Larry Marder

Last updated
Larry Marder
10.10.10LarryMarderByLuigiNovi.jpg
Marder at the New York Comic Con in Manhattan, October 10, 2010
BornLawrence Marder
(1951-05-29) May 29, 1951 (age 72)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Area(s) Cartoonist
Notable works
Tales of the Beanworld

Larry Marder (born May 29, 1951 [1] ) is an American cartoonist and writer, best known as the creator of comic book Tales of the Beanworld , which began as an "essentially self-published title" in 1984. [2] Beginning in 2009, Dark Horse Books began to reprint Tales of the Beanworld, in two volumes, and then went on to publish two more volumes of new Beanworld.

Contents

Early life

Marder was educated at the Hartford Art School in Connecticut in the early 1970s, earning a BFA degree in 1973. [2] He earned "his living as an art director in the high-pressure world of advertising" in Chicago from 1976, balancing his time in that profession with "a remarkable interior landscape of the imagination that coalesced into the vivid ecology of Beanworld". [2]

He cites as his major influences Jack Kirby, Rudolph Zallinger, Henry Darger and Marcel Duchamp. [3]

Career

Beanworld

Marder's Tales of the Beanworld began as a "collection of character sketches and concepts" that is described by Stanley Wiater and Stephen R. Bissette in Comic Book Rebels as "an essentially self-published comic (through distributed through Eclipse Comics)", launched in 1984. [2] In a short period of time, the comic "evolved into what Marder terms 'a weird fantasy dimension that operates under its own rules and laws.'" [2] Wiater and Bissette also term it:

a reading experience that ... [creates] a delightfully accessible, resonant, and almost alchemical bond with readers of all ages. [2]

The initial idea hit Marder when he was in art school, and "swept up in the conceptual art movement['s mantra] ... 'Down with the object. Down with form. Idea is everything,'" which led him to "create comics where idea was everything". Removing the human figure, he "came up with something that would work in comics: the Bean figures", and began "goofing around with these figures". Revising and refining his characters through "political cartoons on Watergate and so on, that were published in my college newspapers using these Bean characters", although he came up with the characters in 1972, "the storyline didn't really come together until 1982". [2]

In the first collected volume, Marder explains that his work is "about the affinity of life", wherein the characters "understand that ultimately they depend on each other for survival". Wiater and Bissette see in this relationship as a wider metaphor for the interdependancy of the comics industry. Indeed, addressing the potential underlying complexity, Marder suggests that "it's harder to describe it than it is to read it". He also calls it "an ecological romance ... a self-contained fairy tale about a group of beings who live in the center of their perfect world [and are] obsessed with maintaining its food chain", a self-described "really low concept!" Equally, he says, "the reader has to invest a certain amount of mental energy to follow the book", which includes "maps and a rather long glossary". Despite these potentially conflicting comments, Wiater and Bissette reiterate that "there is no simpler or more iconographic comic book in existence". [2]

Marder ultimately suggests that

Beanworld is the exact opposite of most modern comics. The artwork is really simple and the storyline's quite complex. Most comics have complicated artwork supporting very simple storylines ... Obviously Beanworld works on two levels ... like Rocky and Bullwinkle in the sense that there are many levels of complexity the reader can draw from the story, but the surface level is accessible enough for children to enjoy it, which is something that took me completely by surprise. [2]

In April 2008, at the Stumptown Comics Fest, Marder announced that he would resurrect Beanworld with Dark Horse Comics "sometime early next year [2009]". [3] Diana Schutz was set to edit the resurrected series, which would also be collected by Dark Horse. [3] [4]

Other work

Marder was involved with "the DLG – Direct Line Group – which [was] a coalition of fifteen retailers that was put together by Gary Colabuono of Moondog's ... [as] an opportunity for the large chain retailers to have a forum to discuss their problems and pool their resources to figure out how they can best help themselves in [comics'] new marketplace". Marder, speaking in 1992/3 suggested that "distributors are ... not focused much on helping the established comic book stores expand", and hoped that the DLG would aid in "promot[ing] environments that are going to help alternative comics grow". Working with Moondog's, Marder described the paradox of "a situation where retailers want the books, and the publishers have the books, but somehow they can't get them to more readers". [2]

