Review by Woodrow Phoenix

Finnish author Tove Jansson, beloved around the world for her novels featuring the Moomins, decided to expand their universe into a daily newspaper strip for the London Evening News. From September 1954 to 1960 she produced six strips a week, assisted by her brother Lars who translated her scripts into English before she lettered them. When Tove began to tire of the process, Lars took over writing the scripts for Tove to draw, and then eventually he took over drawing them too. Moomin Adventures: Book One is the first of a new series of five books reprinting these strips. It contains seven complete stories: Moomin on the Riviera, Moomin’s Desert Island, Moomin Family Robinson, The Conscientious Moomins, Moomin Under Sail, Moomin and the Goldfields, and Artists in Moominvalley.

This is a selection from eight years of strips, and not presented in chronological order but mixed to include stories from both Tove and Lars. This is not the ideal way to introduce this series to new readers because many events in early strips are quietly referred to throughout later episodes; a reward to those paying attention which readers won’t get from this arrangement. It also messes with Tove Jansson’s careful structure for her series which began by establishing her hero Moomintroll and his friends in the first strip Moomin and the Brigands, and only then introducing Moominmamma and Moominpappa as long-lost parents reunited with their son in the second strip Moomin and Family Life. Now familiar with all the characters, readers were ready for them to be tested in the third story Moomin on the Riviera. Jumbling early stories with later ones gives the book a random, arbitrary feel contrary to Jansson’s original intent. That second story is going to read very oddly wherever it appears in a later volume.

Also, while there’s no doubting the love and commitment of Lars Jansson to these characters, Tove Jansson’s unique abilities are on a level that nobody else could reach. It’s harsh but accurate to note his work is very much second best to that of his sister, with none of her beautifully sophisticated, flowing graphic style or anything approaching the complex, melancholic wit that made Tove Jansson such a literary force. Dispersing some of Lars stories in between Tove’s is a good business decision however. The overall feeling of fun and invention from this collection smooths over the drops in quality, and spreading the stronger material out will make later collections feel less obviously weaker.

This is an accessible presentation of the strips in a convenient format that will make great reading, and if it piques the interest of new fans then there is more in Moomin Adventures: Book Two. There is also of course Moomin: The Deluxe Anniversary Edition which presents all Tove’s work on this series in one volume.