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Moomin Comic Strip #1-4
Mumins 1. Die gesammelten Comic-Strips von Tove Jansson
Der kleine, rundliche Troll Mumin ist voller Neugier und Fantasie. Zusammen mit seinem Freund Sniff gerät er in so manch haarsträubendes Abenteuer. Viele wunderbare und geheimnisvolle Freunde trifft er dabei, muss sich jedoch auch manch zwielichtiger Gestalt erwehren, seien es stinkende Ungetüme, ruchlose Räuber oder gar bekannte Filmstars. Doch am Ende sitzen alle zusammen am Feuer und stoßen auf die gemeinsamen Erlebnisse an.
Die schwedisch-finnische Autorin Tove Jansson hat mit ihren Mumintrollen einen zeitlosen Klassiker geschaffen. Neben den bekannten, reich illustrierten Kinderbüchern ließ sie ihre Figuren auch in einer Comic-Strip-Reihe auftreten, die in den Fünfzigerjahren für eine englische Zeitung erdacht und gezeichnet wurde. Diese Comicstrips werden nun bei Reprodukt erstmalig in einer deutschsprachigen Gesamtausgabe vorgelegt. Tove Janssons "Mumins" haben bis heute nichts von ihrem Zauber und ihrem unnachahmlichen Charme verloren, der Jung und Alt gleichermaßen anspricht.
Die schwedisch-finnische Autorin Tove Jansson hat mit ihren Mumintrollen einen zeitlosen Klassiker geschaffen. Neben den bekannten, reich illustrierten Kinderbüchern ließ sie ihre Figuren auch in einer Comic-Strip-Reihe auftreten, die in den Fünfzigerjahren für eine englische Zeitung erdacht und gezeichnet wurde. Diese Comicstrips werden nun bei Reprodukt erstmalig in einer deutschsprachigen Gesamtausgabe vorgelegt. Tove Janssons "Mumins" haben bis heute nichts von ihrem Zauber und ihrem unnachahmlichen Charme verloren, der Jung und Alt gleichermaßen anspricht.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1977
211 people are currently reading
4658 people want to read
About the author
Tove Jansson
877 books3,869 followersTove Jansson was born and died in Helsinki, Finland. As a Finnish citizen whose mother tongue was Swedish, she was part of the Swedish-speaking Finns minority. Thus, all her books were originally written in Swedish.
Although known first and foremost as an author, Tove Jansson considered her careers as author and painter to be of equal importance.
Tove Jansson wrote and illustrated her first Moomin book, The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945), during World War II. She said later that the war had depressed her, and she had wanted to write something naive and innocent. Besides the Moomin novels and short stories, Tove Jansson also wrote and illustrated four original and highly popular picture books.
Jansson's Moomin books have been translated into 33 languages.
Although known first and foremost as an author, Tove Jansson considered her careers as author and painter to be of equal importance.
Tove Jansson wrote and illustrated her first Moomin book, The Moomins and the Great Flood (1945), during World War II. She said later that the war had depressed her, and she had wanted to write something naive and innocent. Besides the Moomin novels and short stories, Tove Jansson also wrote and illustrated four original and highly popular picture books.
Jansson's Moomin books have been translated into 33 languages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 555 reviews
March 1, 2009
Your children should have these books. Then you should read them all instead of cooking or cleaning for said children.
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April 8, 2022Qué sorprendente es esta recopilación de viñetas clásicas de los Mumin publicadas en inglés en un periódico londinense. De esos encantadores personajes infantiles creados por la finlandesa Tove Jansson en los 50, me esperaba altas dosis de ternura y melancolía… pero me he encontrado unas tiras de lo más gamberras, llenas de humor y aventuras, que han envejecido sorprendentemente bien. Me ha gustado mucho esta diversión tan blanca, apta para toda la familia, pero que esconde bien camuflados algunos mensajes potentes y varios personajes absolutamente inolvidables. Muy recomendable.
