Suomaan kansan muinaisusko

Soon starting

Inspiration

Certain things inspiring the project
-Tristram Shandy
-Lee & Kirby
-Gravity's Rainbow
-Infinite Jest
-Flash Gordon
-5 books of Moses
-Moby Dick
-Gertrude Stein
-Mars books of ERBurroughs

Issue 41

I made some adjustments to the story and issue 41 will be called Taivaan lapset instead of Free Hugs which will then be the name of issue 42 or 43. Anyways, I wrote issue 41 today and I liked what I wrote and I don't care whether you read it or not.

Outside

Where I stand is totally outside everything. Don't have any connection to any scene anywhere. The idea of participating to any comics related event fills me with dread. And the loudest will always triumph no matter what.
I don't know where I fit in nor whether I even want to. It's all futile anyway.

Silence

I don't see much value in any publicity. Mostly I want to disappear. None of the interviews I've given have ever proved beneficial in any way. I prefer silence. And still I've always answered the questions. In some hope of some purpose. I have 20 books or so under my belt and for what purpose.

100000

Give me 100000 and I will do something cool.

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Issue 40

Yes almost done with this one. Issue 40, 40 pages. Mostly lettering to do. One actual page to draw and then...onwards. Going to take a break (sort of) from the book and continuing with the Suomaa strip. Idea is to finnish 2 pages before end of January. Shouldn't be much of a problem. And in January I should be able to start with issue 41, maybe even finish it. Oh well...

Words

1000

Now I have 1000 pages of the story wrapped up and finished. I still remember when 12 pages or 24 pages felt a lot. I still remember how a 100-page book felt really extreme and bad-ass. So ha!

Yesterday

Yesterday I counted that I have 450 pages left to do. Might be a bit more, but close to that figure. At the moment I don't have any funding for the project. Maybe it has been going on for too long maybe. Hard to give a grant to a thing that just doesn't seem to end? Yeah who knows. Eventually I will be able to finish it, but without funding it'll take twice longer. 450 pages. It either sounds a lot or not that much, depending. Depending of the perspective. It's 2 years maybe bit more so it's less than 6 years, less than 4. And 450 is less than half of the pages I've already than. But it's almost one third of the book. And quite surprisingly structure-wise I've reached a true turning point of the story. Just about where I would place the golden division.

Old story

Skeleton men of Jupiter

Working

Working on issues 39 and 40. 39 requires some adjusting and 3 pages to draw, 40 I am writing. And 40 is a special issue. Why? Because with issue 40 I will pass page 1000 of the story. This is my first book/project that'll go past that benchmark.
Issues 37 and 38 are still at the printer. You won't be disappointed with issue 37. Then you'll see...

Update

Not much happening here.
Five Suomaa people -pages now done and it'll start to run in all its 4color weirdness in January 2018 in Kirkko ja Kaupunki.
Finally managed to start issue 39 and it's rolling along nicely. Part of the story, big part, is text only so it's quite different from issues 37 and 38. And it's faster to do. After two weeks I'm now around page 12. Looks like it's going to be at least 32 pages so still plenty to do. So that's all for now. Waiting for issues 37 and 38 to come from the printer.

Sketching Suomaa

September

Will soon be over. And plan is to finish 4 pages of the Suomaa-strip. Basically I'm done. But not really. Pages 1 to 3 are done (without color) and 4 has been started, 5 almost done but without text, 6 has text. So that counts as 4, yes?
Last week I did an illustration and now I've been coloring it. Almost done tomorrow. And soon October and I will return to Läskimooses. Ah ha...

Suomaa people -strip progressing

Full steam

Suomaa people strip is going really well at the moment. Scripting and sketching full steam. Wouldn't want to leave the studio at all. 2 first pages almost done (without color) and next 4 just about scripted. Upcoming week I will letter numbers 3 and 4, draw the panels, maybe get started with some panels. If this lucky streak continues I will be able to continue Läskimooses without much trouble. However couple of things are slowing me down: 1. Wallet got stolen and I needed to cancel my credit card and what not 2. My old phone is being repaired so that I could get 3 sets of photos out from it, photos that I need both with the Suomaa strip and with next issue of Läskimooses. Those things causing some extra hassle. Otherwise: happy.

Thinking ahead

What kind of a book is this book I'm working on? Eventually the story will be told (in 15issues) and I can start to fill in some gaps and edit parts of the main story. The filling in is certainly not going to be what it sounds like. More like making the whole thing even more complex. How I see it all in 4 years. The main story edited (bad writing at least in 2 places) maybe collected in 4 books or maybe not. The Notes: stories like the one in ArtReview march 2017 and the strip I'm doing for Kirkko and Kaupunki and some snippets and weirdness (but some of them quite essential additions to the story)collected into one 300 page book...or hopefully 200. Posters, 3 or 4 of them. And that's Läskimooses. More or less. In all its glory.
1500 pages minimum.
But
The actual Thing
The actual Thing is what is happening now. The comic book coming out the competitions the actual process of making. Although I'm curious to see this thing "finished" it's then, at that moment, not the actual thing itself but like the shadow of the thing on the cliff behind.

