''Mikrokivikausi'' ( Finnish for " Micro Stone Age") is a Finnish comic strip drawn by

Harri "Wallu" Vaalio Harri Sakari Vaalio (born 1956 in Järvelä, Kärkölä, Finland), also known by his artist name Wallu, is a Finnish cartoonist. He is known for his strip ''Punaniska'' ( Finnish for " redneck") comic albums and his strips in Finnish magazines ...

. ''Mikrokivikausi'' is a humorous comic set in a nondescript period of

prehistory Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use ...

. Although named after the Stone Age, it has included

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s and other animals that were extinct long before the Stone Age. The central characters in the comic are cavemen, one of which (the main character) has invented the computer. (How he managed to do this before the invention of

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as describ ...

is not addressed.) The principal topic of the comic is computers, concerning mainly

computer game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

s but also including some slightly more technical themes. A notable character in the comic is Helka, the main character's matriarchal wife. Besides being the only recurring female character, she is also the only named character. A competition was held in the magazine MikroBitti, where the comic originated, to name the main character. It resulted in the name Hannu, but it was never adopted to mainstream use, and remains largely unknown. The main character is often called Guru instead. ''Mikrokivikausi'' has been published by MikroBitti magazine since 1985 except for a period in 2014–2015 when it was published by

Skrolli ''Skrolli'' is a Finnish computer magazine. It was founded in September 2012 and a sample issue was released shortly afterwards. The magazine has been issued quarterly since March 2013. In December 2015 a crowdfunding campaign for an internationa ...

magazine.

References

Comic strips missing date information Finnish comic strips {{Comic-strip-stub