Friday, March 11, 2011

Who Will Comfort Toffle: A Tale of Moomin Valley by Tove Jansson


(Drawn and Quarterly) (Guest Review by Robert Dayton) There’s been more than one person who upon seeing Tove Jansson’s Moomin adventures for the first time thinks that it is a brand new work by an alternative cartoonist.  It does look modern, decorative, a certain timeless quality.
This Scandinavian children’s book from 1960 was recently translated into English by poet Sophie Hannah. Unlike the Moomin Valley newspaper strip that Drawn and Quarterly has been collecting, this format allows Tove Jansson to stretch out into illustrious single and double page spreads that combine dense black and white line work with bold blocks of colour that look like paper cut-outs. “Who Will Comfort Toffle” is a charming, sweet, and melancholy tale about overcoming loneliness aimed at children and everyone else who has a heart.

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