Moomin Book Four: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip

This book marks our first insight into Lars Jansson's take on the Moomin world, as well as his sister Tove continuing to dispel the charming, witty and often jabbing Moomin world from her pencil. Only loyal fans can tell that the first two stories are Lars's, the remaining three Tove's - from the choice of subject matter as well as the subtle (but still present) style differences. At this point, Tove's contract at London Evening News was about to expire and she declined to continue, so her brother Lars/Lasse stepped in.Lars's stories are about how Moominpappa builds a time machine by complete accident, when cleaning a clock and a sewing machine. He and his family see this as cause for adventure and so they go back in time to the Wild West. I've always loved Moominpappa, and his desire for action as well as his frustration at the lack of authenticity of the "Wild West" is so heartwarming, it's downright entertaining. Things don't go much better for the family in the second story, when Snork Maiden suggests they go back to Rococo times. Lasse and Tove clearly shared this world and its wittiness and jabs at life.The jabs at life are perhaps even fiercer in the three stories by Tove. One is an adaptation of her "Comet in Moominland" novel, but naturally with its own little witty characteristic twists. The other two stories, "The Conscientous Moomins" and "Moomin's Golden Tail", however, could hardly be more a satire of human behaviour.In "The Conscientous Moomins", a social worker tells the Moomins how irresponsibly they have been living. Moominpappa is worried and puts his new sense of duty above his sense of pleasure, to the unhappiness of his wife and son. Snork Maiden is quickly convinced, though, and so a big chain of events is set in motion where the concept of 'responsibility' sweeps Moominvalley. Yet it never completely wins the characters over; they are constantly in doubt over this new lifestyle, yet can't find a reason to go back to their good old ways (Moominpappa's adventurous spirit kicks in as he thinks the Inspector has caught a crook, only to find that it's a bug eating his roses)."Moomin's Golden Tail" takes this subject even further, to the point when it rings so true that it becomes almost uncomfortable to read. Of course, the story starts out innocent enough; Moomin's tail is losing its tuft, for unknown reasons. One thing leads to another until eventually he has a tail of gold. This turns his life and those of all around his completely upside down. A manager imposes himself upon Moomin to control his fame and image, so the Moomins must get new furniture as well as a butler and maid, and Moominpappa's childhood friend is forced to move out. Moomin hates his fame but just can't bring himself to give it up.Snufkin is the sole voice of reason throughout, as are the occasional musings of Little My. Yet the stories do have good endings, and the characters learn lessons that are so simple, yet so hard for us to adopt in our chaotic world. All of the aforementioned dances from Tove Jansson's fingertips; she delights in playing with the three-panel limit she had for each story sequence, with composition and linework. Her Moomin characters and the world around them is more beautiful than ever thanks to her talent - there is a clear distinction between her drawings here and in the first volume of this series.Definitely recommended for Moomin fans and those who love witty stories with simple but great art and heartwarming characters.

In this fourth Moomin book the strip becomes a family business. Tove Jansson's brother Lars starts helping out with the the scripts for four out of five stories (two years later Lars would take over the entire strip, doing both the art and scripts for a decade and a half.)While it's certainly no disaster, it has to be admitted that the first two Lars-scripted stories in this volume really don't amount to that much, and the second one seems to more or less have been abandoned midway through. The third story is better, so I suppose Lars was slowly learning how to tell a continuing story in a daily strip. The fourth story is really good. It's also scripted by Lars, but it's an adaptation of Tove's book "Comet in Moominland", so it's not all new material. The final story is done by Tove by herself, and it's a good one.So basically, while this volume contains great Tove Jansson art all the way through, some of the scripting is a little awkward compared to the first three volumes. But it's still worth buying for the wonderful art and for the few good stories it contains.UPDATE: apparently D&Q has confirmed that there are two concluding strips missing from two stories in this volume.... so the second story WASN'T quite 'abandoned midway through'. Still not quite a great story though. The missing strips will be printed in the next volume.

Another in this lovely series of books - funny, touching characters - I know these Scandinavian creatures from Childhood but these are the original cartoons Tove Jansson published in several languages. Delightfully realised subjects, sometimes quirky, sometimes sad, sometimes a little bit mad - subjects that don't appear to have dated in the 40+ years since originally published. It also gives you an insight into the amount of imagination required to produce a daily cartoon, keep a storyline, keep the audience interested and touch on both day to day subjects and a little light ribbing of current situations or attitudes - still valid today, going to show that people (or moomins) and their situations don't really change all that much.Charming books, lovely editions, in Canvas type, oldstyle books evoking an earlier era of books, nice paper, nice feel of the book while you're reading it - I have the full collection so far and look forward to completing it in the coming years. A lovely present, each can stand alone, or look lovely on the shelf all together. The illustrations are the original pen/ink drawings, not the more modern japanese style used in the animated series, which younger readers may be aware of.Love them, they remind me of buying the Puffin books when I was a little barne in Norway, back in the late 70's - all of which I still have!

The book itself is absolutely beautiful in appearance. And is solidly bound in a hard cover with fabric covered spine.And the cartoon artwork itself is typically Tove Jansson and also very attractive and stylish.However, the story lines and plots differ from the animated version and lack vigour and punch. They certainly don't flow any where near as freely as other cartoon stories.I would say this book series is really only for die hard Tove Jansson and Moomin fans and not all that orientated for younger kids.If you're expecting a cartoon version of the animated series then you'll be disappointed.Otherwise, it's brilliant.

My eleven year old daughter was given Book 1 of this collection for Christmas and she is now collecting the rest. No one in my family had read Moomin before but we have all fallen in love with the beautiful illustrations and quirky stories. This particular collection is a nice, sturdy hardback with an attractive binding and a tactile cover that feels like fabric. A great present for fans and newcomers alike, young or old.