numbers, From Hell, and the like. I also get Shade, Cherry, and Xxxenophile as mind-candy. If there's anything great out there that I haven't mentioned, LET ME KNOW!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BEAN NEWS Let's make this quick and painless; more details below. The second trade paperback isn't quite ready yet, partly because of paralysis at Eclipse caused by media reaction to their serial killers/history of crime trading card series. TOTB #20 will not be ready for another couple of months; Larry sez it's written, pencilled, but not yet inked. *****gunk'l'dunk***** Some good news is that Planet P, who do the Beanworld pins, are hopefully going to be doing one or more Beanworld T-shirts! Also, there's a possibility that some of Larry's large, colorful, intricate poster work might someday be available in lithographs; just a possibility for the moment. I'm sure the T's will be good; Larry says the person at Planet P takes better care of the characters than he does! *****gunk'l'dunk***** Larry was interviewed by someone at Amazing Heroes; then Larry drew the interview as a cartoon. The resulting text interview/comic strip hybrid will be appearing in Amazing Heroes #200 (March 92), published by Fantagraphics. Not out yet, as far as I can tell (Fantagraphics can be a bit irregular), but due anytime now I'm sure. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TALES FROM THE MARDERWORLD My job search took me to Northwestern University this week, and I took advantage of the one free hour in my schedule there to meet with Jorn Barger (James Joyce fanboy and Artificial Intelligence whiz) and Larry Marder for breakfast. I woke at 7:30 to a phonecall from Jorn; he and Larry were waiting in the hotel lobby! Damn that travel alarm clock, why didn't I arrange a wake-up call just in case! So, with a bare minimum of personal hygiene and a flurry of packing, I went from bed to registration in a record 13 minutes. Larry handed me part one of the interview we had done. Also in there was a little cartoon he had done for a freebie Chicago magazine; the cartoon was "Heyoka in Cyberspace". You can imagine what happened the first time Larry's Mac tried to strike up a conversation with Heyoka. Then, over gooeybuns, eggs, pancakes, and plentiful coffee, we began to chat. If Larry let his hair grow out for 4-6 months without combing it once, he'd look an awful lot like Albert Einstein. He's a pleasant fellow, down to earth and energetic. The sort who would go nuts if there just wasn't anything to do... But, since his does seem to comb his hair, the visible Einstein similarity is marginal. Why's the trade paperback late? A trial copy came back from the printers, and Larry thought the colors he'd chosen for the cover looked horrible. So, the cover was re-done, and it went back to the printers...And then, Eclipse put out a press release on their history of crime/serial killers trading card set (which is only planned, not even available yet). An entertainment rag picked up the story, from which Entertainment Tonight and the Today Show (Dean Mullaney was interviewed) got the story; lots of TV, radio, and print media just decended on the Eclipse folks. Larry said that for a while, you just literally could not get through to them on the phone, and that everyone was so busy dealing with the firestorm that nothing else happened at all. So, he doesn't know at what stage the book is at, but it can't be too long. Things seem to be slowly returning to normal at Eclipse now (whatever that is). This reminds me of the trials and tribulations that one of my favorite bands, Negativland, have gotten into by being naively contentious with the media. What about TOTB #20? It still has to be inked, that's several weeks work, and in the meantime this Moondogs work (the Chicago area comic chain that Larry's been doing marketing for) has been getting more and more time consuming. April, perhaps? Who knows. Larry has said that this forthcoming ish is a "kick-ass" story, more in line perhaps with the first 6 or 8 issues of the book (self-contained story; the world, not any individuals, is the main character). He also expressed regret that it's nearly a year late now. The Frying Pan has also been taking up Larry's time; this is a limited membership fanzine for comic book creators, started by Scott McCloud. Larry calls it a not-so-secret society; in it, members critique each others work and sound out ideas. Anyway, the collating and distributing of the thing is time consuming; Larry's been in charge for some time now, but is probably giving it up after spring or summer. Larry sez he relies a lot on his Mac for creating the Beanworld, now. Not for the drawing, but for the dialogue and story line. He says that he's slightly dislexic, and will start scribbling the middle of a story, jumping to different parts of it, all in a very stream-of-consciousness way. In the old days, he'd have to cut his notes up with scissors and rearrange them in order to get the story the right way 'round. All that sort of restructuring is now much easier for him. He mentioned something about most of the book being easy to draw, with the exception of sprout-butts and Gran'Ma'Pa and the like. I asked him about how he draws those. He said that he thinks some of the earliest work he did was some of the most sophisticated. Also, it can get a little boring drawing all that detail at 2 AM, so words, pictures of animals, etc start to creep into the pictures just to keep him going, and not because