Sketching for Suomaa People's Ancient Religion

Important

Probably mentioned this numerous times but I'm at the moment in a situation that I don't have a grant. Due to this I've taken some commission jobs and will be starting this Läskimooses related comic in a newspaper starting 2018. This will mean slowing down with Läskimooses. Hopefully not as much as I fear.
I'm pleased though that I managed to finish issue 37 which for me is an important issue. An ending to a storyline. A storyline I will pick up after a couple of issues but still. I'd like to say I've succeeded with something in this issue, but I wouldn't mind getting some feedback occasionally. Although I'm pretty sure I know where I'm going and how I'm getting there.

Quarter of

Started as a professional in 1992 with B.E.M. number 1 which means that this fall I've been doing my thing for 25 years. So there.

Moment

With each issue there's the moment when I feel this will never be finished. My mind moving on to the next issue or other projects. But once more an issue is finished and it's time to pack it all up and move along.
Here 1 picture that got scrapped from the book.

Confirmed

I'm going to start a comic page in a bi-monthly paper starting January 2018. This is going to be a Läskimooses tied story called Suomaan Kansan Muinaisusko. Pretty similar storytelling as in the main book. In colour and done in the spirit of the old newspaper comics I so much look up to. You'll find out more soon. Nuff said!

Now

As I do from time to time I planned out the future issues. Story goes until issue 54 or so it seems. This year it has been quite straight forward narrative following the life of Agner Mang. After issue 37 things will muddle up a bit until at least issue 41 which will conclude more or less the Agner Mang storyline. After that most of the secrets of Läskimooses have been revealed. Most but not all. And what remains is the story of the two main characters the narrator and the ape man. Also the Mars storyline will be concluded in 4 issues and tied into the main story (did you see that coming?).  And then...it's not over. Many snippets and strange info remain. I expect to be done with this in 2022, 10 years after beginning. A cool ride.

Riding a bicycle

Drawing certainly doesn't feel like driwing a bicyckle. Every spring when I take out my bicyckle there is a strong possibility that riding it comes naturally. No falling over or bumping into obstacles. With drawing it's like learning it all over again after even a week's break. Sometimes you don't even need a break. It's this never ending struggle. Not much enjoyment there. And same goes with writing.
And when things sometimes go right then it happens like in a blink of an eye. I'm never there when it happens and I never learn.

Thursday

I will return to work on thursday, first working on issue 37 and then on this new Secret Project that I've been mulling over in my head for some time now.
It's the first fall since 1998 that I don't have a comics class in Aalto (in open university I have) and this'll leave me with less money and more time. The Secret Project will however complicate things. If things go good I will be able to continue Läskimooses pretty much like I have so far. Issues 37 to 40 concluded this year and 41 to 46 or 47 the next year. But I don't know for sure. If this plan holds I will be over and done with the main story in 2019 and could start the editing work (whatever that is...mostly finetuning some texts. Maybe some larger changes too in that area)and some little addition and or change in the art. Then I will have been working on the book for 8 years and the planned book of "notes" will push this project to 10 years making it my most time consuming piece but also, with 1500 pages, the longest.
Now this all is ofcourse uncertain and greatly depends on the grants that I will or won't get. However the Secret Project might change it all, we'll see.
Meanwhile: Läskimooses still has only 100 subscribers. Ten times more would guarantee a basic income for me and my publisher. When I started the project I was hoping we'd get the 1000 subscribers by issue 5. This didn't happen. Now that the story is well over 900 pages it has probably become very difficult to approach. I wouldn't know. One thing though, the project is planned to be issued in comic book format and there are many things that will not translate to any collected/edited piece if there ever will be one.

Meanwhile

Won't get back to work before 10th so meanwhile I'm doing this:
 -writing all sort of loose sentences and plot summaries
-sketching one new character and her pals
-writing dialogue

In my stories there is seldom any true dialogue, so I find the last one on the list bit of a challenge. What makes it even more of a challenge is none of the characters here are exactly human with human needs and human minds. I really need to fill them with history and philosophy like empty vessels. First of these scenes is coming out in issue 37.

Thinking of dialogue: the guy who interrupts the main story the one I call Keskeyttäjä in Finnish. The story of this guy has silently and secretly grown into much more that I expected. He now has a true background and personal history that'll influence all his ponderings, past and future. The way he's coming out, I find it intriguing.

Instagram

Follow me there matti.hagelberg

Secrets

Wellll...

I'm still working. And issue 37 requires 4 pages. By 15th I should be done. And issue 36 just out.

Old piece

For sale

First sketches for something

Optimistic

Carefully optimistic. Couple of potentially positive things are proceeding. Now with a bit of luck.

Back covers

Surprise

What I really wanted to do was a comic book that would surprise the readers with each issue because that would be the comic book I would want to read. The element of surprise.
And what I was thinking when starting was this quote on Twin Peaks by David Lynch: "It's about secrets."
Secrets and surprises. You can go a long way with these.

Thing is

Thing is I'm really enjoying doing this issue. One of my favorites so far. Sort of a turning point too. But it's summertime and less days for working. I'll have maybe 2 decent weeks before August. So August it'll be.
But issue 36 is almost ready for the printer. Coming out in July I'd say. 37 then in September and 38 in October. And then itll reach 960 pgs. Which means (in all likelihood) issue 40 will see pg 1000. But that's in some far and distant future. Not here not now, unimportant.

But

But it seems one of my earlier books is coming out in English summer 2018.

Project

Is on hold. Or slow-mo. I don't know.

and still more selling

These 5 framed in one frame horizontally. Published in comix 2000.

Tarzan in dynamic anatomy.

inquire for prices

mattihagelberg(at)gmail.com