Since its earliest days back in the 80s (has it really been that long?,) Larry Marder’s comic Beanworld has carried the tagline “A most peculiar comic book experience.” It’s been 15 years since Marder shared the experience of Beanworld with us but the new Larry Marder’s Beanworld Holiday Special is a trip back to the Four Realities, the Chowdown Pool and Gran’Ma’Pa. Don’t know what those terms mean? Don’t worry because part of the charm and wonder of Beanworld has always been sense of both discovery and remembering.
Within the small environment of Beanworld, a startling discovery is made; the Cuties don’t talk to each other. Just think of the Cuties as the kids of Beanworld. This causes some alarm with Beanish, a renaissance thinker among the Beans, and Professor Garbanzo because if the Cuties don’t chatter, what happens when they grow up and have to go off together to search for chow (food)? This dilemma sends Beanish off on a quest to find ways to get the Cuties to socialize with one another. That all leads into a “holiday” message that’s sweet and cute.
Like the tagline, Beanworld isn’t so much a comic that you read but a comic that you experience as it can be abstract in it’s internal logic from time to time. O.k. it can be abstract in that logic a lot of the time but it’s all part of a larger myth that Marder created over 20 years ago. At one point in this story, Beanish is told that he should teach the Cuties to “look and see” and that’s almost how you have to experience Beanworld. Notice that he’s not told to teach them to think and analyze, though there is undoubtably places for that in the world. He’s told to teach them to observe and notice the world around them. That’s also the best way to approach Marder’s Beanworld and an essential part of the experience. There’ll be time to think about it later but this Beanworld Holiday Special is an excellent opportunity for everyone to “look and see” the world of Marder’s imagination.
Hoi Polloi, Pod’l'Pools and Notwoim are a few of the magical things that you’ll find in Beanworld Holiday Special. The words and drawings may seem strange and alien to you but try to approach this book through the advice that Beanish is given. Look and see this world. Let yourself get lost in in at first without trying to figure out too much of the workings of it. Look and see because there’ll be time later on to figure out how the Ring Herds are part of the lifecycle of the Beans or why there is a level of reality below The Four Realities. It’s all part of the experience of Beanworld.
Larry Marder’s Beanworld Holiday Special
“Every Cutie Deserves a Toy!”
Written and Drawn by: Larry Marder