Moomin (; ) is a comic strip created by Swedish-speaking Finnish writer and artist Tove Jansson, and followed up by her younger brother Lars Jansson, featuring their Moomin family of characters. The first comic strip, entitled (Moomintroll and The End of The World) was for the Finland newspaper Ny Tid. It was written between 1947 and 1948, at the request of the editor, a friend of Jansson's, Atos Wirtanen. The series was mainly an adaptation of Comet in Moominland.
The main series of Moomin comic strips was made directly for the British market: they were distributed by the Associated Newspapers comic strip syndicate, initially appearing in London's Evening News newspaper. The series was printed in newspapers from 1954 to 1971. At its peak, Moomin appeared in around 40 countries and some 120 newspapers, with over 20 million readers daily.
The original comic strip stories by Tove Jansson and Lars Jansson have been adapted into the Moomin (1990) anime series and the 2014 animated film based on Moomin on the Riviera comic strip story.
Tove and Lars Jansson received the Finnish Comics Society's award in 1980.
History
In 1947, Tove Jansson's lover, the politician Atos Wirtanen, commissioned her first Moomin comic strip for Finland's Ny Tid newspaper, where he was an editor. The series has been reprinted in book form under the name (The World is Ending).
A much bigger opportunity arose when Charles Sutton, the leader of the Associated Newspapers syndicate, contacted Jansson in 1952 about a comic strip of the "charming" Moomins. After much discussion, and a planned launch in the Daily Sketch, Jansson travelled to London to arrange the launch in Evening News, with 6 episodes per week, "each strip to last three months". It was the largest afternoon newspaper in the world at the time, with a circulation of 12 million, and started to publish the Moomin comic strip on 20 September 1954. According to Jansson's biographer Boel Westin, it was a "smash hit". The strip was quickly sold to other countries, especially in Scandinavia. In 1955, the strip started in Finland's Ilta-Sanomat, in Sweden's daily Svenska Dagbladet, and in the Danish Politiken. The comic strips, unlike the early Moomin books and her drawing work, began to provide her with a sufficient income. Tove's brother Lars Jansson helped with the work: he began by helping to translate the comic strips into English, then started to help create scripts in 1957, and finally took over the entire process by 1960. At its peak, Moomin appeared in around 40 countries and some 120 newspapers, with over 20 million readers daily. It continued running until 1971.
In the 1990s, a comic book version of Moomin was produced in Scandinavia after Dennis Livson and Lars Jansson's Moomin animated series was shown on television. The Janssons had no involvement in these comic books. However, in the wake of the comic book's success, two new Moomin comic strips were launched under the artistic and content oversight of Lars and his daughter, Sophia Jansson-Zambra. As of 2007, Sophia provides sole oversight for the strips.
Analysis
Laura Honkasalo, reporting on the first seminar on the Moomin comic strips (held in August 2000) in Kulttuurivihkot, noted that they use a warm humour, not laughing at anyone's expense, and that the humour relies on slow narrative. She notes 's analysis that Lars Jansson's drawing is technically skilful and innovative, such as with thematic panel boundaries. citing . Moomin.com notes that the vertical boundaries between the comic strip panels are not always just lines: Tove and Lars Jansson sometimes "delightful[ly]" enlivened the strips by making the boundaries scenic elements such as doors, ropes, curtains, or trees.
Juhani Sirén in City magazine notes that while the comic strips were not allowed to include sex, Moomintroll tries drugs; Moominpappa drinks whisky and gets a hangover; there is a parody of excessive publicity; modern art and its pundits are mocked; and Moomintroll is warned of the dangers of gurus.
Honours and distinctions
Tove and Lars Jansson received the Finnish Comics Society's ("Puupää's hat") award in 1980.
Adaptations
Anime
The Moomin (1990) anime series featured several episodes, which are loose adaptations based on comic strip stories, while several characters from the comic strips appear in the anime series. The second season, known as sequel anime series in Japan, was like the first series directed by Hiroshi Saitô and Masayuki Kojima. It was dubbed into Finnish but not English.
Animated film
The 2014 traditional animated comedy film Moomins on the Riviera directed by Xavier Picard and produced by Hanna Hemilä, is based on the comic strip story of the same name; it was released on 10 October 2014 in Finland to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Tove Jansson's birth. The film broadly follows the original comic strip story, with some elements from other comic strip stories and several of Jansson's Moomin characters who didn't appear in the original story, such as Little My and Snufkin.
List of comic strip stories
The strip was divided into episodes, each with distinct titles and storylines.