Pondus

''Pondus'' is a comic strip created by the Norwegian cartoonist Frode Øverli. Since its start in 1995, it has become one of the most successful comic strips in Scandinavia. It has been translated to several languages, including Danish, English, German, Finnish, French, Icelandic, Latin, Sami, Swedish and Esperanto.

In 2000 it inspired its own magazine.

Publication history

Øverli initially developed a strip titled ''A-laget'' (A-team) in 1995, prior to leaving the magazine '' Pyton''. This early version focused on three characters who were fanatical football-supporters. By the time the strip in its earliest form was first published in a small local newspaper ''Vest-Nytt'' of Sotra on 28 October 1995, it had taken the name ''Pondus''.pdf
In 1996 it began a four-year run as a supporting strip in the Norwegian magazine devoted to Bud Grace's ''Ernie'', leading to its breakthrough on 2 April 1997, when it was taken on as a daily strip in national distribution newspaper ''Dagbladet''.

On 4 July 2000 it began publication in its own ''Pondus'' magazine, as the first Norwegian strip to ever carry its own monthly publication. This was followed on 6 June 2001 with the launch of a Swedish sister magazine. The strip runs daily in more than 80 Norwegian newspapers, and is syndicated to several international publications, most notably Swedish ''Dagens Nyheter'', Danish ''Berlingske Tidende'', and Icelandic '' Frettabladid''.

As of 2007's first issue, ''Pondus'' magazine left publisher Schibsted to continue its run with publisher Egmont. In a simultaneous event, the character Pondus quit his job as a bus driver, and bought a pub.

Frode Øverli has twice received the Sproing Award for Pondus, in 1998 and 2003, and the Adamson Award in 2006.

Characters

Pondus' family

* Pondus - the main character, a late-thirties, football fanatic family man.
* Beate - Pondus' wife.
* Påsan/Kevin - Pondus' teenage son.
* Sneipen/Frida - Pondus' baby daughter.
* Bjarne - the family's exceptionally stupid dog.

Jokke's family

* Jokke - Pondus cool friend and a former notoriously pathetic pursuer of ugly women.
* Camilla - Jokke's girlfriend, and the mother of their child. Broke up but are together now.
* Else - Jokke's mother and wife of Günther.
* Günther - Jokke's bald, German midget stepfather.
* Jacobsen - Jokke's father, a former jailbird.
* Gordon - Jokke and Camilla's baby.

Other characters

* Turid-Laila - a stunning blonde barmaid at Pondus' pub.
* Kjakan - an awkward teenager and Påsan's best friend.
* Harold & Selma - long-time friends of Beate whom Pondus find dull.
* Hugo & Ivar - two (former) colleagues of Pondus with geek interests.
* Reidar - a car mechanic of the greediest sort.
* Roger - an awful comics creator.
* Ponny-Petra - the most notorious of Jokke's female acquaintances.
* Dr. Zimmerknaben - an unorthodox psychiatrist.
* Zlatan - a black metal-guy who works in Jokke's shop.

Publications

Pondus magazine

The Pondus magazine has been a monthly publication since 2000. The line-up of past and current guest strips are:
*''Rutetid'', also by Øverli, in the one-panel format.
*'' The Duplex'' by Glenn McCoy
*''Eon'' by Lars Lauvik
*''Holger og Hagbart'' by Arne Bye
*''The Flying McCoys'' by Glenn and Gary McCoy
*'' M'' by Mads Eriksen
*''MonoMania'' by Thomas S. Hansen
*''Piray'' by Karine Haaland
*''Prim'' by Bodil Revhaug
*''RedakTom'' by Tom Ostad
*''Rocky'' by Martin Kellerman

Pondus albums

There have so far been 9 digest albums, all but the seventh given football-related titles. English translations appended:
*1. ''Første omgang'' (2001, Schibsted, ) ''First Half''
*2. ''Andre omgang'' (2002, Schibsted, ) ''Second Half''
*3. ''Hat trick'' (2003, Schibsted, ) In reference to football's hat-trick, a 3-goal accomplishment.
*4. ''Flat firer'' (2004, Schibsted, ) ''Flat Four''. A reference to the " back four" in soccer, which normally involves four defenders, ''flat'' in reference to the defence forming a straight line, to execute an offside trap. The cover displays Pondus playing football, having just "flattened" the opponent player #4.
*5. ''Fem rette'' (2005, Schibsted, ) ''Five Correct''. A reference to the Norwegian football pools betting on 12 matches, with prizes awarded for 10, 11, or 12 successful predictions. 5 is a very poor result.
*6. ''0-6'' (2006, Schibsted, ) In reference to a very poor result for the home team in a football match. In Norwegian it can also mean no sex, or "Zero sex". The cover displays Jokke, the goalkeeper, fumbling the ball to concede a goal, as the foot of an opponent player is bound for Jokke's crotch. In the background, Jokke's girlfriend looks horrified.
*7. ''Sju lange og sju breie'' (2007, Egmont, ) ''Seven Long and Seven Wide'', an old Scandinavian expression signifying time which feels like an eternity, and referring to Pondus' old boys football squad of 14 odd-looking men posing on the cover.
*8. ''8. Divisjon'' (2008, Egmont, ) ''8. Division'', the lowest league level in Norwegian football.
*9. ''Nummer 9'' (2009, Egmont, ) ''Number 9'', referring to Pondus' shirt number, a shirt usually held by top notch strikers.
*10. ''Ti tette og en badehette'' (2010, Egmont, 978-82-429-4198-5)

Sources

''Pondus'' dossier
Avistegnernes hus

;Footnotes

External links

Pondus.no
official site and editor's blog

''Pondus'' daily strip
at Dagbladet {{in lang, no





1995 establishments in Norway
1995 comics debuts
Comics characters introduced in 1995
Mascots introduced in 1995
Comics magazines published in Norway
Fictional Norwegian people
Humor comics
Norwegian mascots
Magazine mascots
Male characters in comics
Male characters in advertising
Magazines about comics
Norwegian comic strips
Norwegian comics characters
Magazines established in 1995
Norwegian-language magazines
Satirical comics