CARTOONS: SPIROU AND OTHERS - STAMP DAY ON FRANCE 25.3.2006

Spirou (Walloon for "squirrel, mischievous") is a Belgian comic strip character and protagonist in the comic strip series Spirou et Fantasio and Le Petit Spirou. He also serves as the mascot of the Belgian comic strip magazine Spirou.

Tove Jansson’s Moomin 8.5.2015

The EUROPA stamps released by European postal operators in 2015 take their theme from old toys. This year’s Finnish stamps depict old toys amongst others, featuring Tove Jansson’s Moomin figures from the late 1950s. The two stamps by the experienced stamp designer Klaus Welp showcase Hemulen’s aunt, Moomintroll, Fillyjonk, Sniff, Stinky and Moominpappa. The issue was put into circulation on the 8^th of May.

The Moomins are the central characters in a series of books, and a comic strip by Swedish-speaking Finnish illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. They are a family of white, roundish fairy tale characters with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses.

The carefree and adventurous family live in their house in Moominvalley, though in the past, their temporary residences have included a lighthouse and a theatre. They have had many adventures along with their various friends.

In all, nine books were released in the series, together with five picture books and a comic strip being released between 1945 and 1993.

The Moomins have since been the basis for numerous television series, films and even a theme park called Moomin World in Naantali, Finland.

This is really a very interesting FDC. Thank you Ella.

The Dudesons' anti-bullying campaign 1.4.2014

The Dudesons stamps were issued on 1.9.2014 to fight school bullying and they also feature practical jokes

The cartoon-like stamps are part of the Dudesons' anti-bullying campaign. Since it's the Dudesons, the stamps also feature practical jokes.

The look of the Dudesons stamps has been created by graphic designer Janne Korsumäki in collaboration with Rabbit Merchandising Oy. In line with the theme of the stamps, the Dudesons are depicted as schoolchildren in full swing at school. Typical humor of South Ostrobothnia, the Dudesons' home province, is also showcased in the Priority labels, for instance.

Four golden rules for practical jokes. On the basis of their personal experiences, the Dudesons have concentrated their energy on fighting school bullying. Jukka was a bully himself, a fact that he now says he is deeply ashamed of. "I was a lively boy and did not understand that I was bullying others. Luckily, I was given a talking-to and I understood enough myself to stop bullying," Jukka says. For his part, Jarno has been bullied and knows what kind of wounds bullying leaves in one's soul for a long time. 

To brighten schooldays, the Dudesons recommend practical jokes instead of bullying. Daily practical jokes are all very well for keeping up good spirits as long as one remembers not to take the jokes too far. In fact, on the reverse side of the miniature sheet, there are four golden rules for practical jokes as a reminder for everyone:

Never play a joke on a kid weaker than you.

It's not a joke if you're not all laughing when it's done.

Don't play jokes on the same people all the time.

Never turn a blind eye to bullying.

The Dudesons have noticed that they clearly have enough credibility to talk about school bullying to young people. "It surely seems that they all, even the toughest cases, are listening to us," Jukka says. 

Jarppi points out that bullying also occurs in other places than just school. "Bullying generates negative energy and torpedoes good things at workplaces, for instance. People need to identify cases of bullying in their own life in order to be able to intervene." 

Thank you Ella for this lovely FDC.

The Angry Birds 9.9.2013

Itella Posti Oy most probably made history by releasing the world's first official Angry Birds stamps, featuring six of the popular game characters - five birds and one pig on 9^th September, 2013. The designer of the stamps is Toni Kysenius, Art Director at Rovio Entertainment, who also designed the HockeyBird character and related stamp issue for last year's IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships (please see my post dated 19th July, 2012). 

In order to ensure authenticity, the Angry Birds stamps feature a pattern which is only visible under UV light. In addition, an irregular perforation follows the shape of the characters. The sheet of six 1^st class stamps also includes Priority labels fitting the appearance of the stamps.

Angry Birds is a video game franchise created by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Entertainment. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the first game was first released for Apple's iOS in December 2009. Over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple's App Store, which has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based smartphones, including the Android, Symbian and Windows Phone operating systems. It has since expanded to video game consoles and for PCs.

Angry Birds has been praised for its successful combination of addictive gameplay, comical style, and low price. Its popularity led to versions of Angry Birds being created for personal computers and gaming consoles, a market for merchandise featuring its characters and even long-term plans for a feature film or television series. With nearly 2 billion downloads across all platforms and including both regular and special editions, the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now", "one of the great runaway hits of 2010", and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".

