Comic/Webcomic Review "The Bean" Artist/Writer Travis Hanson Publisher: Beanleaf Press http://www.beanleafpress.com Reviewed by Rick Higginson

One of the fun things about going to a Con is looking for an artist or title I haven't read before. With the ready availability of such at any medium to large size convention, the tough part is not walking out so overloaded with material that I'll never get to it. What I usually do, then, is look for something that catches my eye and piques my interest, and invest some time and money into that. Sometimes, it doesn't pan out. The comic doesn't turn out to be my cup of tea, or the title doesn't take off and I never get a chance to continue reading it. Sometimes, though, I find a gem. Travis Hanson's artwork caught our eyes on Saturday at Phoenix Comicon. A number of lithos were on display, and a basket held an assortment of one-of-a-kind originals for sale. While we were browsing, the artist was feverishly cranking out free sketches for Con attendees, trying to break his previous record for Con sketches. What I found interesting, though, is he wasn't just hammering out sketch after sketch of his own characters - he was taking requests. One lady requested a drawing of her adolescent daughter who was with her. Another guy asked for a zombie teddy-bear. The artist didn't hesitate - he just did the sketches. I flipped through a copy of his print comic, and decided to buy the first volume. "The Bean" is a fantasy story, set in the forest of Darkleaf, and beginning at the Ogre-owned tavern, "Silver Dagger." The title character, Bean, is a young boy indentured to the owner of the tavern, Gort, as payment for his father's gambling debt. The story takes off quickly enough when Groggle, Gort's brother and the cook for the Silver Dagger, sends Bean out to fetch some mushrooms for the stew. Within the pages of the first volume, Hanson gives a decent introduction to the main characters, from surface impressions to hints of recessed traits that may - or may not - come into play later in the story. As I mentioned earlier, it was Hanson's artwork that caught my eye, and his treatment of the characters and settings in "The Bean" didn't disappoint. The characters are expressive and his scenery contains a satisfying level of detail. My son commented that the inked artwork reminded him of Stan Sakai, though that's really not a fair comparison. Both artists convey a great deal with monochromatic lines, but they also have their distinct styles. I think a better statement would be that if you like Sakai's art style, it's a good bet that Hanson's will appeal to you as well. While you can read all the installments of "The Bean" online, if you want to get the full appreciation of the artwork, I would advise ordering the print collections. For some artists, scanning the art gives them an opportunity to clean up some rough spots. Hanson's art, on the other hand, loses something in the scanning. The print version is cleaner and sharper than the on-line scans, and I found myself flipping back through the book just to look at the different panels. "The Bean" has been on-line since late last year, so the archives are not daunting to read through. The webcomic updates Mondays and Thursdays, and the artist posts regular entries in the attached blog. Print volumes 1 - 5 are $4.75 each, and are available through the Bean Leaf Press website. You can read them all on-line, but I suggest picking up at least one print volume, if for no other reason than just for the artwork.

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