Läskimooses - year #2 (2013)

Läskimooses - year #2 (2013 - numbers 10-15)

Matti Hagelberg 

23cm x 17cm, black and white, colour covers.

6 issues, variable page count (24-38 pages), with A4 English translation sheets.

€60.00 (Euros - price per year)

The second year of Matti Hagelberg's Finnish experimental comic book epic continues the precedent set by year 1. My reviews will take the series year by year, until we catch up with the latest issue #42 - the full set of reviews will be found here, and like the the series itself its probably best to read them in order.

A simplistic way to describe the narrative of Läskimooses is a series of nested and interconnected diversions. In year 2 that means exploring the Fu world, and with it the questions that arise: What is Ohto? What is the relevance of the sad life story of the ape-like Antti Treebranch? Our interrupting conversation partner reveals more of his theory about monkey evolution - facts he's combined from sources like Planet of the Apes, King Kong, Tarzan, The Flintstones, and the odd newspaper story. 

Läskimooses hangs over everything, an absence and presence both in the narrative, and the larger world of the comic, always circuitously avoided yet constantly referred to.
Yet, it is the completely textless silence of Issue 14 that leaves the most impact. This is the first time we get a glimpse of the wider world of the narrative, and begins to answer the question of where we are, as we follow the source of the ominous klanking that leaked into the end of the previous issue. What is revealed though only increases the unease, and multiplies the questions. 

Fittingly, the artwork within Läskimooses also diverges in this issue, as 'reality' seems to be constructed with images culled from war comics, "I didn't read that much comics", said our interrogator in Issue 10, "except for war comics. That's a bit like studying history". 

The textual silence continues into Issue 15, when our conversationalist finally returns "What do you say, should we continue?". 

At this stage in Läskimooses, how could you answer anything other than "Yes".

Here's a short documentary of Matti working on the series:

https://areena.yle.fi/1-4145622

You can check out some samples of Läskimooses here, along with the international ordering info. Most of the sold-out issues have just been reprinted, so it's a rare occasion that all the issues are available - so get in quickly: 

http://www.kreegah.net/hagelberg-matti-l%C3%A4skimooses-international-subscription.html



Review by Nathan Penlington