Lars Sjunnesson,
Stripburger 58 "WHAT'S THE POINT OF BEING NORMAL IN A WORLD LIKE THIS?" He’s a
recurring artist on the pages of this magazine and
always warmly welcomed. Wacky wits, relaxedness,
critical thinking and a
non-conformist creative approach are the defining
characteristics of Lars
Sjunnesson. These traits (that are rare to come by
nowadays, by the way)
contribute to the uniqueness, bizarreness and
memorableness of his comics
universe which reflects the perversity of the modern
world. The premiere of the
film Tito on Ice, depicting his adventures with Max
Andersson in the lands of
former Yugoslavia, is taking place at the Stockholm film
festival while I’m
writing this introduction. This is why it seems the time
is appropriate for
Lars’ comeback to one of those lands to remind us that
the world in not
changing for the better.
Slovenian
readers came to know you thanks to the Bosnian
Flat Dog, the serial that was first published in
Stripburger, then in 2011
republished in the album format by Društvo za oživljanje
zgodbe 2 koluta. Here
and there we also published some other comics of yours,
while now we’re
featuring the adventures of Åke Jävel in
story (2nd part) and the main
character on the cover of the magazine. You’ve met
Štefan Skledar, the guy who
wrote the preface to the Bosnian Flat Dog, in your
student years. It is obvious
that you’re connected to Slovenia by some sort of
strange coincidence, as
you’re regularly published in the language of mere 2
million people on a rather
undeveloped comics scene. What’s your side of the story
about this curious
symbiosis?
I didn’t read a lot of comics as a kid
actually, except for
Tintin. And I didn’t discover alternative comics until I
was in my late teens.
I remember that Philippe Vuillemin made a big impression
on me.
But I couldn’t say that I’m well
acquainted with
contemporary comics. No, not really. Even though once in a
while I do read
comics. Right now it’s Klas Katt dricker kaffe, the latest
book by Gunnar
Lundkvist. 490 pages of pure bliss.
Anyway, I always start with writing a
story. And this is the
nice part of the work. The rest is just hard work. But
luckily I was born in an
environment where hard work is not only highly valuated
but also supposed to be
something that is difficult. If it’s too easy then there’s
something wrong. I
guess that’s why I feel the need to invent more
complicated ways of working.
Because I feel like I’m cheating if it’s too easy.
You
have bizarre characters and absurd stories, as though
you didn’t use your brain while creating them, as you
once stated. How come is
then possible that the end result is so elaborate and
depicts the perversity of
the modern world in such an eerily authentic way? Is
this way of living really
so much ingrained into our common conscious?
Can
you tell us a bit more about this Åke Jävel
character?
We didn’t know he was almost 30 years old!
How
and when was he born/conceived? Was that really in a
hospital?
Yes, it was in a hospital. But not the
maternity ward.
It was very boring there and I had to
stay in bed for a
whole week, so I made up this character. But it wasn’t
until later that I used
him as a comic character.
How
has his nature/character changed or developed in these
30 years?
How
can you even cope with him after all this time?
For
the Latvian KUŠ! you wrote that you’re not quite sure if
you can trust Nature. Is this due to awe in front of her
unmanageability? Or is
this perhaps a sarcastic criticism of society which,
although being a part of
her, behaves as if it were detached?
Have
you ever considered making a comic for young readers?
Have you perhaps made one already?
Despite
the volume of your work there is very little
information on you on the internet. Can you tell us in
short more about your
work and your life that is not comics related? What do
you do for a living? How
come you haven’t succumbed yet to the popular demand
that each artist needs to
have a decent webpage?
It’s not that I have a lot of secrets
but I think openness
is somehow overvalued. I don’t really understand the
concept of it. But I will
reconsider that statement very soon and start a blog of my
own. I will put a
lot of private information up on that blog. Boring facts
of every kind.
Can
you, finally, foretell us the near future of Lars
Sjunnesson’s comics universe?
What
happened to the famous mannequin of Tito in the end?
Where is its resting place now?
_________________________________________
SHORT BIOGRAPHY:
Born in 1962 in Limhamen near
Malmö (Sweden) in a big house
with lots of relatives. As a child he was interested in
birds, insects, cars
and drawing. He didn’t go to any art schools, but studied
history at the
university of Lund. Except for comics he also draws
illustrations and writes
shorter text pieces. He moved to Berlin in 2001.
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