Bible

It's not called the GOOD BOOK for nothing.

Years

Holmenkollen took something like 2 years to finish. Kekkonen took 4 years to finish. Silvia Regina took 5 or 6 years to finish. Läskimooses will take 9 or 9 and half to finish.
I would prefer the next book to be something I can finish in 3 to 4 years. Because this isn't quite human.

Plans

Making plans for the next book. I have a list of possible things I want to include in it. By estimate 200 pages of material and so far

No sign of a plot.

Five

Five issues left to do.

Mostly writing/lettering

From left to right: sketch for a tribute strip, script for Suomaa 44, Suomaa 44

High point

My favorite from the Suomaa run so far is the lament of Ämmä above. Many things planned, but might never come to be since the strip is cancelled. Shit happens but I take it lightly.

Let u know

I'll let u know when I do something half decent.

Ambitious

I have ambitious plans for my next project. Probably too ambitious for any normal publisher. So might turn to self publishing. Thinking of print runs of maximum 50 copies. Thinking of print runs of zero.
Don't necessarily feel that I would like my books to be read. Definitely not today.

Estimate

This is the latest Suomaa. The paper I have making this strip is changing format and dropping the strip. It's an ongoing story and I estimate that there's still 100 pages left to do to sort of conclude the story. But for now there are five chapters and that's it.
This will leave me more time for Läskimooses, though, so maybe it's good. The stories of Uro and Kale, Kellervo and her daughters Suruna and Nolona, Jusse the dreamer, Cinza-women, Uhlu and most impirtantly the mysterious hunter will apparently have to wait.

Think

I think I have 9 or 10 pages finished of issue 49. Been a bit sluggish, like some momentum missing. Well I have this flu or what it is and neck ache. Every panel finished is a panel less remaining. But these Mars stories will need something extra... a new groove. Do I still have faith in Läskimooses? Haha 8 years! Will be 10 before it's all finished.

Read

Read parts of one past issue. If I am to edit this thing, there are going to be things to do. No idea how much. Bigger part of the changes would be in the text. Maybe 90 per cent. Or 97. Some changes in wording. An occasional larger re-writing. I would say nothing major. Another thing is how much I will correct the rhythm which would mean adding panels/pages. Not to mention the notes that I have now divided into two: Suomaa and then all the other notes. The other notes, will they belong to the work in such way that they need to be within it? Suomaa will be a separate book (books). These kind of things and I'm working on 49.

Now

Classes going in full steam. Saturday saw something that'll be pretty great in year or 2. Läskimooses 49 is on the move. Three pages finished. Was a bit hard to start and the humidity still going on is making drawing harder than I'd prefer. Scraperboard will be destroyed in no time at all. Sometimes like this.

Classes

Classes starting and maybe this semester too many. Feel a bit exhausted. Also I would like to have more time with the students, for the moment the courses are quite thight with . Not enough room to breath. It has been slowly getting worse. When I started the maximum student count was 12, now it's 16. Just too many to manage. Hoping this will drop in the future. The people deciding these things...I don't know who they are but pretty sure they never were on my class.

Plan

Finish the book. Edit and correct. Add notes (150 pgs). Start a new project.

Keep

Keep those Läskimooses issues in a safe place since I'd say that chances there's be a collection some day are slim. In Finnish that is. A French collection pretty sure. An English collection maybe. But chances of a Finnish collection are at 15 per cent. Some issues are already close to be sold out so that's it. That's going to be it.
I left Otava in 2005 after they ruined my Kekkonen book. After that I've been with Kreegah bundolo, easily the best choice for me. And Läskimooses wouldn't have happened without Hans Nissen. Same goes for Kova länsi and India-book. Silvia Regina would've been a mess if I had done it with any other publisher.
Good times.
But Läskimooses in a book form... unlikely. 1500 pages with the notes. That would mean 3 to 4 volumes with separate volume/s for the notes. Sure, send me the euros and it will be done. As it is, I can't see it happening. I will move on in 2021. Already planning the new book. And I will edit the Läskimooses material for my French publisher. Fix some things that need to be fixed. Remains to be seen.

Although

Although starting my next book for real is still 2 or 3 away I'm already collecting material. The structure seems to be based on rather loose chapters. I have clear concepts for 5 or 6 but there's no plot in sight. I really like the concepts though, will be fun to do. Still I might need a plot eventually, and characters. There are all these possibilities... With Läskimooses the plot was pretty clear from the beginning but with this one it seems to be about something else. I might be forced to drop some of my ideas to make this work. Time will tell.