Thank You Ella for this nice set of FDC and Mini sheet of the Angry Birds.

Moomins 6.5.2013

Finnish post issued a stampsheet commemorating the favorite Moomins, central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Swedish-Finn illustrator and writer Tove Jansson. They are a family of fairy tale characters, who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses. The carefree and adventurous family live in their house in Moominvalley, in the forests of Finland, though in the past their temporary residences have included a lighthouse and a theatre. They have had many adventures along with their various friends.

The Moomins are ever-popular favorites on Finnish stamps. This time Itella Posti Oy released a booklet of six stamps, called Moomin Favorites on 6.5.2013.  The stamps illustrate philosophical Moominpappa, Moomintroll jumping in the water to swim, Moominmamma with her famous handbag, Little My balancing a basket on her head, Snork Maiden reading a letter and Snufkin dancing in delight.  Each of the characters is depicted on a colorful background.

Satu Lusa wants to portray the vitality of Tove Jansson's drawings and the Moomin characters' zest for life. All the drawings in the booklet come from Tove Jansson's comic strips published in The Evening News in the 1950s. The shape of the stamps follows that of the Moomin characters.

Thank you Dear Ella for this pretty cover with the lovely momin booklet or minisheet if you please.

Viivi & Wagner 15.1.2008

Viivi & Wagner is a somewhat absurdist Finnish newspaper comic strip drawn by Jussi "Juba" Tuomola.

The titular main characters are Viivi, a Finnish woman in her twenties, and Wagner, a mature male pig. Wagner is fully anthropomorphic and sentient, yet still considers himself a pig instead of a human. Though often mistaken for married, the two are cohabitating in an Odd Couple-ish relationship and genuinely fond of each other when not bickering.

The comic originally appeared in Kultapossu, a promotional children's magazine by a Finnish bank. In the original version of the comic, Viivi was a small girl and Wagner was her animate piggy bank. When the Kultapossu magazine was discontinued, Tuomola adapted the characters to fit a newspaper comic strip style, also changing the characters to adults in the process.

Viivi & Wagner is extremely popular in Finland, above all because of its quirky humour. Most of the strips concern either arguments between Viivi and Wagner ("You ate the wrapper, too?!" "I always eat the wrapper."), or Wagner getting into totally absurd situations, either in everyday life or in a fantasy world ("I'm stuck in the moment before the Big Bang"). Some strips break the fourth wall ("Hey, your outline is loose.") or the classic comic strip format by not having a definite punchline at the end.

Some readers, who have been unaware of the strip's history in a bank's promotional magazine for children, have taken Wagner's porcine appearance as a statement of feminism, specifically implying that "men are pigs". Some have even thought Tuomola was a woman. It has been noticed that many medical inside jokes appear in the strips - many of them originate from an old friend of Juba, whose profession happens to be a doctor.

Thank you Dear Merja for this delightful FDC with the minisheet of six stamps issued on 15.1.2003.

The Simpsons 7.5.2009

Maria what a wonderful set of FDCs. I don’t miss a single episode of these remarkable guys if I can help it.The Simpson family is a family of fictional characters featured in the animated television series The Simpsons. The Simpsons are a nuclear family consisting of the married couple Homer and Marge and their three children Bart, Lisa and Maggie. They live at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the fictional town of Springfield, U.S. and they were created by cartoonist Matt Groening who conceived the idea while waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks's office. He named the characters after his own family members, substituting "Bart" for his own name. The family debuted April 19, 1987 in the The Tracey Ullman Show show short "Good Night" and were later spun off into their own series which debuted on December 17, 1989.

Alongside the five main family members, there are a number of other major and minor characters in their family. The most commonly recurring characters are Homer's father Abraham Simpson; Marge's sisters Patty and Selma Bouvier; and the family's two pets, Santa's Little Helper and Snowball II. Other family members include Homer's mother Mona Simpson, Homer's "Vegas wife" Amber, Marge's mother Jacqueline Bouvier, and other minor relatives.

The Simpson’s are a family who live in at 742 Evergreen Terrace in the town of Springfield in the United States. Homer, the father, works as a safety inspector at theSpringfield Nuclear Power Plant, a position at odds with his careless, buffoonish personality. He is married to Marge Simpson, a stereotypical American housewife and mother. They have three children: Bart, a ten-year-old troublemaker; Lisa, a precocious eight-year-old activist; and Maggie, a baby who rarely speaks, but communicates by sucking on a pacifier. The family owns a dog, Santa's Little Helper, and a cat, Snowball II. Both pets have had starring roles in several episodes. Despite the passing of yearly milestones such as holidays or birthdays, the Simpsons do not physically age and still appear just as they did at the end of the 1980s. Although the family is dysfunctional, many episodes examine their relationships and bonds with each other and they are often shown to care about one another.

