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Fredrik Strömberg

Author, journalist, PhD, curator and professor – working with comics

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Tag: The Finnish Comics Society

Mailbag: Catching up on my reading in preparation for nominating to the Urhunden Award.

February 25, 2016 By Fredrik Strömberg 0

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With all that’s been going on the last few weeks

With all that’s been going on the last few weeks, I completely forgot to mention that we have a new issue of @bildobubbla out, issue 240 since the start in 1968. As usual, I’m proud as punch, not the least for having an interview with one of my absolute favorite comics artists, Finnish @vilranta as a feature, complete with a gorgeous cover. Also proud of having written a eulogy over friend and colleague Trina Robbins.

Sunday afternoon family fun. This game was given t

Sunday afternoon family fun. This game was given to me by a friend on the assumption I would like it simply because it had a connection to comics. Since I in turn assumed it was just a novelty thing, it’s just been sitting on a shelf here for ages but today, my youngest picked it out for an afternoon board game session, and it turned out to be really fun, using a game system I didn’t recognize. So, don’t judge a game by its cover :)

On my road to complete Nordic conquest, I have an

On my road to complete Nordic conquest, I have an article in the latest issue of the Finish magazine Sarjainfo – one of the world’s oldest magazines about comics. The article consist of an analysis of the classical, early 20th century Finnish comic Pekka Puupäää, and its connections to the slightly older Swedish comic Adamson, where it’s quite obvious that the Finnish artist copied Adamson at several occasions. As a provocation, I added a small addendum, claiming that the big Finnish comics award the Puupää hat, is actually also connected to Adamson, due to the likeness to the high, rounded hat of Adamson. Well, my provocation seems to have worked, as the translator, the very knowledgeable Finnish comics historian @vekatai68 added a disclaimer to my addendum :)

Today’s on-stage assignment: an artist talk with

Today’s on-stage assignment: an artist talk with the incredible Swedish comics artist @tonycronstam about the relaunch, ten years later, of his semi-autobiographical, funny animal comic @elvisthecomic. We had fun, and judging by the response so did the audience.

Today’s on-stage assignment, a talk on AI and co

Today’s on-stage assignment, a talk on AI and comics with @johancb, done and dusted. We only had 20 minutes, so we could only broach the subject, but we’re containing the debate over a beer or five tonight.

Changing country, heading towards Gothenburg, Swed

Changing country, heading towards Gothenburg, Sweden, for @bokmassan, THE major book fair in Sweden. This year, I’ll be part of releasing a new issue of @bildobubbla, as per usual, but also do a couple of on-stage appearances. Today, Thursday, I’ll talk with cartoonist and anti-AI activist @johancb at 16.30 about the impact AI has had and will have on the comics business. Tomorrow, Friday 17.30, I’lll be doing an artist talk with comics artist @tonycronstam about the international return of his widely popular comics strip @elvisthecomic. Both talks will be at the special stage for comics, which I was part of instituting, many moons ago … Anyway, if you’re at the fair, do come and say hi. I’ll be all over the place, making several more interviews for @bildobubbla and checking out everything new, but most importantly, catching up with all of you, my friends and colleagues. oh, and the image is from an issue of the Swedish Donald Duck magazine, where @tonycronstam included me walking the floors at @bokmassan :)

So, staying in Aix-en-Provence for ten days to imp

So, staying in Aix-en-Provence for ten days to improve my non-existing French. When visiting one of the local comic shops, I was informed that this is actually the home town of the incredible comics artist @_julien.neel_, whom I hadn’t met for almost 15 years, when he was at a party at my place in Malmö. So, I quickly got in touch and he graciously invited me to his study, which turned out to be a pub in the center of town(!). We hung out for almost six hours, during which I had time to do a lengthy interview, drink too many beers, and talk incessantly about comics, with Julien and his friend, the Bert friendly and knowledgeable comic shop owner who had hooked us up, Yann Calvez. A brilliant evening that I will remember for a long time, not the least for the beautiful portrait Julien drew of me.

The incredibly productive @joannsfar has created a

The incredibly productive @joannsfar has created a massive graphic novel about the current war between Israel and Palestine, and what that means for Jews and Muslims all over the world. A 500 pages long book, based on interviews with Jews and Muslims, in France and in Israel, all done since October 7, 2023. The book begins with the text: “The enemy is not Palestinians or Israelis, nor Muslims or Jews, the enemy is anyone who kills children and civilians.” Really difficult subject, but if anyone can do it justice, it’s probably Sfar.

Working hard for the money. So hard for it, honey.

Working hard for the money. So hard for it, honey.

I just bought these two beauties, which I was assu

I just bought these two beauties, which I was assured were locally manufactured, and very much NOT approved by the owners of the rights to Tintin … Anyway, if you can figure out where I am right now from this, I’ll be properly impressed.