He was appointed Executive Director of Image Comics in 1993 (leaving in 1999), [3] and was president of Image-co-founder Todd McFarlane's action figure arm, McFarlane Toys from 1999-2007. [5]

Marder served as President of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit organization founded in 1986 chartered to protect the First Amendment rights of the comics community, from 2010 [6] to 2018. [7]

Partial bibliography

The following feature work by Larry Marder. [8]

Interviews/reviews

References, allusions and homages

(incomplete)

Beans by other artists and references to Marder/Beanworld appear in at least the following publications: [8]

Related Research Articles

Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third-largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share.

<i>1963</i> (comics)

1963 is an American six-issue comic book limited series written by Alan Moore in 1993, with art by his frequent collaborators Steve Bissette, John Totleben, and Rick Veitch. Dave Gibbons, Don Simpson, and Jim Valentino also contributed art. Image Comics published the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott McCloud</span> American cartoonist (born 1960)

Scott McCloud is an American cartoonist and comics theorist. He is best known for his non-fiction books about comics: Understanding Comics (1993), Reinventing Comics (2000), and Making Comics (2006), all of which also use the medium of comics.

A minicomic is a creator-published comic book, often photocopied and stapled or with a handmade binding. In the United Kingdom and Europe the term small press comic is equivalent with minicomic, reserved for those publications measuring A6 or less.

The Jack Kirby Comics Industry Awards were a set of awards for achievement in comic books, presented from 1985-1987. Voted on by comic-book professionals, the Kirby awards were the first such awards since the Shazam Awards ceased in 1975. Sponsored by Amazing Heroes magazine, and managed by Amazing Heroes managing editor Dave Olbrich, the Kirby Awards were named after the pioneering writer and artist Jack Kirby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inker</span> Comic book or graphic novel line artist

The inker is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Silvestri</span> American comic book creator

Marc Silvestri is an American comic book artist, creator and publisher. He serves as CEO of both Top Cow Productions and Image Comics.

<i>Tales of Suspense</i> Comic

Tales of Suspense is the name of an American comic book anthology series, and two one-shot comics, all published by Marvel Comics. The first, which ran from 1959 to 1968, began as a science-fiction anthology that served as a showcase for such artists as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Don Heck, then featured superheroes Captain America and Iron Man during the Silver Age of Comic Books before changing its title to Captain America with issue #100. Its sister title was Tales to Astonish. Following the launch of Marvel Legacy in 2017, Tales of Suspense was once again resurrected at issue #100, featuring the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye in a story called "The Red Ledger".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eclipse Comics</span> American comic book publisher

Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was one of the first to offer royalties and creator ownership of rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Yronwode</span>

Catherine Anna Yronwode is an American writer, editor, graphic designer, typesetter, and publisher with an extensive career in the comic book industry. She is also a practitioner of folk magic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen R. Bissette</span> American comics artist (born 1955)

Stephen R. Bissette is an American comic book artist and publisher with a focus on the horror genre. He worked with writer Alan Moore and inker John Totleben on the DC Comics series Swamp Thing in the 1980s.

An ashcan comic is a form of the American comic book originally created solely to establish trademarks on potential titles and not intended for sale. The practice was common in the 1930s and 1940s when the comic book industry was in its infancy, but was phased out after updates to US trademark law. The term was revived in the 1980s by Bob Burden, who applied it to prototypes of his self-published comic book. Since the 1990s, the term has been used to describe promotional materials produced in large print runs and made available for mass consumption. In the film and television industries, the term "ashcan copy" has been adopted for low-grade material created to preserve a claim to licensed property rights.

John Thomas Totleben is an American illustrator working mostly in comic books.