they have any grand significance. So, there's little goodies like that hiding all over the place in those detailed drawings in the book, but if you asked Larry to point them out to you, he wouldn't remember. He maybe wouldn't even recognize a shape or word now that he drew into a Gran'Ma'Pa shot. I talked a little about the bizarre and transitional point that I'm at right now, finishing a degree and looking for positions...Jorn, who's met with Larry in the past to talk about mysterious and secret work in Artif. Intell. related to story telling, was fairly quiet and let us do the talking -- he'll see Larry again before too long, he figured. Then we went back to Jorn's office, and Larry guided me towards the right part of campus for my interviews that day. We said goodbye, and I delved back into the world of statistics. Will I get an offer from Northwestern? Will I accept it? When will TOTB #20 come out? Stay tuned for details.... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MISCELLANEOUS DISCUSSION The interview is also going to be printed in James Drew's fanzine, Ciao! It's quarterly. #3 features an interview with cat yronwode and Dean Mullaney (a chunk of which will concern Beanworld). (#1 featured Donna Barr; #2 featured Trina Robbins; future issues will hopefully have Redd Waller/Kate Worley, Andy Mangels, and Barb Rausch.). Contact him by e-mail, he'll be glad to sell you a copy of his fanzine! James Drew : jrd@frame.com *****gunk'l'dunk***** [Here are a couple of interesting things from a late reply to the survey I did a while back, from Damian.Cugley@prg.oxford.ac.uk. I asked "what do you like (dislike) about TOTB?" - jeremy] Let's see. I like the idea of a two-dimensional stick-figure world with its own self-consistent laws of nature. I love the art style in general -- it's not just expressive, it's so enthusiastic! I really like comics where the artist seems to enjoy the act of drawing -- Donna Barr and Matt Feazell spring to mind. (When do we get to see an animated Beanworld?) I like the way they are still discovering things about their world. [I asked for comments on distribution/availability/schedule] I'm afraid the only way to produce good art on schedule probably involves (a) independent wealth and (b) a co-habitant who is also an artist and pokes you until you get N pages done a week. I'd naturally like to see BEANWORLD more widely distributed, and I'd like to see more collected volumes. I suspect that the problem is getting the things sold. (It seems to me that BEANWORLD would probably appeal to a lot of children.) *****gunk'l'dunk***** From wombat@outback.abo.dec.com I just posted this to r.a.c. and thought it might be of some interest to the newsletter also. Subject: Re: Beanworld In article <1992Jan24.005331.11272@cbnewsl.cb.att.com>, conty@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (Conty) writes: - In article <1992Jan23.225938.1954@samba.oit.unc.edu>, belor@ruby.ils.unc.edu (Andrew Roazen) writes: - > - > [someone else explains the Beanworld food cycle] - > - > I know I'm opening myself to flames here, but this sounds more like a new - > Super Mario cartridge than a comic book. - - Which is exactly why I haven't been able to get into BEANWORLD. - IMO, anyone can create an intriguing little universe with lots - of things to puzzle about. - - Does BEANWORLD have good characterization, pacing, and plots (or whatever - it is that makes for great writing)? It doesn't look like it from what - I've seen. - - Does BEANWORLD have good art? You've got to be kidding. :-) - - I'll be the first to admit that SANDMAN and CEREBUS are full of plot hooks - and little and big mysteries. I'll also admit to dabbling in those from - time to time. But SANDMAN and CEREBUS also offer me with great writing - and (occasionally in the case of SANDMAN) great art. The soap opera - complications are just the icing on the cake. - - Does BEANWORLD offer good art and/or writing? I think not, but I'm - willing to be proved wrong. Any takers? - I haven't read many of them, I'll admit to that. Haven't been able to find them B^{)>. But what I have read is full of myth and symbolism. It's not a superhero story, nor is it something for you to puzzle about "gee, so just who IS the prodigal bean ( disclaimer: I LOVE Sandman B^{)> ) ? It's intended for the reader to take a fresh look at the world around him. There are subtle analogies for what I call "enlightened self-interest". For example, in the first four issues: The Jolly Green Giant parody is killing off the Hoi-Polloi. Why do the beans care? Because there goes their supply of chow. So it is in their interest, in the long term, to protect the Hoi-Polloi. Okay, so the clone is gone. There's lots of chow left around. The beans stagnate. So do the Hoi-Polloi. The cutting edge of life is gone-- there is no adventurism, no spirit of striving to be better. Nature cures this, as it is wont to do, in the form of the insects; however, as is often true, this will undoubtedly have some cost in the future (I haven't gotten to where this is true yet!) which could have been avoided through more enlightened management of the resources to begin with. Y'see, the whole thing's myth, in the proper sense of the term. It's not something that *actually* happened, nor are we to believe that it even *could* happen; but we see an isomorphism from it to our lives which gives valuable insight. Or maybe it's just a silly comic. B^{)> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- End, Gunk'l'dunk #07