Once more into the breach! Heading out on a secret

Once more into the breach! Heading out on a secret mission, to a secret, international location …

I get sent stuff to review regularly and it’s al

I get sent stuff to review regularly and it’s always interesting to find out what’s been chosen for me. Often it’s things that surprises me, and sometimes it broadens my horizon, as when I, a few years ago became a regular reviewer of the Swedish editions of the great Heartstopper books by Alice Oseman. And then, sometimes, it’s something that from the outset simply makes me happy. As a kid, Franquin was my favorite artist, and he still is. Considering this, it’s far to seldom that I actually go back and reread his comics, so really looking forward to this one!

Continuing our Nordic project with a visit by Fini

Continuing our Nordic project with a visit by Finish journalist, writer and comics expert @villevhanninen to @seriearkivet (The Comics Archive). Ville got the grand tour and then we cut him loose in the archive to forage around :) Love having people here who get really excited about the kind of things we have amassed over the years.

@ystadseriefestival is over. Three highly enjoyabl

@ystadseriefestival is over. Three highly enjoyable days in the very south of Sweden with lectures, live-drawings, award ceremonies, artists talks and most importantly, so many possibilities to catch up with with all the talented, intelligent and friendly people of the comics culture. Really happy with the Nordic parts that I was responsible for, which will see follow-ups at other festivals in the Nordic countries in the years to come. Oh, and the after-party on Saturday, which took place in a medieval courtyard, with traditional Scania food under the stars was simpla magical. Tired, but happy. A big thank you to @rolfclasson, @jimmy.wallin, @jeznats, @marie__tillman, @earl.gaay and everyone else from the organizers who made this such an pleasant experience. Let’s do it again!

Second day of @ystadseriefestival (The Ystad Comic

Second day of @ystadseriefestival (The Ystad Comics Festival) and the Strömbergs have both been on stage. Yours truly started out the day with leading a panel on Nordic comics culture in general and comics archive and preservation and archives in relationship to comics. The panel was organized by Seriearkivet (The Comics Archive) and featured @villevhanninen from Finland, Taina Hvidlykke from Denmark and Kristian Hellesund from Norway. The combination of these very proficient people resulted in an interesting discussion, where it became obvious how interlinked the comics cultures of the Nordic countries really are. Then it was time for wifey @stromberghanna to be part of a panel on Swedish comic strip artists, with @frida_malmgren_jobbar , and moderated by @jimmy.wallin. The discussion ended with Jimmy asking both artists about advice for aspiring artists wanting to get into the business of making comic strips for daily newspapers, and the general advice was: Don’t :)

Just inaugurated the academic day at @ystadseriefe

Just inaugurated the academic day at @ystadseriefestival (Ystad Comics Festival), talking about the fanzine/mini comics collection at the Comics Archive, and the need for someone to make sure that these ephemeral but culturally so important artifacts are preserved.

So, for the next three days, you’ll find me at @

So, for the next three days, you’ll find me at @ystadseriefestival, the southernmost Swedish comics festival, and the coziest. I’ll be giving a lecture tomorrow on the fanzine/mini comics collection at Seriearkivet (The Comics Archive), lead a Nordic panel on comics and archives on Saturday, and hold an artist talk with the Swedish comics artist @gertlozell on Sunday. Other than that, I will be attending to the other on-stage events, manning the booth for the Comics Archive, do some writing and hopefully have a beer or three. See you there!

Friend, colleague and all around nice guy, Profess

Friend, colleague and all around nice guy, Professor @gorgmallia just sent me this gorgeous pastiche of the very first Adamson collection, insisting that I really should be part of the Adamson franchise :) We used to hang out quite a bit when Gorg lived parts of the year in Malmö, but now he’s back full time on Malta, and I miss our meet-ups. By the way, Ġorġ insists that the dots above the Gs in his name means that it should be pronounced like George, but I’ve always preferred to think of him as just Gorg, as that looks like a badass name for an orc or perhaps a dwarf from Middle Earth :)

Mailbag: Wow! Just … wow! Today’s mail may hav

Just took part in a panel at Lund Comedy Festival,

Just took part in a panel at Lund Comedy Festival, with a theme of the potential limits of satire. An interesting subject and a great panel to be part of: cartoonist, author and priest @wistikent, cartoonist and comics artist @esycomics, and yours truly, with journalist @mattiasoscar as moderator. Best comment of the day came, not surprisingly from @esycomics, who said that sometimes she feels the need to punch down with jokes, at say for instance Liv Strömquist … When this sank in with the audience, and hands started to be raised for an explanation, Strömquist being a major force in Swedish and international culture for the last two deccades, @esycomics added with a smile: That’s what we in the business call a joke. »

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