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Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip - Book One by Tove Jansson
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Tove Jansson Edition: Hardcover Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2006-11-14 ISBN: 1894937805 Number of pages: 96 Publisher: Drawn and Quarterly
Book Reviews of Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip - Book OneBook Review: A Solid, Meaningful Addition to Your Collection Summary: 5 Stars
To be perfectly honest, I didn't understand the Moomin collections at first, and it took some significant steps before I could absorb their meaning. Despite this work to get through my own notions of "comics" and how Moomin conflicted with them, the result was ultimately very rewarding.
Drawn & Quarterly began reprinting Tove Jansson's Moomin comic strips in 2006, assembling the complete collection as originally published (after translation from the original Swedish) from 1953 to 1959, in London's Evening News.
As modern readers, most of us with a relatively limited exposure to the format of old-school comic dailies, we naturally see three panels and expect a joke at the end of each set. What we do not typically expect is a continuing narrative, unpunctuated by gimmicks and gags, running through this format. The occasional punchline or astute observation about human nature certainly doesn't help in setting a steady pace, but once the reader realizes that there is no pace, that these are fanciful stories of troll life, it becomes an entirely comfortable place to sink into.
I downloaded the Moomin Voices album, which was released in 2003. It collects a whole bunch of Moomin songs written and performed between 1959 and 2003, and hearing the occasionally jazzy, completely peaceful and occasionally strange music that the Moomins would theoretically live by brought that understanding of the strange Moomin world to completion. I very much suggest finding a copy of the album if you're having trouble understanding the Moomins. It serves to amplify the fact that Jansson was creating a world rather than creating a comic. The complex, moral, and exciting world of the Moomins just happened to express itself through comics.
Jansson's black-and-white line drawings are at once simple, almost geometric and supremely expressive. She manages to fit complex situations, surreal landscapes, and bizarre creatures into relatively small panels without losing any sense of animation, style, or story. That, I can tell you, is a feat, accomplished with an understated mastery of light and shadow.
The stories themselves meander--cause and effect are constantly bouncing off one another in endless chains of events that eventually resolve, though not without a few loose ends along the way. It's not about continuity, though--it's about the journey.
I also love the charm of the 1950s drawings. While far more elegant than something you'd find in a textbook, I can't help but feel shades of the angular, simple figures that might be demonstrating what sodium and chlorine turn into when combined.
And there's no ill will to be found. A little bit of punished selfishness, a Moomin calling another one an "ass" because of a philosophical disagreement, but everything returns to normal and everyone's a little wiser for it. It's a simple way to tell stories, and one that really isn't used too much anymore (except in the most saccharine of cartoons), but it's refreshing to see it in this original context.
Absolutely worth a look and a solid, meaningful addition to your collection--all packaged in huge books that you can sink into a sofa with.
-- Collin David
Summary of Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip - Book OneThe enchanting comic strip that introduced adult readers to the wonderful world of Moomin
Tove Jansson is revered around the world as one of the foremost children's authors of the twentieth century for her illustrated chapter books regarding the magical worlds of her creation, the Moomins. The Moomins saw life in many forms but debuted to its biggest audience ever on the pages of the world's largest newspaper, the London Evening News, in 1954. The strip was syndicated in newspapers around the world with millions of readers in forty countries. Moomin Book One is the first volume of Drawn & Quarterly's publishing plan to reprint the entire strip drawn by Jansson before she handed over the reins to her brother Lars in 1960. This is the first time the strip will be published in any form in North America and will deservedly place Jansson among the international cartooning greats of the last century.
The Moomins are a tight-knit family-hippo-shaped creatures with easygoing and adventurous outlooks. Jansson's art is pared down and precise, yet able to compose beautiful portraits of ambling creatures in fields of flowers or on rock-strewn beaches that recall Jansson's Nordic roots. The comic strip reached out to adults with its gentle and droll sense of humor. Whimsical but with biting undertones, Jansson's observations of everyday life, including guests who overstay their welcome, modern art, movie stars, and high society, easily caught the attention of an international audience and still resonate today.
Tove Jansson's Moomin stories are read and loved around the world, enjoying devoted attention in Japan, Europe and Jansson's native Scandinavia. Jansson's work is now seeing a further growth in popularity, with the Moomin chapter books republished in Britain and France, and new US editions released by FSG. The revival continues in North America with this new volume of comic strips from premium publishers Drawn & Quarterly. Originally published in London's Evening News, Jansson drew and wrote these strips in English. Written in the same period (1954-1960) as the chapter books Moominsummer Madness and Moominland Midwinter, these strips will entertain children with their familiar characters, while adult readers will appreciate their gentle wit and often satirical stance. This volume is the first in an anticipated five-volume set, and collects the four stories Brigands, Family Life, Moomin on the Riviera and Moomin's Desert Island.
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