Johan Wanloo (born July 16, 1972, in

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

) is a

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

creatorJohan Wanloo
lambiek.net, accessed 2010-05-27 known for his many

comic strips A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

published in newspapers, tabloids, and magazines including the Swedish version of ''

MAD Magazine ''Mad'' (stylized in all caps) is an American humor magazine which was launched in 1952 and currently published by DC Comics, a unit of the DC Entertainment subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. ''Mad'' was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman an ...

''. His career started in 1987 when he sold a cartoon to the computer magazine ''Svenska Hemdatornytt''. Many of his comics involve satire of those he perceives to be pretentious or out of touch with regular people. Usually this includes

snob ''Snob'' is a pejorative term for a person who feels superior due to their social class, education level, or social status in general;De Botton, A. (2004), ''Status Anxiety''. London: Hamish Hamilton it is sometimes used especially when they pr ...

s and people with radical political beliefs. He greatly dislikes

Goth Goth or Goths may refer to: * Goths, a Germanic people Arts and entertainment * Gothic rock or goth, a style of rock music * Goth subculture, developed by fans of gothic rock * ''Goth'' (2003 film), an American horror film * ''Goth'' (2008 f ...

and

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

culture and claims that he has "the musical taste of a 60-year old". He is a fan of

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from the past, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. It has been argued that there is a nostalgia cycle in popular culture. Definition The term ...

kitsch ''Kitsch'' ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as Naivety, naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous or of banal Taste (sociology), taste. The modern avant-garde traditionally opposed kitsch ...

and likes to incorporate this into his work. Many of his comics are parodies/homages of old

pulp fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence ...

and he has even done a number of strips where he alters original artwork to make new stories.

Works

Wanloo mostly does strips featuring himself where he comments on society, but he has also created a number of original characters including * ''De äventyrslystna karlakarlarna'' (The adventurous manly-men) A parody of classic pulp fiction starring the two famous "

alpha male In the zoological field of ethology, a dominance hierarchy (formerly and colloquially called a pecking order) is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social animal, social groups interact, creating a ranking system. Dif ...

s" Felix Gimlet and El Fjongo. Felix is the

playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

genius while Fjongo is a wrestler who always wears a

Lucha libre ''Lucha libre'' (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term for the style of professional wrestling originating in Mexico. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has develope ...

-style mask. * ''Örn Blammo'' A violent, possibly psychotic government agent who saves the world alongside his two kid sidekicks. * ''Farbror Einar'' (Uncle Einar) Comic strip about a grumpy, sadistic old man. * ''Kapten Klara'' A relatively straightforward children's comic series about the adventurous eye-patched sea captain Klara and her anthropomorph crocodile friend Harry, aboard the submarine Gudrun. * ''Fwedewic'' * ''Roy vid Rymdkommandot'' (Roy at Space-command) *
Rock Manlyfist - Master of Space Karate
' On a personal level, Wanloo once said that his idol is

Charlton Heston Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor. He gained stardom for his leading man roles in numerous Cinema of the United States, Hollywood films including biblical epics, science-fiction f ...

. Despite being nearly 2 meters tall, he usually draws himself quite short. He used to be heavily into

splatter film A splatter film is a subgenre of horror films that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. These films, usually through the use of special effects, display a fascination with the vulnerability of the human body a ...

References

Swedish comic strip cartoonists Swedish comics artists 1972 births Living people Artists from Gothenburg {{Sweden-artist-stub