November 1, 2017
I came across Jansson's work some years back and was utterly charmed. I finally finished the first volume of her comic strip which is absolutely wonderful. The drawing style is deceptively simple and her quality of line and mark-making is magnificent. Lovely compositions, the writing is brilliant too (very hard to be good at both art and writing imo, heck it's hard enough being good at just one of those things!). There is a charming magic to it, a deep wryness enshrouded by cuteness. Truly imaginative, inventive, absurd, poetic, whimsical. It feels true, she captures the realness of life within her make-believe world. Anyhow it is rare that I love both the art and writing when it is done by only one person (Mike Mignola's Hellboy work comes to mind).
I really look forward to reading the whole collection of the strips. I also want to check out her Moomin' children's books. Tove Jansson's back story is interesting as well. She wanted to do more fine art painting (she did impressive work in this area too) but generating income was incredibly difficult and that's how she ended up doing the strip (for financial reasons, still you can tell she poured her heart and soul into this). I always love learning about artist backstories, people don't work in vacuums. The constraints and currents of life channel people in different directions. Anyhow, either way you cut it she was an incredibly versatile and talented artist, that is undeniable.
I really look forward to reading the whole collection of the strips. I also want to check out her Moomin' children's books. Tove Jansson's back story is interesting as well. She wanted to do more fine art painting (she did impressive work in this area too) but generating income was incredibly difficult and that's how she ended up doing the strip (for financial reasons, still you can tell she poured her heart and soul into this). I always love learning about artist backstories, people don't work in vacuums. The constraints and currents of life channel people in different directions. Anyhow, either way you cut it she was an incredibly versatile and talented artist, that is undeniable.
July 19, 2023
“Isn’t this quiet family life wonderful, dear?”
“Ye-e-es… But it would be even more wonderful if something exciting and awful happened!”
Moomin is undoubtably one of the most delightful comic strips I've ever read, up there with Peanuts, Pogo, or Calvin and Hobbes—and of course utterly singular. The key to a great comic is unity of word and line. A comic must never be an illustrated joke, or illustrated story, but a seamless work of art. The drawings have to be funny; the writing dynamic and visual. The secret has little to do with the laugh after you get the joke and everything to do with the smile before you get the joke.
Moominland operates on a logic all its own, or lack of logic all its own. It is a world of love and anarchy that does not shy away from the horrors and humiliations of life, but with humor and wit and sheer dumb silliness defies them.
“I only want to live in peace and plant potatoes and dream!”
June 21, 2010
Having been a fan of Tove Jansson's winsome Moomin books for many years, I was happy and excited to learn that for a few years in the 1950s, the Finnish author published a Moomin comic strip (oddly, in a British newspaper), now collected for the first time in this handsome volume, the first of five. What an unexpected treasure-trove. Yet despite being absolutely delighted to receive this for my birthday when it first came out, I was resistant to actually reading it. This was because I immediately started the first story (there are four in this book), and was at once put off by the fact that this was not exactly the Moomin-world I had come to know and love in the original books. There was Moomintroll, but he had no parents. There was Sniff, but a different, bolder, and more assertive Sniff. There were the Hattifatteners, but instead of being silent enigmatic electrical beings, they were a host of "poor relations" who descended on Moomintroll's house and demanded cocktails (that being said, they did look pretty funny all holding cocktail glasses). Moomintroll and Sniff meet Snuffkin and the Snork Maiden in this story as if for the first time, but in completely different ways than they did in
Comet in Moominland
.
So it sat on my shelf unread for a couple years. Then, in a new flush of Moomin-enthusiasm brought on by the Children's Book group's discussion of Finn Family Moomintroll, I decided to be brave and try again. And oh, how glad I am that I did. The first story is in fact both the weakest and the most jarringly different from the books. In the second, Moomintroll is reunited with his parents. The third, in which Moomintroll, his parents and the Snork Maiden travel to the Riviera and hobnob with movie stars and playboys and unwittingly run up a huge hotel bill (they believe they have been invited to stay in the home of a large and unusually accommodating family) is at once absolutely hilarious, and completely different from anything that would have transpired in the chapter books. By that point, I had accepted that this comic-strip world was a sort of parallel universe to the books, and that it didn't matter so much if everything in the two worlds aligned. Also, as much as I love the books, I have to admit that they themselves are not always entirely coherent, with confusing time-lines and characters appearing and disappearing without explanation, and hardly any reference to past events. Jansson clearly felt no compunction at all about taking liberties with her own creations and saw them as very fluid and changeable. This ties in with a delightful but bewildering and giddy-making sense of anarchy I get from reading all her works for children. Jansson was certainly not writing to please pedantic people like the Snork Maiden's brother and the Hemulen.
