Book of Hope

Book of Hope (Tommi Musturi)

Tommi Musturi is a very productive finnish comic artist who is more known for his editorial work of the yearly Glömp anthology then for his own drawing and writing skills. Completely under the radar he has been working on a six book saga, called "Book of Hope". It is quite surprising that this work has gotten so little attention from Finnish or international press. It is however a work that deserves attention and i firmly believe that upon completion of the saga people will hit their foreheads and wonder how come they have missed out on this so far.

This book was the graduation work of Tommi Musturi and was featured in the Masters of Arts 05 exhibition at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki. The first book of Hope was initially a self published comic which Musturi sent to about every comic publisher in the western world, fishing for a releasedate. Three companies took the bait: Like (Finland), Bries (Belgium, publishes the books in English) and La Cinquième Couche (who publishes the book in French).

In short you could say that the Books of Hope are a documentation and study of the sorrows and lost joys of the Finnish everyman. He occupies himself with the pleasures of the outdoor life on the countryside (eating, fixing a bird's nest, sauna, walking in the forest) and mentally with reminiscing about childhood and contemplating about life. The main character is however not romaticised or idealised and resembles in more than one way my own father in law.

First book of Hope (Tommi Musturi)

This comic book could easily be mistaken for a religious pamphlet: the cover, a red little booklet with a golden imprint of sunbeams shining through the clouds, and the name itself (The First Book of Hope) could cause amused confusion. However, one quick look at the back reveals the mushroom image of a nuclear blast, so we can safely carry on reading. Fittingly, the first words of the book are "30 people died in a nuclear explosion", a message on the radio.

The images, however, tell a different story. Nicely drawn scenes from idyllic countryside life flow from one page to the next: a wooden house near a lake, a scarecrow, swallows in the sky, a hidden bottle of vodka under the porch.

The main character in The First Book of Hope is seemingly an ordinary Finnish middle-aged man: a little bit overweight and slightly balding. His name is never mentioned and we do not know where this story takes place.

Now, here's where finnish skills come in handy: Hope is in Finnish Toivo, which is at the same time also a regular (albeit oldfashioned) name for men. This wonderful wordplay makes the reader aware to fact that this comic is actually an allegory. Normally in allegories (yes, i have studied literature and was forced to read mediaeval literature and now it's payback time) characters in these plays are abstract ideas, such as Death, Good Deeds, Knowledge who are then humanized and have philosophical discussions with eachother. It was a wildly popular form of theater in the 14th til 16th century, with Everyman (Elcerlyc) as the hit play.

It would be quite difficult to see our main character Toivo as the Hope of humankind. Actually, it seems more fitting that our main character (basically the only person in this book) embodies the Finnish Everyman. He ponders about the life he has led and lost friendships. Throughout the work a melancholic feeling permeates, as voiced in the monologues of our Everyman: "you hope you become wiser as you try to avoid the bitterness life so often offers. "

Hope is the only character we see. Exactly like in Jimmy Corrigan, the reader can view only the protagonist in full. All other characters are placed explicitly in the background. The wife, who has a few lines in the book as well, doesn't enter the scene at all; she talks to Hope from the side of the house, from a different room ,etc. The only frame where we see her is when they sit both on the porch enjoying the sunset.

A lot of fun in reading this book is picking out all the overgeneralisations that exist about finnish men. Yes, they eat a lot and are overweight. They sure can fix stuff and be handy all the time. It is indeed true that the older generation is still very much fixed in the classical male-female role division (a guy doesn't cook, do laundry, clean (exception to these rules apply to cars and bbq-ing).

However, all these clichés are contradicted with the philosophical tone Hope is expressing. A true finnish guy is silent, drinks hard and shows no feelings. Any inner mental exploration juxtaposes this attitude severely and it is in this shism that the book gets its good grades from. Because, ofcourse, life is hardly about caricatures and more about finding your stance in life.

It would do the book unjustice not to mention the finnish countryside. In fact, if you would count the number of frames with idyllic nature scenes and rural belvederes, they almost outnumber the frames with Hope in it. To most Westerners this would come off very artificially or would have the feel of the cliché of the seventies when all young middleclass couples wanted to get out of the cities and moved to the countryside (although they all ended up in the suburbs ofcourse). However, Finland is one of those places where this countryside life is an actual possibility. Living in Helsinki (or Tampere) it is somehow easy to forget that Finland consists for 70% of forests and lakes. In more then one way, the Book of Hope is an hommage to countrysidelife and appeals to a longing that is shared by almost every finnish person: finding peace again and enjoying what nature has to offer. Preferably, ofcourse, with the help of a sauna and a springclear lake to jump into.

Tracking down a real storyline will be difficult in these books. Nothing really happens, Hope eats, fixes a swing, goes fishing, takes a sauna and talks to himself. There is a difference between the two volumes though: whereas the first episode of the book seems to focus on a grownup man contemplating about his youth, this same man in the second book lives the life of a young boy, a boy whose perfect day consists of watching the sunrise from the roof, saving a bumblebee from freezing, eating meatballs with pancakes. At the same time while he is dreaming about his upcoming birthday (and which present he will get), there are however more darker thoughts haunting him. Thoughts about life in general and "what to do with it" and fretting about death.

Jezus fucking christ!
What is it?
What should we do?
Do? About what?
About this... life
Well, what do you do? You live
uhh... it sounds so easy.

The underlying conversations in the book have a very mild humourous undertone (albeit hardly traceable) and come from the tradition of Aki Kaurismäki's deadpan humour movies, in which people talk like this:

M: What do I owe you?
Electrician: If you ever find me face down in the gutter, turn me around to my back.

Asked what he would do if he would win the Finlandia comics award (for which the Second Book of Hope is shortlisted), Musturi posted his thank you speech on a comics forum: "First of all, i would like the thank the festival and my mother from the bottom of my heart and wish us all world peace." A tear might come down my cheek. After the award i would drive in a taxi together with Ranta, Turkunen and Oja (Three comic artists and alternative publishers) from the Tampere station to Hämeenpuisto and back until the prizemoney runs out. In the evenings there would be brandy, cigars and philosophical discussions with the prizeorganisers. My last memory would a clumsy dance of the chief judge. On sunday i would return to Helsinki and quit making comics."