Rasmus Klump
Encyclopedia
Rasmus Klump is a comic strip
series for small children created in 1951 by the Danish
wife and husband team Carla and Vilhelm Hansen
. The series was translated into a number of foreign languages, in some of which the title character Rasmus was renamed Petzi, Pol, Rasmus Nalle or other variations.
The series tells the adventures of the bear cub
Rasmus Klump and his friends: Pingo (a penguin
), Pelle (a pelican
), Pilskaden (a turtle
), Skæg (a seal
) and others. Always dressed in red dungarees with white polka dot
s, Rasmus Klump travels the world on board his boat Mary, which he builds with his friends in the first episode.
The comic strips do not make use of speech balloon
s but rather caption
s, whose humour, as well as the affectionally drawn pictures, contributed greatly to the popularity of the series. There is however a parallel humoristic strip version of the series, where speech balloons are used frequently.
Rasmus Klump began as a newspaper strip and was successfully published in translation worldwide, with total sales running over 30 million. When fans appealed for more, the Hansens began publishing storylines in book form. A television series was recorded in Danish
between 1997 and 2000.
In 1998, Carla Hansen created the Rasmus Klump Prisen (Rasmus Klump Award) for Danish people that had followed the virtues exhibited by the comic series. The winner receives an original comic strip, and 25,000 Danish krone
r. Winners include Michael Laudrup
and Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark
.
On 17 November 2001, the comic reached its fiftieth anniversary and the occasion was marked in Denmark by the issue of a commemorative stamp
.
Rasmus Klump appeared in English as Bruin in the Evening Times
, where he had his own club.
The comic has also, on several occasions, been turned into animation
. The first time was allegedly a low-budget Danish production on 13 episodes in the 60's, known from a contract between Statens Filmcentral and Illustrationsforlaget, although not much is known about this production. In 1984, a new series on 13 episodes was produced, as a deal between PIB Copenhagen and Casterman in Belgium, and was animated by an American living in Japan. It was still low-budget, but was a reasonable commercial success being shown on several television channels worldwide. In the 90's, yet another series materialised as 26 5-minute episodes for two periods, 1996 and 1998. This was a European co-production involving Danish animation veterans A. Film
.
Rasmus Klump is not to be confused with Bamse
, a well known Swedish cartoon figure.
An iPad application has also been created featuring Rasmus Klump (2011).
; "Rasmus" comes from the older strip "Strudsen Rasmus" (Rasmus the Ostrich), which Rasmus Klump replaced; "Klump" was added to give him a family name
, and comes from a dog the Hansens knew; the name "Bjørnen Rasmus" (Rasmus the Bear) was originally suggested.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
series for small children created in 1951 by the Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
wife and husband team Carla and Vilhelm Hansen
C. & V. Hansen
C. & V. Hansen is the name used by the Danish couple Carla and Vilhelm Hansen to sign their Rasmus Klump comics .-Biography:...
. The series was translated into a number of foreign languages, in some of which the title character Rasmus was renamed Petzi, Pol, Rasmus Nalle or other variations.
The series tells the adventures of the bear cub
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
Rasmus Klump and his friends: Pingo (a penguin
Penguin
Penguins are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers...
), Pelle (a pelican
Pelican
A pelican, derived from the Greek word πελεκυς pelekys is a large water bird with a large throat pouch, belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae....
), Pilskaden (a turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
), Skæg (a seal
Pinniped
Pinnipeds or fin-footed mammals are a widely distributed and diverse group of semiaquatic marine mammals comprising the families Odobenidae , Otariidae , and Phocidae .-Overview: Pinnipeds are typically sleek-bodied and barrel-shaped...
) and others. Always dressed in red dungarees with white polka dot
Polka dot
Polka dot is a pattern consisting of an array of filled circles, generally equally sized and spaced relatively closely in relation to their diameters. Polka dots are most commonly seen on children's clothing, toys, and furniture, but they appear in a wide array of contexts...
s, Rasmus Klump travels the world on board his boat Mary, which he builds with his friends in the first episode.
The comic strips do not make use of speech balloon
Speech balloon
Speech balloons are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comic strips and cartoons to allow words to be understood as representing the speech or thoughts of a given character in the comic...
s but rather caption
Caption
Caption may refer to:*Caption , a small press and independent comic convention held annually in Oxford, England*Closed captioning, used to provide the text of a show's audio portion to those who may have trouble hearing it...
s, whose humour, as well as the affectionally drawn pictures, contributed greatly to the popularity of the series. There is however a parallel humoristic strip version of the series, where speech balloons are used frequently.
