this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2024
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“BD” refers to Franco-Belgian comics, but let's open things up to include ALL Euro comics and GN's. Euro-style artistry from around the world is also welcome. ^^

* BD = "Bandes dessinées"
* BDT = Bedetheque
* GN = graphic novel
* LBK = Lambiek
* LC = "Ligne claire"

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Jansson of course was the Swedish-Finnish genius who created the Moomin series for kids, as well as for all-ages audiences. I want to say it drew upon American Charles Schulz' work on Peanuts, in which novel character-types were introduced in a fairly LC-style, exploring just what it is to be a thinking, emotional being, bumping up against others of different variety.


https://i.imgur.com/2ZkJXgV.jpeg

What I really liked about these in particular is that AFAIK, Jansson worked almost exclusively in B&W (not unlike Schulz, classically). So these full-color watercolors just kinda blew me away as a chronic Moomin fan!


https://i.imgur.com/eVbwz3k.jpeg

The story itself involves a girl searching for her lost cat, a fairly standard story-device, I suppose. But along the way she meets some wild & wonderful folks. Again a pretty classic story-device, but what makes this one stand out is the silly poetry, which I'm not sure Jansson had exactly attempted, before.


https://i.imgur.com/NycL9SR.jpeg

TBC-- all of these splash pages feature some amusing Seussian, playful poems underneath them. Here's the one for the balloon trip above:

At this point I'll quote the fadeout of this excellent little book, here:

Tove Jansson (1914-2001) is Scandinavia's best known and best loved children's author. She began publishing sketches and cartoons at the age of fifteen and in 1945 wrote the first in a series of internationally renowned Moomintroll books. The Dangerous Journey (published originally in 1977) was the final Moomin book that she wrote and illustrated, and offers a memorable last glimpse of Moomin Valley. Jansson lived in Helsinki but spent a large part of her life on an island in the Gulf of Finland.

https://www.lambiek.net/artists/j/jansson_t.htm

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[–] Deebster@programming.dev 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

[Jansson] is part of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland, and her books were originally written in Swedish.

Ah, that explains why I can never remember which one.

Great post, thanks. Some niece or nephew will be getting this next birthday, I think!

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago
[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago

i agree, those watercolors are astonishing

I forgot about Thingummy and Bob spoonerisms.

[–] Heterocephalus@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Beautiful images and again a really nice article written around it. My late cat Tove (Astrid´s sister) was named after Jansson.

[–] JohnnyEnzyme@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

My late cat Tove (Astrid´s sister) was named after Jansson.

Waitasecond, waitasecond... but Astrid is only 5-6yo, right?

Dare I ask what happened to to her sister Tove...?

[–] Heterocephalus@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

Dare I ask what happened to to her sister Tove…?

My little cutie was very ill and died much too young, I miss her every day. Let´s not talk about it any more.