Mickey Mouse – Movie Posters

All of you know who Mickey Mouse is. So I won’t go into all that. What I do want to tell you is, the reason and why this famous cartoon character was created in the first place. Mickey Mouse was created as a replacement for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, an earlier cartoon character created by the Disney studio for Charles Mintz of Universal Studios. In the spring of 1928, with the series going strong, Disney asked Mintz for an increase in the budget. But Mintz instead demanded that Walt take a 20 percent budget cut, and as leverage, he reminded Disney that Universal owned the character, and revealed that he had already signed most of Disney's current employees to his new contract. Mintz owned Oswald and thought he had Disney over a barrel. Angrily, Disney refused the deal and returned to produce the final Oswald cartoons he contractually owed Mintz. Disney was dismayed at the betrayal by his staff, but determined to restart from scratch. The new Disney Studio initially consisted of animator Ub Iwerks and a loyal apprentice artist, Les Clark, who together with Wilfred Jackson were among the few who remained loyal to Walt. One lesson Disney learned from the experience was to thereafter always make sure that he owned all rights to the characters produced by his company.

In the spring of 1928, Disney asked Ub Iwerks to start drawing up new character ideas. Iwerks tried sketches of various animals, such as dogs and cats, but none of these appealed to Disney. A female cow and male horse were also rejected. They would later turn up as Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. (A male frog, also rejected, would later show up in Iwerks' own Flip the Frog series.) Walt Disney got the inspiration for Mickey Mouse from his old pet mouse he used to have on his farm. In 1925, Hugh Harman drew some sketches of mice around a photograph of Walt Disney. These inspired Ub Iwerks to create a new mouse character for Disney. "Mortimer Mouse" had been Disney's original name for the character before his wife, Lillian, convinced him to change it, and ultimately Mickey Mouse came to be. Actor Mickey Rooney has claimed that, during his Mickey McGuire days, he met cartoonist Walt Disney at the Warner Brothers studio, and that Disney was inspired to name Mickey Mouse after him. Thus we have had this famous Mouse entertain us – for over 80 years now. These two stamps and the cover were issued by Bhutan Post to celebrate Mickey Mouse’s 60^th Birthday. The stamps depict posters of Mickey Mouse Movies. The FDC was issued on 20.6.1989.

Aku Ankka aka Donald Duck Comics in Finland, 50th anniversary 13.3.2001

So far, Donald Duck has been the most popular weekly magazine in Finland. It entertains over a million readers every week and is educational too, in teaching a third generation of Finnish children to read and use good Finnish. The Donald Duck magazine advocates the use of correct and eloquent Finnish language and promotes reading and writing in general. It has been a candidate for the Finnish Agricola literature prize and has the whole-hearted support of Finnish teachers.

Aku Ankka (Finnish for Donald Duck) is a Finnish weekly Disney comic’s magazine published by Sanoma Magazines. The first issue was published on December 5, 1951 and sold 34,017 copies. The first issue, with a special Christmas theme and the Snow White story published later in the 1950s, are very prized collectors' items and can fetch a price of several thousand euros on the collector market. Until 1956, the magazine was published monthly, between 1956 and 1960 biweekly, and since 1961, once a week every Wednesday. As of August 2010, 2893 issues have been published.

Despite being a part of a multinational franchise with most stories produced abroad, Aku Ankka has become a cultural icon in Finland. This is largely due to the magazine's colourful and innovative use of the Finnish language. Many characters' names are Finnish language spoofs of established celebrities' names. In 2001, in recognition for their work for the Finnish language, the Finnish language department of University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Arts gave the Kielihelmi-award the editorial team. With a circulation of over 320,000 and more than a million readers weekly,

Aku Ankka is the most popular weekly publication in Finland as well as the largest edition per capita in the world for a Donald Duck magazine. There is a popular belief that Donald Duck was once banned in Finland for not having any pants. This myth was sparked up by an incident in 1977, when Helsinki councilman Markku Holopainen proposed discontinuing the use of city funds for the purchase of Aku Ankka comics for youth centres, as a reaction to financial difficulties. The following year, as Holopainen was running for a Parliament seat, his opponents then called him "the man who banned Donald Duck from Helsinki". A similar incident also took place a few years previously in Kemi and international reports then exaggerated the situation with claims that the character's attire and his unmarried relationship to Daisy Duck were the culprits.