Rasmus Klump began as a newspaper strip and was successfully published in translation worldwide, with total sales running over 30 million. When fans appealed for more, the Hansens began publishing storylines in book form. A television series was recorded in Danish
Danish language
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
between 1997 and 2000.
In 1998, Carla Hansen created the Rasmus Klump Prisen (Rasmus Klump Award) for Danish people that had followed the virtues exhibited by the comic series. The winner receives an original comic strip, and 25,000 Danish krone
Danish krone
The krone is the official currency of the Kingdom of Denmark consisting of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. It is subdivided into 100 øre...
r. Winners include Michael Laudrup
Michael Laudrup
Michael Laudrup is a retired Danish footballer, who works as a manager and last coached La Liga side RCD Mallorca. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of football. His most prominent run of football came with Spanish club Barcelona, with whom he won four straight La...
and Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark
Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark
Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, Count of Monpezat, is the heir apparent to the throne of Denmark. Frederik is the elder son of Queen Margrethe II and Henrik, the Prince Consort.-Name and christening:...
.
On 17 November 2001, the comic reached its fiftieth anniversary and the occasion was marked in Denmark by the issue of a commemorative stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
.
Rasmus Klump appeared in English as Bruin in the Evening Times
Evening Times
The Evening Times is an evening tabloid newspaper published Monday to Saturday in Glasgow, Scotland.-History:The paper, an evening sister paper of The Herald, was established in 1876. The paper's slogan is "Nobody Knows Glasgow Better"....
, where he had his own club.
The comic has also, on several occasions, been turned into animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
. The first time was allegedly a low-budget Danish production on 13 episodes in the 60's, known from a contract between Statens Filmcentral and Illustrationsforlaget, although not much is known about this production. In 1984, a new series on 13 episodes was produced, as a deal between PIB Copenhagen and Casterman in Belgium, and was animated by an American living in Japan. It was still low-budget, but was a reasonable commercial success being shown on several television channels worldwide. In the 90's, yet another series materialised as 26 5-minute episodes for two periods, 1996 and 1998. This was a European co-production involving Danish animation veterans A. Film
A. Film A/S
A. Film A/S is a Danish animation studio based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It produces traditional and CGI animation for feature films, television, advertising and games...
.
Rasmus Klump is not to be confused with Bamse
Bamse
Bamse – Världens starkaste björn is a Swedish cartoon created by Rune Andréasson. The highly popular children's cartoon first emerged as a series of television short films as well as a weekly half page Sunday strip in 1966, before being published periodically in its own comic magazine since...
, a well known Swedish cartoon figure.
An iPad application has also been created featuring Rasmus Klump (2011).
Name
Rasmus Klump is a proper nameProper noun
A proper noun or proper name is a noun representing a unique entity , as distinguished from a common noun, which represents a class of entities —for example, city, planet, person or corporation)...
; "Rasmus" comes from the older strip "Strudsen Rasmus" (Rasmus the Ostrich), which Rasmus Klump replaced; "Klump" was added to give him a family name
Family name
A family name is a type of surname and part of a person's name indicating the family to which the person belongs. The use of family names is widespread in cultures around the world...
, and comes from a dog the Hansens knew; the name "Bjørnen Rasmus" (Rasmus the Bear) was originally suggested.
Translations
- Petzi in French (CastermanCastermanCasterman is a publisher of Franco-Belgian comics, specializing in comic books and children's literature. The company is based in Tournai, Belgium.Founded in 1780, Casterman was originally a printing company and publishing house...
), German (Carlsen Comics), Portuguese and Italian - Pechi in Spanish
- Pol, Pel en Pingo in Dutch (Casterman)
- Rasmus Nalle in Swedish and Finnish (Weilin+Göös)
- Bruin in English (Evening Times: albums "The Bruin Story" and "Bruin's Adventures at Sea")
- Barnaby Bear in English (Random HouseRandom HouseRandom House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
: albums "Barnaby Bear builds a boat" and "Barnaby Bear visits the farm") - Rasmus Klumpur in Icelandic
- Bamse Bjørn in Norwegian
External links
- Official German website (in German)
- Petzi-Forschung (in German)
- Rasmus Klump at WeirdSpace.dk - Fansite with information
- Basic info about Bamse Bjørn at Torbjørns tegneserieguide (in Norwegian)