Little Scrowlie, Volume 2: Dawn of the Fashion Victims Book

I came across Jansson's work some years back and was utterly charmed. I finally finished the first volume of her comic strip which is absolutely wonderful. The drawing style is deceptively simple and her quality of line and mark-making is magnificent. Lovely compositions, the writing is brilliant too (very hard to be good at both art and writing imo, heck it's hard enough being good at just one of those things!). There is a charming magic to it, a deep wryness enshrouded by cuteness. Truly imaginative, inventive, absurd, poetic, whimsical. It feels true, she captures the realness of life within her make-believe world. Anyhow it is rare that I love both the art and writing when it is done by only one person (Mike Mignola's Hellboy work comes to mind).

I really look forward to reading the whole collection of the strips. I also want to check out her Moomin' children's books. Tove Jansson's back story is interesting as well. She wanted to do more fine art painting (she did impressive work in this area too) but generating income was incredibly difficult and that's how she ended up doing the strip (for financial reasons, still you can tell she poured her heart and soul into this). I always love learning about artist backstories, people don't work in vacuums. The constraints and currents of life channel people in different directions. Anyhow, either way you cut it she was an incredibly versatile and talented artist, that is undeniable.