Moomintroll and the End of the World

In 2007, two journalists and authors attached to the weekly cultural newspaper Ny Tid, Anna Rotkirch and Trygve Söderling, reprinted in book form a fascimile edition of one of Tove Jansson's comic strips, serialised in 1947 and 1948 in the above newspaper as Mumintrollet och jordens undergång, i.e. Moomintroll and the End of the World. The comic strip also had Finnish subtitles.

This book is now also available in an English version, from 2008, translated by Peter Marten: Moomintroll and the End of the World. It contains the comic strip itself, plus an introduction. At the back of the book are essays by the editors, as well as by Henrika Ringbom and Juhani Tolvanen, plus a short retrospective introduction by Tove Jansson herself dating from 1996.

From the introduction:

Jansson's comic strip contains more adult humour than its forerunner, the book Comet in Moominland from 1946. It crosses more boundaries than the book, with more swearing and wilder parties. (...) Until the comic strip was reprinted in book form last year in the original Swedish and in Finnish translation, Moomintroll and the End of the World had dropped out of sight, something of a long-lost link in Jansson's œuvre. We at Tigertext, Ny Tid's publisher, felt it was about time to release the fact-paced first Moomin comic strip, this time in book format, for the 60th anniversary of its original appearance. After receiving a resounding welcome in Swedish and Finnish, we are delighted to present the eagerly awaited English version.

Hurry up and read it before the world ends!

Given our recessionary gloom, the book might even be quite topical!