Invented by Spanish booksellers in the 1920′s, the World Book Day coincides with the date of the death of Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, as well as the Catalan tradition of celebrating Saint George’s Day on 23 April by men giving roses to the ladies of their hearts. Since 1925, the tradition was updated: in return for the rose, the woman gave a book. (Falco and Mayann are therefore wearing costumes from Catalonia.)

Since 1995, UNESCO celebrates the World Book and Copyright Day on this date. Confused Brits claim that it is also the anniversary of the birth and death of William Shakespeare, but forget that the staunchly anti-papist Elizabethans did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until much later. Thus, Shakespeare died 10 days after Cervantes, although both died on 23 April!

Don Quixote has been considered the first modern novel; it introduced many previously unknown or sparsely used storytelling techniques. The anti-hero also shows character development, contrary to many of his idols in earlier chivalric romances – Don Quixote makes a pessimistic inner journey from enchantment to disillusion. (Let’s hope that Falco’s and Mayann’s journey will be a happier one.)

These two double editions are now available – get them from me or come to SPX Stockholm this weekend!

Orcs are probably my favourite fantasy creatures. Since I’m not a gamer as such, but more of an academic scholar, I see things in them that many hardcore gamers or fans of particular fantasy authors do not see. For example, myself…

Tolkien’s Orcs were the minions of Evil, and it’s easy to fall in the opposite trap and “redeem” them as misunderstood noble savages. I would like to avoid that, but who knows? You can read some of my really old Orc comics online.

Orcs fascinate me for pretty much the same reasons as all stereotypical images of “the Other” or “the Enemy”. We are all somebody’s Other. As a child of emigrants and multiple immigrant myself, I have grown up with a sense of doubt towards those images every time they are presented as fact as well as fiction. Here is an inspirational cartoon from the 1910′s, depicting the two major linguistic groups of Finland from the point of view of the smaller one. As you can see, the threatening majority (the Finnish-speaker) is dressed like a peasant and looks more “Eastern” (cheekbones, slanted eyes, brushy hair – note also the full lips and broad nose, visual cues for “un-European”), pretty Orcish in spite of his blond hair (the ears!), while the small and desperately waving Finland-Swede has parted his hair neatly and wears a civilized western jacket.

After a strenuous day, I wanted to document my adventures in a comic, but the tablet still makes me frustrated so here’s just one pic… a self-portrait somewhere in Sörnäinen.

Click to view larger.

But for Falco… Even before the war, a decent cassock would cost 65 Fr., and his meager scholarship has certainly not been updated to catch up with the rising costs of living. No wonder he needs a part-time job or two. (Those kid gloves and that silk cincture… not exactly standard equipment for a simple deacon!)

Observe, too, how expensive the ladies’ shoes are in comparison. The worth of their undergarments must remain a mystery, but I would guess that Mayann wears the skimpiest and most expensive ones…

Inspired by this front page of Le Petit Journal, July 4th, 1920.

Frohes Fest – Happy Holidays – Glad Helg – Onnellisia Pyhiä …
Whatever you are celebrating.

I’m a bit late for Christmas, but not too late for Japanese New Year, which of course must be celebrated with – Mochi.

Name the characters whose eyes you see above! It’s nice how humans (and dogs!) belong to a small gene pool but still manage to show beautiful variation in their phenotype. Dog eyes, by the way, differ from human eyes in interesting ways – the tapetum lucidum, which reflects light, gives a dog’s eye colour an iridescent effect which can be seen up close. I was always fascinated by the irises of our Akita Mitsu, which were dark brown but softly scintillating in rainbow colours. I’ve tried to imitate that effect to give Mochi’s eye an ominous glow.

Colouring is fun, but so time-consuming… I guess I just need more practice.

… And that was how I came to know Julot and Gigolette,
And we would talk and drink a bock, and smoke a cigarette.
And I would meditate upon the artistry of crime,
And he would tell of cracking cribs and cops and doing time;
Or else when he was flush of funds he’d carelessly explain
He’d biffed some bloated bourgeois on the border of the Seine.
So gentle and polite he was, just like a man of peace,
And not a desperado and the terror of the police.
(Robert Service, 1921)

Lord knows what Falco thinks he can do with his umbrella. Perhaps it’s something he learned as a missionary in Japan, or maybe he is familiar with the Cunningham system.

Studying popular imagery of the clerical class over the centuries, one is struck by the ubiquitous umbrella, if you pardon the pun. Here some Jesuits chase away a secular scientist from a Bavarian university in the German satirical magazine Jugend (1913).