Fingerpori
Encyclopedia
Fingerpori is a Finnish
comic strip
written and drawn by Pertti Jarla. It started in Helsingin Sanomat
in February 2007, and currently also appears in Satakunnan kansa
, Aamulehti
, Karjalainen, Keskisuomalainen
, Turun Sanomat
and Etelä-Saimaa
. Several strip collections in album format have also been published.
The central milieu of the strip is Fingerpori, an imaginary Finnish small town. The main character in the strip is the eyeglass-wearing Heimo Vesa, but other citizens also appear, such as the brash-mouthed café
worker Rivo-Riitta. As well as the Fingerporians, the strip has included characters such as the Pope
, The Phantom
, Spider-Man
, Adolf Hitler
, Kimi Räikkönen
and Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
. A few strips, featuring Jesus
, have caused controversy in some circles.
The humour
in Fingerpori is largely verbal and is often based on (mostly untranslatable) wordplay and pun
s. Although Fingerpori contains some political satire
, the author claims it is not a political comic strip.
comics contest at the Kemi comics days in 2006. According to the judging board, Karl-Barks-Stadt was "a really well drawn strip, whose unexpressionistic characters give a lively life to the joke told by the strip". After winning the prize, Karl-Barks-Stadt appeared in November 2006 in Ilta-Sanomat
as the Finnish strip of the month. Karl-Barks-Stadt was Jarla's first continuous comic strip, he had previously only made short one-time strips to the humour magazine Pahkasika
and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world. The name of the strip is a portmanteau, referring to the East German Karl-Marx-Stadt (currently known as Chemnitz
) and the cartoonist Carl Barks
.
In the turn of the year 2006–2007, Helsingin Sanomat was looking for a new Finnish comic strip to its pages, and the newspaper's comics editor Eeva Lepistö turned her attention to Karl-Barks-Stadt. The strip, now renamed Fingerpori, started appearing in Helsingin Sanomat on 5 February 2007. It replaced Tiger
, having appeared in the newspaper for over 40 years, whose creator Bud Blake
had retired in 2004.
In April 2008, the comics publisher Arktinen Banaani published the first Fingerpori album. The album, like the whole strip, received mixed response. In Helsingin Sanomat, professor Olli Alho criticised Fingerpori because its humour is mostly based on homonym
puns, which do not interest the mature reader. He compared the strip's "view of the body and the soul" to the grotesque realism defined by Mikhail Bakhtin
and its representatives, such as François Rabelais
. In contrast, the Plaza.fi Kaista review praised Fingerpori as "the best new Finnish strip for a long time", and in a review in Suomen Kuvalehti
, Jarla was praised for bringing Finnish pun humour to a new and fresh level.
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
written and drawn by Pertti Jarla. It started in Helsingin Sanomat
Helsingin Sanomat
Helsingin Sanomat is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. In 2008, its daily circulation was 412,421 on weekdays and 468,505 on Sundays...
in February 2007, and currently also appears in Satakunnan kansa
Satakunnan Kansa
Satakunnan Kansa is a morning broadsheet newspaper published in Finland. It is based in Pori. Established in 1873, as of 2007 it has a circulation of 55,302 papers.-External links:*...
, Aamulehti
Aamulehti
Aamulehti is a Finnish newspaper published in Tampere. It has the second largest circulation of Finnish dailies with an average circulation of 136,726 per day and 140,802 on Sundays . Today Aamulehti is part of Alma Media, a large media corporation in Finland...
, Karjalainen, Keskisuomalainen
Keskisuomalainen
Keskisuomalainen is a daily Finnish newspaper published in Jyväskylä, serving central Finland . It was founded in 1871, and is the oldest Finnish-language newspaper, with the fifth-highest circulation of daily Finnish papers...
, Turun Sanomat
Turun Sanomat
Turun Sanomat is the leading regional newspaper of the region of Finland Proper. It is published in the region's capital, Turku, and is read daily by about 280 000 people, or 70% of the inhabitants, in the city and its surrounding municipalities, making it the third most widely read morning...
and Etelä-Saimaa
Etelä-Saimaa
Etelä-Saimaa is a morning broadsheet newspaper published in Finland. It was established in 1885....
. Several strip collections in album format have also been published.
The central milieu of the strip is Fingerpori, an imaginary Finnish small town. The main character in the strip is the eyeglass-wearing Heimo Vesa, but other citizens also appear, such as the brash-mouthed café
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
worker Rivo-Riitta. As well as the Fingerporians, the strip has included characters such as the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
, The Phantom
The Phantom
The Phantom is an American adventure comic strip created by Lee Falk, also creator of Mandrake the Magician. A popular feature adapted into many media, including television, film and video games, it stars a costumed crimefighter operating from the fictional African country Bengalla.The Phantom is...
, Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi Räikkönen
Kimi Matias Räikkönen , nicknamed Iceman, is a Finnish racing driver, who will drive in Formula One for Lotus in . After nine seasons racing in Formula One, in which he took the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, he competed in the World Rally Championship from 2009-2011.Räikkönen entered...
and Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim was the military leader of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War, Commander-in-Chief of Finland's Defence Forces during World War II, Marshal of Finland, and a Finnish statesman. He was Regent of Finland and the sixth President of Finland...
