Review by Travis Johnson

Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip (Volume 1) is a collection of four short stories, consisting of newspaper comic strips originally published in the 1950’s. Despite the format, these are not gag strips, where each strip sets up and delivers a punch line. On the contrary, this a narrative strip; what we might today call a “graphic novel”. In the tradition of classic comic strips like Popeye’s Thimble Theatre, it mixes adventure with comedy, but the focus here is very much on often-whimsical satire. Continue reading →