I still do prefer the books. The comic strip definitely highlights the wacky and surreal aspects of Jansson's story telling, at the expense of the introspective and melancholy elements (although I am eager to see if this will change as the comic strip goes on). The characters' personality traits are more exaggerated (oh, that Snork Maiden...if I thought she was girly and superficial before...), and they seem more likely to act in ways that are not entirely likable for the sake of propelling the story along. On the plus side, I love Jansson's art with a passion, and obviously, this being a comic strip, we get lots and lots of it here. I am now so excited to read the other volumes in this series, but I'm glad in a way, that I put off reading this one, and will probably space out the others, so as to stretch out and savor the experience as much as possible.
So it sat on my shelf unread for a couple years. Then, in a new flush of Moomin-enthusiasm brought on by the Children's Book group's discussion of Finn Family Moomintroll, I decided to be brave and try again. And oh, how glad I am that I did. The first story is in fact both the weakest and the most jarringly different from the books. In the second, Moomintroll is reunited with his parents. The third, in which Moomintroll, his parents and the Snork Maiden travel to the Riviera and hobnob with movie stars and playboys and unwittingly run up a huge hotel bill (they believe they have been invited to stay in the home of a large and unusually accommodating family) is at once absolutely hilarious, and completely different from anything that would have transpired in the chapter books. By that point, I had accepted that this comic-strip world was a sort of parallel universe to the books, and that it didn't matter so much if everything in the two worlds aligned. Also, as much as I love the books, I have to admit that they themselves are not always entirely coherent, with confusing time-lines and characters appearing and disappearing without explanation, and hardly any reference to past events. Jansson clearly felt no compunction at all about taking liberties with her own creations and saw them as very fluid and changeable. This ties in with a delightful but bewildering and giddy-making sense of anarchy I get from reading all her works for children. Jansson was certainly not writing to please pedantic people like the Snork Maiden's brother and the Hemulen.
I still do prefer the books. The comic strip definitely highlights the wacky and surreal aspects of Jansson's story telling, at the expense of the introspective and melancholy elements (although I am eager to see if this will change as the comic strip goes on). The characters' personality traits are more exaggerated (oh, that Snork Maiden...if I thought she was girly and superficial before...), and they seem more likely to act in ways that are not entirely likable for the sake of propelling the story along. On the plus side, I love Jansson's art with a passion, and obviously, this being a comic strip, we get lots and lots of it here. I am now so excited to read the other volumes in this series, but I'm glad in a way, that I put off reading this one, and will probably space out the others, so as to stretch out and savor the experience as much as possible.
April 26, 2012
I don't think I have any terribly specific thoughts on the Moomin comic strips. I love them, they fill me with warm fuzzies and make me laugh, and they're awfully cute. Although there's a lot of wry commentary on human nature, I think -- the silly things they do to impress or annoy each other.
And, anyway, the Moomin comics are just perfect for sickbed reading. Just... don't take the copies out of my local library when I return them, they're probably covered in my germs...
And, anyway, the Moomin comics are just perfect for sickbed reading. Just... don't take the copies out of my local library when I return them, they're probably covered in my germs...
October 25, 2025
Вже писала в себе на каналі багато і про авторку і про її роботи. Топові комікси!
September 25, 2022
Delightful! These charming cartoons follow a cute little fantasy creature through his adventures with ungrateful relatives, misunderstood hotel vacations, fishing net beauty contests, manly pirates and questionable maidens. A quirky sense of humor and an elegant ink style are sure to bring a smile to the most hardened of curmudgeons.
