Retro Review

Larry Marder’s Tales of the Beanworld is one of my all-time favorite comic books. Defying convention and classification, this appropriately self-titled “most peculiar comic book experience” ran for 21 issues, each one sown with clues revealing a little more of a world like no other. I was thrilled to hear that the series is coming back with the Beanworld Holiday Special this December, and I’m hoping this will be the first of many new Beanworld books.

On the surface, Tales of the Beanworld is about a tribe of creatures called Beans, who try to live in harmony with their small world, which they do not realize is a damaged, fragile place. Each Bean has a role to play in the tribe, either as a hunter-gatherer or as a thinker or artist, and their way of life is simple, but not without danger. The Beanworld is also inhabited by the Hoi-Polloi, with whom the Beans have an adversarial relationship, although both sides recognize that they need each other to survive. Furthermore, the Beanworld is part of the Big•Big•Picture, in other words, the Universe or Multiverse, and for the first time in the Beans’ memories, creatures from other worlds are encroaching on theirs.

At a deeper level, this book is whatever you bring to it: an ecological fantasy, an anthropological study of tribal structure, a creation mythology, a political commentary, or the beginnings of an epic cycle. You could even argue that it is a gentler kind of super-hero comic. The letters pages were filled with readers’ theories on the reality contained in Tales of the Beanworld. The only thing Larry Marder warns readers against is searching for scientific or magical explanations, but to accept this separate reality as a process. Each issue contains a map and a glossary, making it theoretically possible to sample any issue, although obviously some are easier jumping-on points than others.

Tales of the Beanworld had a very slow release schedule, with only 21 issues between 1984 and 1993, but the issues were always worth the wait. This series was a labor of love for Larry Marder, who had started drawing the Beans in 1972, having “decided to abandon human figure drawing […] in pursuit of a conceptual alternative to contemporary comics […]”. Through the seventies, the Beans evolved through many forms, and the world started to take shape.

Artistically, Tales of the Beanworld is unique: this is the vision of one artist. Like George Herriman’s Krazy Kat, Winsor McKay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland, Jack Kirby’s Fourth World books, or Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes, Tales of the Beanworld shows some influences, but cannot be confused with anything else.  The style will not appeal to everyone, particularly as there are aspects of the reality that seem to shift between 2- and 3-dimensional portrayals. Like the shifting reality of Hobbes, like the impossible landscapes of Herriman’s world, you must simply accept this as part of the Beanworld. The shifts are consistent within themselves, and do not detract from the story-telling or the concepts.

#1 introduces the world and establishes the basis of the ecological balance that will fuel many stories, but also introduces the first threat to that balance. In comparison to later issues, it is unusually gruesome, and could give a new reader a slightly misleading impression of what is to come. Also, be warned: if you buy the trade paperback form, don’t read the glossary or study the map before reading this first chapter, as they do contain spoilers. #2 is also a good jumping-on point, as it illustrates what can happen if the balance of the world is changed, even if apparently for the better. #4 introduces a new main character, Beanish, and #4 and 5 together are essential reading for Beanish’s arc in the series.

Thereafter, issues advance the plot threads a little at a time. For a first-time reader, some of these later issues may be confusing, particularly #8, which sets up a major change for the Beans’ lives, and #19, which introduces a new character in the main story, and then has back-up stories that occur out in other parts of the Big•Big•Picture. The back-up stories in #16-19 need to be read as one story straight through to get the most out of them.

The other unusual issue is #11, which actually crosses over into another series. Called Total Eclipse, it was an event mini-series featuring characters from every series Eclipse had published over their ten years in operation. Although you don’t need to read Total Eclipse to understand #11, there is a sense of having missed something important. However, there are summaries and explanations in the letters pages.

Brilliant though it is Tales of the Beanworld is not without flaws. The repetition within the story of the details of the harmonious circle of life on the Beanworld can get a little tiring after a while, especially when it could go in the glossary or elsewhere. On the other hand, it does make most issues good jumping-on points, so I can’t be too critical of this. The art in the first two issues has its flaws as well, with some inconsistencies in the relative sizes of characters, and cramped page layouts. 

Some of Tales of the Beanworld has been collected in trade paperback form up to #16, and Book 1 is obviously the best place to sample the series. Individual issues are very hard to find, but it really is worth trying to get at least some of them. The letters pages are fascinating, with some letters from well-known names to older comics fans, including T.M. Maple, and the Do-It-Yourself Beanworld contests are great.

Tales of the Beanworld #1-21, from Eclipse Comics, copyright Larry Marder. A+, without a shadow of doubt. If you have never read this bizarre and wonderful comic, then I urge you to give it a try. Hunt down any one of the issues or trade paperbacks, and read it with an open mind.

Read Larry Marder’s blog here. Larry has had a varied and interesting career in the comics industry, and he shares some great stories, and links to some fascinating articles and blogs.

Read a brand new Beanworld story here at the Dark Horse Presents page. This story is a lighter, simpler story than you’ll find in the old series, touching on only one aspect of the Beanworld, but it stands as a good introduction to two of the main characters.

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