Wrapping

Wrapping up the week. Finished six panels today. Suomaa episode 41 will be done on monday. Quiet day at the gallery, probably because the heavy rain in the morning. Got my shoes and socks dripping wet.

Considering doing a poster for issue 48 or 49 next because of the surprise grant I got. Partly suspecting it was a mistake/dream. 

Latest Suomaa

This is episode 39! You can see them all at kirkkojakaupunki.fi

Just search for Suomaa or Hagelberg

Nuff said

6

Now 6 issues left and I'm planning the book I will do after this one. Six means somewhere 2020 I would be done, closer to Christmas. But the notes and the editing. The book should be out in edited form in French at least. Finnish I'm not so sure. It is costly business. It would be easier to edit the book first for a Finnish version, though. Well...
Not necessary to make any decisions for the moment.
The next 4 issues are Kalevala based. Started reading it to bring it all back. Peculiar thing is that we didn't have so much Kalevala in the school although the book is pretty brilliant. I was also a fan of Rauta-aika tv series when it came out. I'm not sure how it has stood the test of time. Should also rewatch the soviet/finnish Sampo. That one I saw in school. Really cool movie. I wouldn't mind a new Kalevala tv-series. Should start really abstract. Actually I think it should be done bit like Twin Peaks 3.  Plot isn't everything.

Next

Next book in planning stage. Already I've discussed it with several people. In that sense quite different from Läskimooses which started unexpected like cancer. The new project requires some reading and interviews although I'm not going towards any historical accuracy. Other things interest me with this one.
Last night was the night of arts and I stayed at the gallery until 21. Hans came from Hämeenlinna but sales were low. Several people visited the show and I was especially delighted to see some of my former  students there. Time moves on. Managed to finish issue 48 yesterday which pretty much means only 6 issues left. I haven't really considered quitting this book at any stage but it starts to feel long and heavy. I often think of the mistakes I would like to correct. They aren't that many. Most of the mistakes need to stay. The whole thing was built on mistakes.

Know

At this stage it's maybe too late but I would really like to know what it was all about. I mean there are spots in the story that I really think stand their ground and all. I was rereading some issues and it wasn't unpleasent. BUT
What is special about the project? What are the strongest points? What is the direction I should ...maybe...push? Hard to say? I mean, I think there is something in the poor man's Gustave Dore type of drawings. Yes, maybe. And the writing, it isn't all that bad. BUT
Is there something really special in this thing? Or have I wasted the 8 years.
It would be really really helpful to know.

Luck

With any luck this is the last exhibition I'll do or participate in.

One

One of these days I'll do something half decent.

First

First day back to work. Mostly I spent the day drawing panels. Did some writing (and reading) too. Issue 48 being pulled together. There are some spots that I'd prefer to be better written so I might have to get back to those. Interesting issue to do. Several elements to play around with. This will be either 42 pages or 48. More info soon.

August etc.

Next wednesday it's back to work. Issue 48 was left unfinished in June and I will try to conclude it the next couple of weeks. The Song of Läskimooses exhibition is on at the Cable Factory and I will be working at the gallery on weekdays. On 15th is the night of arts and I will be there slightly longer. Come and say hi if you're in the city. Suomaa strip will require more chapters end of August and I will try to deliver. Plan is also to do a surprise poster, but we'll see... Here some pics of the exhibition:

Editing

I edited the 52nd issue of Kuti. I put the issue together with the works of my former students. Good part of the stories were created within some of my classes. This fact made the editing easier than it otherwise would've been. I had a clear idea of the stories that were going to be in the issue. Without this prior knowledge (and the work done during the classes) the thing would've been much more difficult. The structure of the issue and the order of the stories was clear to me from the very beginning. I knew how I wanted to start the issue and how to end it. Susanna Kesänen's excelleng fragments played a big role in the overall choreography. The one/two pagers placed between longer pieces gave the issue a rhythm and meaning. They tied the separate pieces together.
I will probably not do this kind of editing thing very soon, but if I did, I would probably want to work close with the artists in a similar way that I do with my students. Now I feel a bit sorry that I haven't kept track of all the pieces done during my classes from 1998 to this day. Some real gems there. Some of them publushed somewhere later but not all. Hannerikna Moisseinen for example had a beautiful pictureless horse story in my class at Theatrw Academy years back. And then there was this one woman who did a color study with color pencils of the complete Lucky Luke book Tender foot. Memories...

Strangely

Strangely I have drawn most of the pictures for issue 48. Now what remains is the writing.