November 23, 2018
Book blurb: The Moomins are a tight-knit family–hippo-shaped creatures with easygoing and adventurous outlooks. 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.
This author, and these comic series in particular, is much loved by so many and I wanted in on all the fun too. These Nordic comics are based on children's books, but there is much here for adults to appreciate as well. The black and white pen and ink art is both simple and wonderfully captures a scene or emotion. In the barrage of upsetting national and world news, I am finding these comics quite soothing.
This volume collects books 1-4, each of which is a illustrated short story.
1. Moomin and the Brigands - 4 stars.
In which Moomin's relations overstay their welcome and he has a hard time saying no. On the plus side he does meet the love of his life, Snorkmaiden. This charming introduction to Moomin and his world made me smile the entire time I was reading it.
2. Moomin and Family Life - 4 stars.
In which everyone seems to have a family except for Moomin, so imagine his delight when he stumbles across the beloved family he lost as a child. Moominmamma might well me my fave comic character ever.
3. Moomin on the Riviera - 4 stars.
In which the Moomins try on the lifestyles of the rich and famous, but things do not go as expected.
4. Moomin's Desert Island - 4 stars.
In which the family is stranded on a Desert Island without a book to read. Some people do not plan ahead!
This author, and these comic series in particular, is much loved by so many and I wanted in on all the fun too. These Nordic comics are based on children's books, but there is much here for adults to appreciate as well. The black and white pen and ink art is both simple and wonderfully captures a scene or emotion. In the barrage of upsetting national and world news, I am finding these comics quite soothing.
This volume collects books 1-4, each of which is a illustrated short story.
1. Moomin and the Brigands - 4 stars.
In which Moomin's relations overstay their welcome and he has a hard time saying no. On the plus side he does meet the love of his life, Snorkmaiden. This charming introduction to Moomin and his world made me smile the entire time I was reading it.
2. Moomin and Family Life - 4 stars.
In which everyone seems to have a family except for Moomin, so imagine his delight when he stumbles across the beloved family he lost as a child. Moominmamma might well me my fave comic character ever.
3. Moomin on the Riviera - 4 stars.
In which the Moomins try on the lifestyles of the rich and famous, but things do not go as expected.
4. Moomin's Desert Island - 4 stars.
In which the family is stranded on a Desert Island without a book to read. Some people do not plan ahead!
October 28, 2008
Tove Jansson’s Moomin books are absurd comic delights that border on the edge of surreal, melancholy, and the fantastical. Whether an adult who missed these, or as gift for a child, these rank with the Roald Dahl and Dr. Seuss books but avoid the misanthropy of the former and the occasional frivolity of the latter. A weird wonderland of laugh out loud humor.
May 21, 2025
"I only want to live in peace, plant potatoes, and dream!"
1. Moomin and the Brigands
2. Moomin and Family Life
3. Moomin on the Riviera
4. Moomin's Desert Island
1. Moomin and the Brigands
2. Moomin and Family Life
3. Moomin on the Riviera
4. Moomin's Desert Island
December 15, 2025
actually the best thing on this planet
January 21, 2020
The Moomins always get 5/5 stars. This book is a collection of Tove Jansson's Moomin comics.
Some of my favorite things:
- Moominpappa's response to finding mysterious footprints was to get a weapon
- He actually shot at Snufkin (don't worry, he missed)
- Moominmamma is just so used to Momminpappa's shit that she goes along with everything
(- We stan Moominmamma)
- Sniff is an actual thief and a scoundrel
Some of my favorite things:
- Moominpappa's response to finding mysterious footprints was to get a weapon
- He actually shot at Snufkin (don't worry, he missed)
- Moominmamma is just so used to Momminpappa's shit that she goes along with everything
(- We stan Moominmamma)
- Sniff is an actual thief and a scoundrel
May 19, 2019
The characters and art are very creative. The stories, on the other hand, ramble quite a bit. However, this is because these comics were originally printed as a comic strip.
May 12, 2024
I, too, just want to plant potatoes and dream.
