Interview: Larry Marder

On Saturday, June 23, and Sunday, June 24, while attending the American Library Association’s Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA, I ran around to as many of my favorite kids comics creators as I could and asked them all the exact same questions. Keep in mind, exhibit halls are crazy loud and crazy busy, so there is a lot of background noise. Let me know in the comments if you have trouble hearing anything and I’ll translate for you.

At some point in this video I tell Larry Marder that I cut my teeth on Beanworld. This, as I’m sure you are aware, is not literally true. (Thank goodness.) Beanworld is, however, one of the first non-mainstream comics I read as a fledgling comics geek and it was the first I ever fangirled over enough to buy themed tchotchkes (I still have the rubber stamp of Beanish to prove it).

During our conversation, which extended a while after the camera stopped rolling, Larry asked if I had the Beanworld comics in my children’s collection. I had to admit that I did not. I’d read and enjoyed Beanworld as an adult, so thought of it as adult material. But Larry is right. The story of Beanworld and it’s theme of teamwork making the world go ’round is about as all-ages as a comic can get. Hoka Hoka Hey!

Books mentioned in this video:

• Ivy, by Sarah Oleksyk
• Marzi: a memoir, by Marzena Sowa and Sylvain Savoia
• King City, by Brandon Graham
• Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delany

Filed under: Reviews