Latest Suomaa

This might go any possible way

Tohtori Matti Hagelberg
Laulu Läskimooseksesta

3.8.-8.9.2019 
MUU Kaapeli

Näyttelyn avajaiset perjantaina 2.8.2019 klo 17-19. Tervetuloa!

Elokuussa 2019 Läskimooses-sarjakuvalehti siirtää toimintansa kuukaudeksi MUU Kaapeliin Kaapelitehtaalle. Tohtori Matti Hagelberg työskentelee näyttelytilassa viitenä päivänä viikossa 7.8.19 alkaen. Näyttelyvierailla on mahdollisuus seurata tohtori Hagelbergin vuonna 2012 aloitetun 1500-sivuisen sarjakuvateoksen numeron 48 valmistumista. 

Näyttelytilan seiniä koristavat elegantteihin tammikehyksiin kehystetyt originaalisivut, jotka tarjoavat vierailijoille poikkileikkauksen Läskimooseksen seitsemänvuotisesta tarinasta. Originaalisivujen rinnalle on näyttelyyn valittu mukaan kaikkein viehättävimmät esimerkit lehden monipuolisesta takakansitaiteesta. Läskimooseksen laajempia teemoja avaa kaksi useampisivuista sarjaa, joissa kaaos kohtaa järjestyksen ja alkukantainen voima teknologian.

Näyttelyn yhteydessä julkistetaan mm.:

Tohtori Hagelbergin B.E.M. -sarjan numero 22, Ex-mark 00 - Läskimooses-lehden sivutuotteina syntyneitä loppuunkäytettyjä ja kuivuneita Textmark-kyniä on koottu tyylinmukaiseen hienostuneeseen pahvilaatikkoon, jota on mahdollisuus ostaa näyttelytilasta. Teoksen editio on 200 kappaletta ja jokainen pahvilaatikko sisältää aitoustodistuksen.

Uusimpien mittaustulosten mukaan piirretyn Marsin kartta - Kartta on painettu offsetilla kolmivärisenä ja jokainen kartta on signeerattu ja numeroitu. Kartan editio on 200 kappaletta.

Läskimooses numero 47 - Julkistetaan näyttelytilassa Taiteiden yönä 15.8. Lehden päätoimittaja Hans Nissen saapuu paikalle viihdyttämään yleisöä ja esittelemään tohtori Matti Hagelbergin muuta tuotantoa.

"Expansive and expandable, Läskimooses is part retro-neurotic science fiction, part Outsider creation myth, part Finnish national origin, part oddball Gospel, part long-lost cosmogony, part alien encyclopaedia, part never-ending pulpy saga, part man-versus-ape pithecophobia, part cultish evolutionary theory. And ultimately, like none of them at all. And like nothing else yet seen in the medium."
Paul Gravett, Artreview

"Twin Peaks on Läskimooseksen rinnalla kevyttä kamaa. Läskimooses on todellinen nykysarjakuvan koelaboratorio."
Olli Kangassalo, Kulttuuricocktail

Lisää tohtori Matti Hagelbergista ja Läskimooseksesta YLE Areenassa (linkki: https://areena.yle.fi/1-4114476 )

Läskimooses-lehden voi tilata kotiinsa osoitteesta kreegah.net

Kiitos: 
Taiteen edistämiskeskus 
Kreegah bundolo

Tiedustelut:
Matti Hagelberg, mattihagelberg(a)gmail.com, +358 40 703 84 07
MUU, muugalleria(a)muu.fi, +358 (0)9 625 972

Passing

Kind of dislike the idea of an exhibition. Still I'm doing it. At least then it's done. All and all don't feel I want to show anything. Not looking for new readers or new publishers. I'm only in it for the money.  It's something to make time more easy passing. And I have to finish it since I started it.

Books

Books I have to read
1. Old testament. Going at 2nd book of Samuel
2. Remembrance of things past. Going at book five
3. DfW oblivion
4. Pynchon V
5. Pynchon Mason and Dixon

Sometimes

Sometimes a week just goes by. Issue 48 proceeds but slow. Have been feeling lazy and at loss with rhythm. Now a week ahead away from studio. Will try to kick the text forwards. Summer always so sticky.

If

Issue 48 would be finished if it only had the covers.

2 many

Takes 2 years 2 finish this. And after? Well this is the problem, I have 2 many ideas. And I want to do them all! This latest one... maybe I should find someone to do it.

End

Will be starting issue 48 next week. Now the end is really starting. With 49 the story will move to Mars for 4 issues. 53 and 54 will conclude the story. End is near.