. A few strips, featuring Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, have caused controversy in some circles.
The humour
Humour
Humour or humor is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement...
in Fingerpori is largely verbal and is often based on (mostly untranslatable) wordplay and pun
Pun
The pun, also called paronomasia, is a form of word play which suggests two or more meanings, by exploiting multiple meanings of words, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic,...
s. Although Fingerpori contains some political satire
Political satire
Political satire is a significant part of satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing political arguments where such arguments are expressly...
, the author claims it is not a political comic strip.
Publication history
The original form of Fingerpori was a strip by the same author called Karl-Barks-Stadt, which won the third prize in the strip category of a NordicNordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
comics contest at the Kemi comics days in 2006. According to the judging board, Karl-Barks-Stadt was "a really well drawn strip, whose unexpressionistic characters give a lively life to the joke told by the strip". After winning the prize, Karl-Barks-Stadt appeared in November 2006 in Ilta-Sanomat
Ilta-Sanomat
Ilta-Sanomat is one of Finland's two prominent tabloid size evening dailys and the second largest newspaper in the country...
as the Finnish strip of the month. Karl-Barks-Stadt was Jarla's first continuous comic strip, he had previously only made short one-time strips to the humour magazine Pahkasika
Pahkasika
Pahkasika was a Finnish adult humour magazine, edited by Markku Paretskoi and published from 1975 to 2000.Unlike the British adult humour comic Viz and the Nordic adult humour magazine Pyton/Myrkky, Pahkasika did not include much pornography despite sometimes very ribald jokes...
and worked as a graphic designer in the corporate world. The name of the strip is a portmanteau, referring to the East German Karl-Marx-Stadt (currently known as Chemnitz
Chemnitz
Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...
) and the cartoonist Carl Barks
Carl Barks
Carl Barks was an American Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , The Junior Woodchucks , Gyro Gearloose , Cornelius Coot , Flintheart Glomgold , John D...
.
In the turn of the year 2006–2007, Helsingin Sanomat was looking for a new Finnish comic strip to its pages, and the newspaper's comics editor Eeva Lepistö turned her attention to Karl-Barks-Stadt. The strip, now renamed Fingerpori, started appearing in Helsingin Sanomat on 5 February 2007. It replaced Tiger
Tiger (comic strip)
Tiger is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Blake. Launched May 3, 1965, the popular, long running strip about a group of suburban boyhood pals was distributed by King Features Syndicate to 400 newspapers worldwide at its peak....
, having appeared in the newspaper for over 40 years, whose creator Bud Blake
Bud Blake
Julian Blake , better known as Bud Blake, was an American cartoonist who created the popular, long running comic strip Tiger, about a group of suburban boyhood pals. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Tiger began May 3, 1965...
had retired in 2004.
In April 2008, the comics publisher Arktinen Banaani published the first Fingerpori album. The album, like the whole strip, received mixed response. In Helsingin Sanomat, professor Olli Alho criticised Fingerpori because its humour is mostly based on homonym
Homonym
In linguistics, a homonym is, in the strict sense, one of a group of words that often but not necessarily share the same spelling and the same pronunciation but have different meanings...
puns, which do not interest the mature reader. He compared the strip's "view of the body and the soul" to the grotesque realism defined by Mikhail Bakhtin
Mikhail Bakhtin
Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin was a Russian philosopher, literary critic, semiotician and scholar who worked on literary theory, ethics, and the philosophy of language...
and its representatives, such as François Rabelais
François Rabelais
François Rabelais was a major French Renaissance writer, doctor, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He has historically been regarded as a writer of fantasy, satire, the grotesque, bawdy jokes and songs...
. In contrast, the Plaza.fi Kaista review praised Fingerpori as "the best new Finnish strip for a long time", and in a review in Suomen Kuvalehti
Suomen Kuvalehti
Suomen Kuvalehti is a weekly Finnish magazine, published by Otava every Friday. The magazine has a circulation of 101,000 and its editor is Tapani Ruokanen. Suomen Kuvalehti aims to write broad articles about current topics.The comic strip Blondie regularly appears in the magazine...
, Jarla was praised for bringing Finnish pun humour to a new and fresh level.
Albums
- Jarla, Pertti: Fingerpori. Helsinki: Arktinen Banaani, 2008. ISBN 978-952-5602-84-5.
- Jarla, Pertti: Fingerpori 2. Helsinki: Arktinen Banaani, 2009. ISBN 978-952-5768-17-6.
- Jarla, Pertti: Fingerpori III. Helsinki: Arktinen Banaani, 2010. ISBN 978-952-5768-40-4.
Magazines
- Jarla, Pertti et al.: Pikku Fingerpori: Kähmintää ja kytköksiä. Helsinki: Arktinen Banaani, 2008. ISBN 978-952-5768-12-1.
- Jarla, Pertti et al.: Pikku Fingerpori 2: Fingerpori rakentaa ja remontoi. Helsinki: Arktinen Banaani, 2009. ISBN ISBN 978-952-5768-18-3.
- Jarla, Pertti et al.: Pikku Fingerpori 3: kinkkuja ja kiusauksia. Helsinki: Arktinen Banaani, 2009. ISBN 978-952-5768-37-4.