The Aku Ankka comic is now more popular in Finland than in the country of its origin, the United States (where Disney is better known for its cartoons and films than comics). The United States Donald Duck cartoonist Don Rosa is exceptionally popular in Finland, and has acknowledged this by creating The Quest for Kalevala, a Donald Duck story specifically set in Finland. Pia gave me this lovely FDC. This Five-stamp miniature sheet was issued on 13 March 2001 The magazine is celebrating its 50th anniversary in Finland this year. Designers of these lovely stamps and cover were Susanna Rumpu and Ari Lakaniemi

DISNEY CHARACTERS - OCCUPATION

Absolutely self-explanatory! All Disney characters are, aren’t they? And the stamps in this sheet are exceptionally pretty.

The Tortoise and The Hare

This is a story believed to be One of Aesop’s Fables most popular and often quoted.

There once was a speedy hare who bragged about how fast he could run. Tired of hearing him boast, Slow and Steady, the tortoise, challenged him to a race. All the animals in the forest gathered to watch.
Hare ran down the road for a while and then and paused to rest. He looked back at Slow and Steady and cried out, "How do you expect to win this race when you are walking along at your slow, slow pace?" Hare stretched himself out alongside the road and fell asleep, thinking, "There is plenty of time to relax." Slow and Steady walked and walked. He never, ever stopped until he came to the finish line.
The animals who were watching cheered so loudly for Tortoise, they woke up Hare. Hare stretched and yawned and began to run again, but it was too late. Tortoise was over the line. After that, Hare always reminded himself, "Don't brag about your lightning pace, for Slow and Steady won the race!". And from that day on, the watch-word of the truly successful became “Slow and Steady Wins the Race”.
Cyprus Post took this very story and issued these five lovely stamps in a miniature sheet.

100th anniversary of Finnish comics 5.9.2011

Who doesn’t like comics. Most of us read comics in our childhood and youth. And many like me even now. I just love them. When one enters the world of comics, daily stresses and strains don’t stand a chance, at least while I am reading it. My dear friend Ella, sent me this FDC and a couple of maxicards commemorating Finnish comics.

The year 2011 marks the 100th anniversary of Finnish comics. November 21st 1911 was the day when the first ever Finnish comic book was printed, The author was 19-year old Ilmari Vainio and the book Professori Itikaisen tutkimusretki (The Expedition of professor Itikainen, WSOY). The comic book has had several printings since then, and this year it is published as an anniversary edition. Itikainen’s story is very typical for its own time, travelling around the world in a balloon, wondering strange and funny places and cultures. This event was celebrated on 5.9.2011 by publishing a stamp sheet designed by Ville Tietäväinen, entitled The 100th Anniversary of Finnish Comics, depicting the family tree of Finnish comics. The pictorial motifs include popular characters from the first six decades of Finnish comics from the 1910s to the 1960s. The selected images represent the most distinctive features of each character. The 1910s are represented by Ola Fogelberg's Janne Ankkanen which was published in Suomen Kuvalehti and later in Kansan Kuvalehti. Hjalmar Löfving's Olli Pirteä, which was published in Sirkka, represents the 1920s. The 1930s return with Herra Kerhonen, whose author, Gösta Thilén, is regarded as one of the masters of wordless comics. The 1940s are represented by Antti Puuhaara, which was published in Yhteishyvä as drawn by Aarne Nopsanen and written by Raul Roine. For the 1950s, the stamp sheet features Kili ja Possu, written by Olavi Vikainen, who specialized in animal characters in children's comics that were published in a number of Finnish and Swedish papers. The stamp for the 1960s depicts Unto Uneksija, which was published in Pellervo. Veikko Savolainen, its creator, is better known as Joonas thanks to one of his later works. Professor Itikainen the first Finnish comics character is inspecting the tree of comics - the miniature stamp sheet depicting different comics characters from the early decades in 20th century. The first day cancellation forms a speech bubble.

Malaysian Cartoons 1.12.2000

A strip of four stamps of 50 sen each was issued my Malaysia Post to commemorate Malaysian Carttons. A miniature sheet costing RM 5 was also issued. The FDC displayed is with one such minisheet. The minisheet was printed using ’silver colour printing’, and features the scene of a typical Malaysian city life. The characters in this drawing are usually seen in Lat’s cartton’s consisting of children and adults from various races and each of them plays different roles depending on the story.

