FINLAND
 Super
popular pig gets own stamps
Helsinki, Finland, January 22, 2003 - The
Finnish comic strip Viivi and Wagner, which depicts the
cohabitation of the male chauvinist pig Wagner and his culture-oriented,
greenish girlfriend Viivi, is the subject of six stamps issued by
the Finnish Post Office in January 2003 with a Valentine Day theme.
The popularity of the Viivi and Wagner strip has been enormous
and the collection albums (6 so far) regularly find their way into
the bestseller lists. Jussi “Juba“ Tuomola (b.1966),
the creator of the strip has sold more albums than any other Finnish
comic artist in Finland. The wry, contemporary humor of the strip
is well received by the Finnish public. It was created in 1997 and
is syndicated to18 Finnish papers, including the prestigious Helsingin
Sanomat, the biggest daily in Finland.
History in cartoons
Helsinki, Finland, July 24, 2002 - Finland, seen through political cartoons from the 19th to the 21st century
is the subject of a book by Marja Ylonen (published by the
Finnish Literature Society, 2002). The book looks into some uniquely
Finnish themes, such as the subtle resistance to Imperial Russia
and the tension between the Finnish and Swedish speaking population
in the country. Here again is an example of how political cartoons
can often communicate much more than academically written history.
Unfortunately this book is only available in Finnish for the time
being.
In Finland, comics have arrived in the mainstream
Helsinki, Finland, July 23, 2002 - The Finnish Government's support of cultural activities is finally
paying off for comics as a noted genre. The first 5-year arts grant was
given to Tarmo Koivisto 1996-2001 for work on his epic "Maemmila",
Katja Tukianen a one-year grant in 2001, Matti Hagelberg a
six-months' grant in 1999. These three artists are known for having comics
as their main means of artistic expression. This is not a bolt from the
sky, rather it is 30 years of lobbying by the Finnish Comics Society
(www.kupla.net) which has been promoting
comics as a diversified art form with festivals, seminars, publications,
etc. The current chairman of The Comics Artists' Union, Mr. Heikki
Jokinen, has written an in-depth analysis of the state of comics in
Finland which had a strong impact. Another fact of life is that the baby
boomers, who were growing up with comics in the 1950s are now important
persons in the government culture establishment. Comics as an information
tool, especially in the Third World, has been supported by the Finnish Government
since the early 1990s with projects in Africa and Asia. These projects have
been run by the organisation World Comics-Finland (www.worldcomics.fi).
|
