Jussi Tuomola, pen name Juba (born 8 November 1965 in

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

. Tuomola is best known for his ongoing

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

'' Viivi & Wagner'', about the relationship of a woman and a pig. He has also worked on the '' Punaniska'' and ''

Myrkky ''Pyton'' was a Norway, Norwegian comic book series which was produced by the company Gevion forlag, Gevion, and afterwards Bladkompaniet, between the years 1986 until 1996. An anthology magazine with no major main character, its style of humor foc ...

'' comics and the Finnish version of ''MAD'' Magazine. He has even drawn a religious comic book album set in biblical times, called ''Älä pingota, Paavo! Ota viinirypäleitä...'' (''"Take it easy, Paulie! Have some grapes..."'') Tuomola first started drawing at pre-school age in

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Per� ...

, copying cover art from Finnish '' Aku Ankka'' comics. At the age of six and seven he started trying his hand at comics of his own. His first completed comic was called ''Tom Taylor'', an American-style detective comic inspired by the ''

Tex Willer Tex Willer is the main fictional character of the Italian comics series ''Tex'', created by writer Gian Luigi Bonelli and illustrator Aurelio Galleppini, and first published in Italy on 30 September 1948. It is among the most popular characters ...

'' comics and an American TV detective show called

Baretta ''Baretta'' is an American detective television series which ran on ABC from 1975 to 1978. The show was a revised and milder version of a 1973–1974 ABC series, '' Toma'', starring Tony Musante as chameleon-like, real-life New Jersey police ...

. In 1976, Tuomola moved from Rovaniemi to

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

, and in 1982, he went to the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

as an exchange student, which inspired him to become a professional cartoonist. His first published comic was ''Vauhti-Ville'', published in a local newspaper from 1983 to 1984. Tuomola's square-shaped signature "JUBA" was inspired by a similar signature by Jean "Moebius" Giraud.

External links

Jussi "Juba" Tuomola's Viivi & Wagner page
1965 births Living people People from Lahti Finnish comic strip cartoonists Finnish comics artists Finnish graphic novelists {{cartoonist-stub