This volume is crazy. It's divided into four stories, and each of these follows absurd plots. There's robbers, a lavish hotel, love triangles, get rich quick schemes, annoying relatives, all packaged in charming naivety and wit. This wholesome absurdity serves as a well needed palette cleanser between more "serious" reads.
Highly recommended but especially if you've never encountered moomins before and want an introduction to an aloof family of, parson my 21st century anachronism, of walking memes. Charming, delightful, and oh so fun. 4.5 stars on SG rounded up to 5 on GR.
A big thanks to my library for carrying the old and large vintage bound volumes. Onto volume 2!!
This volume is crazy. It's divided into four stories, and each of these follows absurd plots. There's robbers, a lavish hotel, love triangles, get rich quick schemes, annoying relatives, all packaged in charming naivety and wit. This wholesome absurdity serves as a well needed palette cleanser between more "serious" reads.
Highly recommended but especially if you've never encountered moomins before and want an introduction to an aloof family of, parson my 21st century anachronism, of walking memes. Charming, delightful, and oh so fun. 4.5 stars on SG rounded up to 5 on GR.
A big thanks to my library for carrying the old and large vintage bound volumes. Onto volume 2!!
November 27, 2024
It took a moment to adjust to characterizations and plot points that differ in these comics from the books I'm accustomed to, but once I got past that, this was a complete joy! It's fun and funny, and Jansson manages to pack a level of charm into every single, solitary line in her drawings that some artists can't convey with an entire page. Idk, it's genius.
September 29, 2014
This book, and the other collection of comic strips and the novels, are a real treat. They're about a good-naturedly anarchic family of hippo-like trolls who let all kinds of different creatures come live in their house and who get involved in one strange adventure after another. The family actually reminds me a little of the family in Frank Capra's movie You Can't Take it With You; an anything goes type of household where creativity is given precedence and free reign.
Tove Jansson wrote a novel or two about the Moomins in Finnish, which were translated into English, and then she was invited to create these comic strips for an English paper. I'm not sure how many she did, but now they're being re-issued in book form at the rate of one a year and so far two have been put out.
Treat yourself and others to these. The drawings are very good - neat line drawings whit each panel a balanced composition in itself, often filled with incident, and even when fairly dense still airy and light, like a hippo creampuff.
Tove Jansson wrote a novel or two about the Moomins in Finnish, which were translated into English, and then she was invited to create these comic strips for an English paper. I'm not sure how many she did, but now they're being re-issued in book form at the rate of one a year and so far two have been put out.
Treat yourself and others to these. The drawings are very good - neat line drawings whit each panel a balanced composition in itself, often filled with incident, and even when fairly dense still airy and light, like a hippo creampuff.
August 31, 2022
the moomins have no right to be so cute and funny
May 7, 2025
mis amiguitos perfectos... es la primera vez que actually /leo/ algo de los moomin y me ha dado todo lo que buscaba. me encanta que los personajes de los moomin parezcan simplemente criaturas simpáticas pero que, además de eso, sean unos pillines y les guste una buena aventura como a cualquiera. las estratagemas que manejan algunos de ellos son simplemente increíbles... me he divertido mucho con estas tiras y los chistes me han parecido, algunos, de lo más ingeniosos. me gusta mucho el humor (a veces ácido, crítico en lo sincero) que acompaña a estos bichillos. qué ganas de leer más.
August 30, 2020
Entre la ternura y la locura, un poco en esa vena caótica-salvaje de Pippi Calzaslargas (no tan salvaje, que Pippi era de aúpa. Quizás sea algo nórdico, yo qué sé). El personaje de la señorita Stork se me atragantaba un poco por lo machista, pero es todo tan ingenuo y adorable, y tan de otros tiempos, que me siento un poco sacando los pies del tiesto al pensar en esos términos. A mi hijo le encantan estos cómics de Mumin y los lee y relee, seguro que les podría maś estrellitas que yo.