<i>Tales of the Beanworld</i> Comic book series by Larry Marder

Tales of the Beanworld, also known as Larry Marder's Beanworld, is a creator-owned comic book created by Larry Marder. Beanworld features stories about the life and times of the Beans, minimalistic characters which Marder has been drawing since childhood. The stories borrow concepts from various world mythologies, popular concepts of ecology, and pop culture.

In the United States, creator ownership in comics is an arrangement in which the comic book creator retains full ownership of the material, regardless of whether the work is self-published or published by a corporate publisher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topps Comics</span> Defunct American comic book publisher

Topps Comics was a division of Topps Company, Inc. that published comic books from 1993 to 1998, beginning its existence during a short comics-industry boom that attracted many investors and new companies. It was based in New York City, at 254 36th Street, Brooklyn, and at One Whitehall Street, in Manhattan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joyce Brabner</span> American writer and artist

Joyce Brabner is an American writer of political comics and the widow of Harvey Pekar.

The Creator's Bill of Rights is a document drafted in November 1988 by a number of independent comic book artists, writers, and publishers, designed to protect their rights as creators and publishers and oppose exploitation by corporate work for hire practices and the power of distributors to dictate the means of distribution. Issues covered by the Bill included giving creators proper credit for their characters and stories, profit-sharing, distribution, fair contracts, licensing, and return of original artwork. The signing of the Bill spurred Cerebus creator and self-publisher Dave Sim and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles creators/self-publishers Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird to sell or continue selling collected volumes of their comics directly to readers via their periodic issues, rather than through direct market distributors selling the collections at comic book specialty shops. Comic book professionals that have commented on the Bill conclude that it had little or no impact on the comic book industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tundra Publishing</span> Defunct American comic book publishing company

Tundra Publishing was a Northampton, Massachusetts-based comic book publisher founded by Kevin Eastman in 1990. The company was founded to provide a venue for adventurous, creator-owned work by talented cartoonists and illustrators. Its publications were noted in the trade for their high production values, including glossy paper stock, full-color printing, and square binding. Tundra was one of the earlier creator-owned companies, before the formation of Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics' Legends imprint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Splitting Image</span>

Splitting Image is a 2 issue comic-book limited series created in 1993 by Don Simpson and published by Image Comics. It satirizes the founders of Image and their initial titles such as Savage Dragon, Spawn, Youngblood, WildC.A.T.s: Covert Action Teams, Cyber Force, Shadowhawk, Wetworks, and Pitt. Issue #2 ends with a cliffhanger ending featuring Megaton Man, Captain Everything from normalman, and Mr. Spook from Tales of the Beanworld which was continued in the Megaton Man/normalman Special. In 2017, to celebrate the publisher's 25th anniversary, Image released an 80-Giant Special collecting both issues of Splitting Image along with the Normalman/Megaton Man special and supplementary material.

References

  1. Miller, John Jackson (June 10, 2005). "Comics Industry Birthdays". Comics Buyer's Guide . Archived from the original on February 18, 2011. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Wiater, Stanley & Bissette, Stephen R. (ed.s) "Larry Marder Building Bridges" in Comic Book Rebels: Conversations with the Creators of the New Comics (Donald I. Fine, Inc. 1993) ISBN   1-55611-355-2 pp. 17–27
  3. 1 2 3 4 Duin, Steve "The Beanworld, Resurrected" in The Oregonian, April 27, 2008. Accessed August 16, 2008
  4. "Beanworld To Dark Horse!" in The Beat by Heidi MacDonald, April 28, 2008 Archived July 19, 2012, at archive.today . Accessed August 16, 2008
  5. Spurgeon, Tom (2007-10-08). "Marder Leaves McFarlane's Employ?". The Comics Reporter . Archived from the original on 2007-10-11.
  6. Reid, Calvin (August 5, 2010). "Marder Elected President of Comic Book Legal Defense Fund". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  7. McMillan, Graeme (August 30, 2018). "Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Names New President". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved June 28, 2020.
  8. 1 2 Bibliography by Gunk'l'dunk, the Beanworld blog. Accessed August 16, 2008