Tales of the Beanworld

"Tales of the Beanworld" is an independently published comic book, created by Larry Marder. "Beanworld" features stories about the life and times of a host of "bean" characters including Beanish and Mr. Spook. It takes influence from Native American mythology, ecology and pop culture.

The first issue was published in 1985, and the series ran 21 issues until 1993. The first four issues were printed independently as The Beanworld Press. Starting with issue five, the title was released by Eclipse Comics. A total of 4 book collections were released, reprinting issues #1-16.

In April 2008, it was announced that Larry Marder will be resuming the series in early 2009. The revived series will be published by Dark Horse Comics, who will also republish the previous 21 issues, in deluxe hardcover editions. [http://blog.oregonlive.com/steveduin/2008/04/the_beanworld_resurrected.html] The first volume will come out in February, 2009, and reprint the first nine issues. A new one-shot comic will come out in December, 2008.

Characters

*Beanish: an artist bean, who creates the “Fabulous Look•See•Show”, artwork for the other beans to appreciate
*Mr. Spook: the Beanworld hero, who leads the Chow Sol'jer Army and performs heroic deeds. In addition, he is the leader of the Gunk'l'Dunk Gang.
*Professor Garbanzo: an inventor/scientist bean who also functions as the Beans' primary manufacturer and supplier of tools and weapons.
*Hoi-Polloi Ring Herd: inveterate gamblers, who use “chow” as money. An individual member of this group is referred to as a Hoi-Polloi. During attacks by the Chow Sol’jer Army, the Hoi-Polloi will shove their individual stores of chow into a collective pile, then link arms with their neighbors in a circular formation (hence the “ring herd” moniker) to defend the chow. The Chow Sol'jer Army steals whatever portion of one ring herd's chow they can carry, and leave behind a “sprout-butt.” The Hoi-Polloi turn the sprout-butt into more chow, which they divide among themselves. The beans take the supply of chow back to their part of the Beanworld and consume it. It is unclear as to the connection between these characters and the traditional term, “hoi polloi,” which is a colloquialism for “the common man.”
*Gran’Ma’Pa: a large, mute, mostly immobile being resembling a tree which is the beans’ spiritual guardian and physical parent.
*Boom’R Band: three musician beans, who play tunes for the other beans to enjoy and dance to. In certain circumstances, their music can perform additional tasks, such as healing injured beans, and in the case of the band’s rhythmist, in the curing stage of Gunk’l’dunk.
*Pod’lPool Cuties: baby beans
*Chow Sol’jer Army: all the other beans which don’t have a specific character form the Chow Sol’jer Army, who get chow from the Hoi-Polloi. The Army is divided into two squads:
**Spear Fling’n Flank’rs: small elite squadron who wear special masks and whose function is to attack and painfully disable the Hoi-Polloi of a ring using spears formed from a Slat and a Chip. They are assisted in this by Mr. Spook and his Trusty Fork (and its successor weapon).
**Chow Pluck’rs: larger squadron who move in after the Spear Fling’n Flank’rs have done their job, then grab the newly abandoned chow using Pluck’r Wands formed from a Slat and a Hoop.
*Gunk’l’Dunk Gang: a small, semi-secret society within the Chow Sol’jer Army, whose function is to clean out the “gunk” from the bottom of the Chowdown Pool and process it into Gunk’l’Dunk.
*Heyoka: A shamanistic bean, who does everything backwards. Influenced by the Native American Indian role of the Heyoka
*Goofy S_r____ Jerks: shiny wormlike beings from The Big•Big•Picture, with large heads that have buck teeth and which wear shades and hats (the latter of which illustrate their specific function and personalities), which usually travel in threesomes and perform specific functions stated by the second word in their name, which always begins with the letter “S” and so far has always had “r” as the third letter, with either “e” or “u” as the intervening vowel, so that the first syllable always (so far) rhymes with “Sir.” The first ones seen in the series were the Goofy Service Jerks, which brought “Reproductive Propellant” to Gran’Ma”Pa, leading to the birth of the Pod’lPool Cuties. Later in the series (but earlier in the continuity, via a flashback / historical tale) were seen the medical squad (Goofy Surgeon Jerks), and later in both the series and in continuity were seen the police squad (Goofy Surveillance Jerks). They are all ruled by the enormous Goofy Sermon Jerk.

Locations in the Beanworld

*Chowdown Pool: a large, communal facility which the Beans use for 'eating'. They mix chow taken from the Hoi-Polloi Ring Herd with water from the Thin Lake to produce 'soup'. The Bean community then enters the Pool and takes in nutrients through osmosis.
*Legendary Edge: traditional exit point from the Beanworld, used when Beans wish to explore the Four Realities or hunt for chow.
*Proverbial Sandy Beach: traditional re-entry point onto the Beanworld.
*Thin Lake: relatively shallow but apparently endless layer of water that rests on top of the Four Realities.
*Four Realities: strata of objects from which the Beans make virtually all of their possessions and structures. They are, in descending order, Slats (essentially lumber of various sizes), Hoops (exactly that), Twinks (five-pointed stars), and Chips (flat, triangular solids).
*Bone Zone: During the first published Beanworld story, a significant number of Hoi-Polloi Ring Herd were 'processed', leaving only their skulls. These skulls all collected in a stable 'level' below the Four Realities, although the Beans do not refer to this as an additional Reality. This level also established an additional distance for the Chow Sol'jer Army to travel in order to reach the Hoi-Polloi Ring Herd and the chow.
*Der Stinkle: the lowest level of the Beanworld, literally beneath the notice of both the Beans and the Hoi-Polloi Ring Herd. Apparently analogous to compressed soil that is not quite as hard as sedimentary rock, as the inhabitants have created a vast network of tunnels through it. Der Stinkle is presumably uninhabited, as the insects (and their leader, Der Kveen) all abandoned it in search of the 'mountain-grown chow'.
*The Big•Big•Picture: the greater universe of which the Beanworld is one small part. Mentioned briefly by the Goofy Service Jerks, and was partially explored by Heyoka in the final issue of the first run.

External links

* [http://www.rdrop.com/~half/BeanWeb/Introduction.html An Introduction to Larry Marder's Tales of the Beanworld]
* [http://www.comics.org/series.lasso?SeriesID=3115 comics.org entry]
* [http://larrymarder.blogspot.com Larry Marder's Beanworld Blog]