Väinämöinen is a supremely badass figure in mythology.

Finnish folklore and mythology in particular are full of wizards and magic of all sorts. The culture and history of the Finnish people is rife with interesting stories and ideas that aren’t really reflected in many other cultures. They are unique in many ways, anthropologically speaking. It stands to reason that a people with a history of totally awesome magicians may be able to provide far better entertainment to our pathetic modern culture. I’m looking at you Harry Potter. You pussy.

In case you’re wondering, I do have a vendetta against JK Rowling’s iconic character. I made it through three of the books before giving up entirely. I wanted to like the damn things, they had so much potential, but as a franchise hell bent on keeping up with its readers as they aged, it presented some rather horrible scenarios wherein the main character could act like a supreme douche and get away with it. I found it intolerable.

I look at ancient myths and find infinitely more value than anything writers today can live up to.

This is, personally, my favourite strip so far. Comic writers shouldn’t have favourites, probably, but I do. I can’t help it. I love mythology and I always want to learn more about it. I guess this is more the sort of comic I’d thought of when I started Happle Tea and maybe we’ll see more strips like this. It’s been a tough semester at school and I’d like to spend more time writing strips once the Winter arrives and I hole up in my cave for months on end.

Also, I attempted to record myself drawing this strip but the software and website I used weren’t really great. I am going to attempt it again with some other things next week, I think. If you’d like to check it out anyway, you can view it here. Because of the quality, a lot of it is inexplicable and because of my internet connection the roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes it took to produce is broken up into 4 unequal parts.

Oh, and I’ve been updating randomly at the blog, if you’re into that sort of thing. There are some sketchbook drawings and backgrounds from a simple pencil animation I’ve been working on.

And a big thanks again to my brother, Jonathan, for being totally awesome and always supporting me. And helping me with my writing when I need it. Thanks bro!