July 8, 2022
jeju przypomina mi sie dzieciństwo
February 20, 2021
Ti zbrani stripi so mi prinesli nostalgično obujanje spominov na otroštvo, ko sem zelo rada gledala risanke o Mumindolu in Muminih. 💖
August 29, 2022
a childhood classic
August 23, 2023
En tosiaan olisi voinut uskoa, että muumien parissa voi nauraa niin paljon! Hahmojen karikatyyrimäiset persoonallisuudet ja niiden jatkuvat yhteentörmäykset ovat herkullista luettavaa. Huumori on ajoittain todella mustaa ja kaikki niin hellyttävän naiivia - täydellinen kombo!
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Lisää blogissa:
https://kirjailujakirjablogi.blogspot...
June 28, 2022
me gustó mucho t-t
March 22, 2010
Nur von den Mumins zu lesen oder zu hören, macht ja eh schon höllisch viel Spaß, aber dann auch noch jede Szene wunderbar bebildert zu haben, ist ein Hochgenuss der Extraklasse. Die Zeichnungen reichen von super niedlich bis drollig lustig und man kann ständig Kleinigenkeiten im Hintergrund entdecken.
Davon abgesehen konnte ich die Mumins von einer ganz neuen, nicht immer sympathischen Seite kennen lernen. Papa Mumin ist z.B. unheimlich egoistisch und stellt seine Lust nach Abenteuer weit über seine Familie. Mama Mumin versucht es ihm ständig recht zu machen, auch wenn das bedeutet ihren geliebten Mumin Sohn zurückzulassen. Von Snorkmaiden darf ich gar nicht anfangen: eingebildet und immer nach anderen Männern aus und trotzdem kann Mumin nicht von ihr lassen.
Nichtsdestotrotz sind die Mumins so unheimlich komisch und so knuffig gezeichnet, dass man sie nur liebhaben kann.
Davon abgesehen konnte ich die Mumins von einer ganz neuen, nicht immer sympathischen Seite kennen lernen. Papa Mumin ist z.B. unheimlich egoistisch und stellt seine Lust nach Abenteuer weit über seine Familie. Mama Mumin versucht es ihm ständig recht zu machen, auch wenn das bedeutet ihren geliebten Mumin Sohn zurückzulassen. Von Snorkmaiden darf ich gar nicht anfangen: eingebildet und immer nach anderen Männern aus und trotzdem kann Mumin nicht von ihr lassen.
Nichtsdestotrotz sind die Mumins so unheimlich komisch und so knuffig gezeichnet, dass man sie nur liebhaben kann.
December 3, 2007
Big-bottomed hippo-trolls, they make the rockin' world go round. I must admit that I gave this book as a gift (to the esteemed Eric) after pretty much just flipping through it and reading the first story.... but I'm sure, of all people, he'll excuse me for judging a book by its cover. "Moomin on the Riviera" is my favorite story in this collection, I think, mostly because of how it uses that age-old quandary: why does an artist bother to put a bathing suit on a normally-naked cartoon character? Snorkmaiden's bikini-shopping makes me giggle just thinking about it.... when she's all blushing in the shop over the "risque" bikini and then she feels better with a sash over it. GIRLFRIEND, YOU NEVER WEAR PANTS! Tee hee.
June 16, 2016
Quizás más conocidos por las series de dibujos animados, aquí comienzan las aventuras de una familia de trolls escandinavos llamados Mumins (con todos los demás personajes clásicos como Snufkin y Stiff) . Las historias pueden parecer sencillas, pero encierran enseñanzas valiosas sin ser moralistas, especialmente graciosa es la historia en la Riviera francesa (todos los fans queremos ir a Moomin World o al Museo en Tampere). Existen distintas ediciones en español (ojo con las de Siruela), pero yo leí ésta.
January 12, 2013
I have actually never read the Moomin strips, unless you count flipping though a comic that I couldn't read, though I have read the books.
These strips are cool, funny, and cute. I liked the trip to the Rivera.
These strips are cool, funny, and cute. I liked the trip to the Rivera.
November 13, 2017
The comic strip adventures of Moomin and friends - cute and absurd and surreal and utterly charming and adorable and wise. Both the writing and the art are enchanting and lovely. Wonderful.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 555 reviews