Moomin Book Two

"Moomin is about freedom, tolerance, and optimism amid frustration, loss, and fear." —Modern Painters Moomin: The Complete Lars Jansson Comic Strip, Volume Ten welcomes readers back to the beloved world of Moominvalley, where pancakes and jam are a perfectly acceptable supper and wealthy aunts can be altogether too fierce to handle. The tenth volume of Tove and Lars Jansson's classic comic strip features the macabre and hilarious "Moomin and the Vampire" and "The Underdeveloped Moomins." Together, the four stories in this collection display the poignancy, whimsy, and philosophical bent that constitute the Moomins' enduring appeal.

The final volume in the series drawn by Tove Jansson Moomin Book Five: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip features the final strips drawn by Tove Jansson and written by her brother Lars for the London Evening News, before Lars took over both the art and the writing. The first “Moomin Winter” returns with more unwanted guests than in Book One, especially the curious and secret-spilling Nibling, sending the Moomin household into a tizzy of secrecy and closed doors. In “Moomin Under Sail,” the Moomins find themselves without a new adventure until Too-Ticky’s compass gives them the idea to build a boat and head to sea. Finally, we meet the Fuddler in “Fuddler’s Courtship.”Mymble captures poor Fuddler’s heart, and his bumbling drives her straight into the arms of Dr.Hatter, the local psychiatrist. Delightfully quirky, the Moomin family does not fare well under the gaze of someone trained in correcting odd behavior.

A lavish celebration of Moominvalley, complete with hundreds of pages of comics, writing, and ephemera Since the first Moomin comic strip appeared in the London Evening News, Tove Jansson’s creations have become an international sensation, inspiring TV shows, cafés, a museum, an opera, and even an amusement park. And now in this new deluxe edition are hundreds of pages of Moomin comics, starring Moominmamma, Snorkmaiden, Sniff, Mrs. Fillyjonk, and many more familiar faces. Collected in this volume are the comics created by Lars Jansson, when his sister, Tove, grew tired of drawing a daily strip after half a decade. Lars had long been involved in the creation of the Moomin strips—he translated them into English for publication. Though he had little knowledge of drawing, Lars took over the daily comic strip. Tove taught him, and after two years of sibling collaboration, Lars authored the strips independently for fourteen years. By the mid-1970s, when the strip was at its height of popularity, the tales of Moominvalley were being syndicated in forty papers worldwide, just as absorbing to adult readers as they were to children. Even today, the stories remain uniquely resonant with readers for more than just their quirky, outlandish appearances. With silly humor, the Moominvalley characters emphasize the importance of community and respecting one’s environment to readers young and old. Moomin Deluxe: Volume Two collects Lars Jansson’s contributions to the series alongside rare ephemera and tributes by cartoonists and writers. Sumptuously designed, it is a must for any fan of Moominvalley.

The enchanting comic strip that introduced adult readers to the wonderful world of Moomin Tove Jansson is revered around the world as one of the foremost children's authors of the twentieth century for her illustrated chapter books regarding the magical worlds of her creation, the Moomins. The Moomins saw life in many forms but debuted to its biggest audience ever on the pages of world's largest newspaper the London Evening News, in 1954. The strip was syndicated in newspapers around the world with millions of readers in 40 countries. Moomin Book One is the first volume of Drawn & Quarterly publishing plan to reprint the entire strip drawn by Jansson before she handed over the reigns to her brother Lars in 1960. This is the first time the strip will be published in any form in North America and will deservedly place Jansson among the international cartooning greats of the last century. The Moomins are a tight-knit family — hippo-shaped creatures with easygoing and adventurous outlooks. Jansson's art is pared down and precise, yet able to compose beautiful portraits of ambling creatures in fields of flowers or rock-strewn beaches that recall Jansson's Nordic roots. 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.

The first volume to be drawn and written by Lars Jansson After the multifaceted Tove Jansson quit the daily grind of the newspaper comic strip, the reins were picked up by her younger brother, Lars, who–not being an artist–taught himself how to draw so that he could continue bringing the Moomin charm to millions of readers around the world. He wrote and drew the strip from 1961 to 1974. Without missing a beat, the transition from Tove to Lars was seamless. The delightful and gentle skewering of life's foibles continued with such antics as Moomin becoming a vegetarian; the genie from a magic lamp bringing stolen diamonds; a railway through Moominvalley turning into a roller coaster, and, of course, hijinks with international spies invading Moominvalley.

A celebration of Tove Jansson's legacy, one hundred years after her birth Tove Jansson's Moomin stories made her one of the most beloved Scandinavian authors of the twentieth century. Jansson's whimsical tales of Moominvalley resonate with children for their lighthearted spirit, and with adults for their incisive commentary on the banality of everyday life. The year 2014 marks the centenary of her birth, and Jansson is being honored with events in Japan, Scandinavia, England, Germany, Russia, Australia, Italy, Spain, and France. Drawn & Quarterly is joining the festivities by releasing Moomin Deluxe: Volume One, a slipcased hardcover collection of the complete Tove Jansson-penned Moomin comic strip, replete with all of her most popular storylines and original pencil sketches. It has been more than sixty years since the Moomin comic strip debuted in the London Evening News. By the end of its run in 1975, Moomin was syndicated in more than forty newspapers around the world and hailed for its light-handed, charming stories. The comics were revived in 2005 by Drawn & Quarterly and published to widespread acclaim, sparking a new generation of devoted Moomin fans with international editions around the world. Moomin Deluxe: Volume One celebrates the classic comics the world adores, and will feature an essay about Tove's work on the Moomin strip.

In the second volume of Tove Jansson's humorous yet melancholic Moomin comic strip, we get four new stories about jealousy, competition, childrearing, and self-reinvention. The Moomins try to hibernate in the fashion of their ancestors but insomnia places them smack dab into a winter carnival with the winter-sports loving Mr. Brisk. The fickle and eternally lovestruck Mymble and Snorkmaiden find themselves in competition over a thrilling new man. Moominmamma meets her new neighbor, the Fillyjonk, causing her to hire the depressed and secretive Misabel as her new maid. Mymble's mother arrives on the Moomin family's doorstep with her seventeen new children. Finally, a prophet arrives on the scene declaring that the happy Moomins are in fact not happy at all and need to get back to nature and be free. Moomin, of course, becomes more and more miserable the freer he gets. Jansson is revered around the world as one of the foremost children's authors of the twentieth century for her illustrated Moomin chapter books. The Drawn & Quarterly reprint series collects, for the first time in North America, Jansson's internationally syndicated Moomin comic strip that debuted in the London Evening News in 1954.