Neil The Horse Comics and Stories #5 [1983]
Letter column art by Larry Marder
Marder has a missive in the fifth issue of Arn Saba’s NEIL THE HORSE comic, with one illustration of a very excited Bean printed, though the reply (in character from Neil the Horse) mentions that the whole letter was illustrated in that style. In the letter he compares the comic to both Oz books and some magazines he vaguely remembers that I don’t know at all, but a websearch for Timbertoes does reveal this site which seems to fit what he’s talking about, so the magazine might be Highlights For Kids or whatever the equivalent back then was. He also credits something like NEIL THE HORSE being there as being an inspiration for his own work.
Arn Saba’s NEIL THE HORSE was one of the strangest books of the 1980s, mixing a nostalgia for old animation, comic strips, children’s activity books and musical comedy in various experimental combinations. It had 15 issues published by Aardvark-Vanaheim and Renegade from 1983 to 1988. Saba seems to be out of comics entirely now. You can read a detailed overview of the series at Indy Magazine.
Categories: Marderography
Journey #23 [1985]
Letter column illustration by Larry Marder
T.M. Maple (“The Mad Maple”) was the most common name in comic book letter columns of that era, having sent over 3000 letters to comics, including in a number of issues of TALES OF THE BEANWORLD. Also, on a personal note, a rather odd one for me to see, since the post office address he used wasn’t that far from where I lived. In this issue of JOURNEY, William Messner-Loebs devoted almost the entire 6-page letter column (6-page! They knew how to do letter columns in those days) to letters by or about T.M. Maple, and had several artists draw their conception of what the pseudonymous writer might look like, including Sergio Aragones, Mike Grell, Bill Reinhold and others. Larry Marder’s contribution nicely twists one of the Beanworld descriptions (“It’s not a place, it’s a process”) and incorporates some Duchamp inspired imagery.
Maple eventually revealed his real name, Jim Burke, in an issue of ZOT! a while after this. Unfortunately he passed away in 1994. You can read a few of his letters, including the one revealing his name, on this site set up as a memorial.
Categories: Marderography
Amazing Heroes #136 [1988]
Special tribute to the most amazingest of all the heroes, Superman, on the occasion of his 50th year. Marder shows up twice in this issue. First on page 45 among the artist types who took the opportunity to draw the Man of Steel, reduced in this case to Beanworld terms. Then on page 95 as part of a section where pros write about Superman, there’s Marder again (with a little dancing Bean) briefly writing about how “Superman Red / Superman Blue” twisted his head as a kid and was his favourite Superman story.
Categories: Marderography
Neil The Horse Comics and Stories #5 [1983]