The younger generation of Malaysian youth will know Lot (Dato’ Mohd Nor Khalid) as the creator of the animation series, Kampung Boy which is shown on the Astro network. The 26 episode series from the cartoon Book Kampung Boy that was published in 1979 and is vey popular ever since it was in 1998. This animation was awarded The Best Animation Award in Annecy Animation Festival, France in 1989. On the other hand, the older generation knows Lat since the 1960’s.

Finland – Stamps Issued on 6th May 2011

In Finland, if somewhere it is natural to have a stamp of the motif forest, well this is it. This year the EUROPA series theme is Forests. In this stamp pair the forest issued by Finland on 6.5.2011 are shown in different seasons. The stamp is self-adhesive, still it has an actual perforation. In addition, the background paper has a tear-off zone, facilitating the removal of the paper. This new technology enables the combination of a traditional stamp look and the usability of a self-adhesive stamp. On the same day the popular Finnish author Tove Jansson was further popularized by the issue of these 6 stamps.

Magnificent Moomins! The 2011 Moomin stamps show adventures of the much-loved Moomin characters from Tove Jansson’s picture book “The book about Moomin, Mymble and Little MY”. The different shapes of the stamps bring to mind the intriguing peepholes in the book. The stamps depict Moomin, The Mymble, Little My, Moominmamma, the Hemulen and Hattifatteners. Every stamp has a different form, some have soft edges, the others the angles. Aren’t they all really lovely? The next set of stamps picturised on the next FDC is about the Tree of Happiness.

The Tree of Happiness. Decorate your congratulations, invitations and spring greetings with the sweetest stamps of summer. Finnish Spring and Summer is depicted in these five roundish stamps. Light colours and sweet motifs - for a collector, whose theme is love, nature, summer, even birds! The cheerful miniature sheet of five stamps was designed by Paivi Unenge.

All these FDC’s were sent to me by my dear friend Ella.

Maisa & Kaarina 1.4.2011

I thought it would be interesting to mention a comic which has been appearing weekly in a Finnish women's magazine Anna for more than 20 years now. Maisa & Kaarina by Sari Luhtanen and Tiina Paju. The strip draws from an odd couple tradition, with two highly different characters who are friends. Maisa is blond, roundish, single and a bit uncertain what she wants from life, vaguely political and highly romantic, while Kaarina is a dark, slim housewife, efficient and cuttingly pragmatic. Kaarina's husband is mostly off-panel or sometimes appears in silhouette, while a couple of other friends of M&K appear every now and then but don't really play a role in the strip.

The themes are mostly the same as the rest of the magazine, food, clothes, makeup, relationships, exercise, some politics and so forth. It probably wouldn't work on too large portions because there isn't that big variety of themes, but there is enough for weekly strips and also for 64-page albums (reading several albums one after the other would be too much though). And even if this reader lacks ovaries or the whole pantyhose experience, it is a good and funny strip, the characters ring true even if they play on stereotypes, and the art is solid and professional. This hilarious FDC was sent to me by my Dear Friend Ella.

Finland - The Moomin Characters 15.3.2000

Once again The Unforgettable Moomin charactes due to the kind courtesy of Brita.

Moomins 27.1.1994

Moomins once again. I simply love those characters. Brita sent me this delightful First Day Cover.

Moomins 9.10.1992

Once again I have the pleasure of displaying a wonderful First Day Cover with Moomin stamps. This was issued on 9.10.1992. Brita sent me this cover. The picture on the cover is also very sweet, with those three characters, who seem to be very afraid of something. Brita sent me this wonderful cover.

Moomins 7.5.2003

Further to the last Moomin post yesterday, today I give you another Moomin FDC. It was issued on 7.5.2003. This lovely cover was given to me by Brita.

Finland – The Moomins 6.5.2009

The FDC and the booklet of Moomin character stamps were issued on 6.5.2009. The pictures on the stamps are sketches by Tove Jansson. The original sketches are in Moominvalley, in the Tampere Art Museum. The Moomins are the central characters in a series of books and a comic strip by Swedish-Finn illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, originally published in Swedish by Schildts in Finland. They are a family of trolls who are white and roundish, with large snouts that make them resemble hippopotamuses. The carefree and adventurous family live in their house in Moominvalley, in the forests of Finland. In the past their temporary residences have included a lighthouse and a theatre. They have many adventures along with their various friends. In all, nine books were released in the series, with five picture books and a comic strip being released between 1945 and 1993. The Moomins have since been the basis for numerous television series, films and even a theme park called Moomin World in Naantali, Finland. Ella sent this lovely cover to me.