Lars Jansson (1) (1926–2000)

I think every Nordic person has Mumintrollen living somewhere in their heart, and although these books are translated into English and it's a little bit harder to "hear" their Finnish-accented Swedish, they are still as fantastic as I remember them. Muminpappa cherishes his crazy adventures, Muminmamma her home and hearth, Snorkfröken her romances, and Mumin himself just wants everyone to be happy and get along. Different as they are, they have one over-riding goal in common: to have fun! show more The ultimate in anarchy, you just can't help but admire their guts and gusto and their complete devotion to each other. Or, as the character Stinky puts it, "Indeed you are the most idiotic family I ever saw - but you are at least living every minute of the day!!"

Unfortunately, this edition of book 5 has been sloppily edited - in two places there are strips inserted that are duplicates of the panels from different stories and so the strips that were supposed to be there are missing. I'm surprised that the publisher didn’t fix this blatant error; at the very least they could have put a supplement in the book with the missing panels. As it is now, this is not a "Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip."

ETA: I've been informed that the book now comes with stickers to correct the missing panels - not an attractive solution, but definitely much better than no correction. show less

B&W throughout. Can't go wrong with a Moomin book. Relaxing, entertaining, thought-provoking, and admirable. Quick read.

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2874423.html

There are four extended narratives of around 80 frames each here, which I guess would have run for about three months each in 1961. The first is "Moomin the Colonist", a story of colonialism which would have been inspired by the winds of change; the Moomins settle a new continent and come into conflict with their neighbours (who are in fact their old neighbours from Moominland, also attempting colonisation) - the indigenous inhabitants are barely show more seen. The other three, "Moomin and the Scouts", "Moomin and the Farm" and "Moomin and the Goldfields" are all faintly surreal but not all that adventurous.

I bought this collection when I went to the Adventures in Moominland exhibition in January, and am actually a bit miffed - I should have spotted that it is not by Tove Jansson but by her brother Lars, and on checking inside it turns out to be the seventh of ten (so far) collections of the Evening News comic strips about the Moomins, of which only the first four contain Tove Jansson material. Next time I have a chance I shall try and get one of the earlier volumes. show less

Moomin Family Robinson is a nod to Johann David Wyss; Artists in Moominvalley is a celebration of the eccentricity of artists (and in the game of charades, was that the Mona Lisa?); Sniff's Holiday Camp is the reassertion of the characters of Moomins who make the most of difficult situations; and The Inspector's Nephew is a story of drug dealing in Moominvalley.