48 Käsittätehty pyramidi
49 Kauniin neidin kilvoitus
50 Lempinkäisen sotiinlähtö
51 Sampon varastus
52 Murjaanien kuningas
53 Idiootin kertoma tarina
54 Thendis

I'll just leave this here

Was hoping for the subtitles but didn't happen. https://areena.yle.fi/1-4114476

Anyways here it is.

Idiot

I'm an idiot having started this thing that I now can't stop for so many reasons. A book with like 100 readers that will take 10 years to conclude. Somewhat badly drawn and badly written. And I dread the moment I will have to edit/rewrite the couple of places that are so "off" that I need to correct. Although it was supposed to include the MISTAKES. 7 issues to go and then still about 100 pages of "notes". See you in 2022 if I'm lucky.
It's not too late to subscribe if this "experiment" interests you.

Show

My show THE SONG OF LÄSKIMOOSES opens August 2nd in Cable Factory Helsinki. What I know so far:
-issue 47 comes out
-poster, the map of Mars is printed
-a special box thingie B.E.M 22 comes out

Those at least. And I'm going to be working in the gallery almost every day. On 15th of August something special.

The show closes after the Helsinki comics festival, so if you're around...

Work

Past 2 weeks I've been pushing forward Suomaa strip. Have 34 episodes now finished. Not getting much feedback, so I don't really know whether anyone is reading. But like I've said before, all feedback is toxic, so better like this.
This week I've managed to finish 4 to 5 panels in a day which is pretty good. This might ofcourse change in a minute, but so far so good. Plan is to stock material enough to last until end of August. Now I've done July. Two more to go and I can again switch to Läskimooses. Currently thinking if I should do a set of the "notes" for Läskimooses before the story ends instead of doing them all after it is concluded. I have 4 pages for issue 46 that I would feel like doing. But there are at least 4 more pages of notes for that issue lined up so I don't really know. Will know more in August. But hey, the main story, depending of what you view as the main story, it is either concluded or 3 issues short of being concluded. This is real, it is happening.

Latest from Suomaa

Pretty good

Got a pretty good idea what an art (comics) student needs and it's not computers
Or pads
Or vr
...

Occasionally

Occasionally in the middle of work I find myself asking "can I write this" or "can I draw this", will it offend someone? Each time I get this notion I see it as an answer  "now you must."

Notes

Thinking of the so called notes. Realized they will take a year to do. Approximately a year. Need to list them. Some cool stuff coming along.

46

Soon going to printer. Went through all the boxes of original pages. Really hard to look at some of those. Something has happened. More detail at least. Not saying that I'm satisfied with the current style or the level of writing/drawing, but something has at least happened while working on this project. And now I have year and a half left to go, not counting the notes.

Secrets

Läskimooses was meant to be about secrets. And I think it has.
Some of the secrets I mean to keep from even my publisher for until it's time to draw them. These are:
-the one about Adorno Naulastus
-the one about Agner Mang
-the one about the scar Kalevi has on his forehead (like Tarzan, you know)
-the one about the ice breaker and what is going on around it

I'm probably keeping some secrets from myself too. Those are the nicest secrets.

Issue 47

Issue 47 is now more or less finished. Cover needs to be done. On tuesday then since monday I have classes. Also the special project B.E.M. 22 moved onwards. Issue 46 soon cleaned up.
Now the problem is: I don't know which colors the following 3 issues should be... or maybe I do. Anyways issues 49, 50, 51 and 52 I have a pretty clear idea.

I don't wanna talk about my work.

Today

Made some espresso. Drank a cup. Put Rheingold on. Started washing the windows. Washed 4 windows. Had a shower. Went to the studio. Worked for some time. Listened to the Smiths. Finished when 10 panels left of the issue. Had lunch at Namaskaar. Went to see cap Marvel. Returned home. Put Walkure on. Played playstation. Read DFW's Oblivion. Katja came home. Went out to get pizza's. Had a beer while waiting. So far so good.

Working on

-the last 2 pages of issue 47 (and the covers)
-scripts for the Suomaa 34 to 36
-plans for the exhibition in August
-issue 47 B (secret)
-b.e.m. #22... for the exhibition (secret)
-editing Kuti 52
-last classes this spring
-script of issue 48

5, 7, 2...

5 pages remaining of issue 47. Then 7 issues remaining. 2 years maybe less. End of 2020 most likely.
Really having problems connecting. No problem really, just don't feel like seeing anyone or belonging to any group larger than family. Only new people I want to meet are the students.