Øystein Runde (born December 14, 1979, in

Ulsteinvik is a town in Ulstein Municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The town is the commercial and administrative centre of the municipality and as such, Ulsteinvik contains 74% of the municipal population. The town has a population (2024) ...

) is a Norwegian

comics writer A script is a document describing the narrative and dialogue of a comic book in detail. It is the comic book equivalent of a television program teleplay or a film screenplay. In comics, a script may be preceded by a plot outline, and is almost al ...

and

comics artist 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 comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the literar ...

. Runde, Kristopher Schau and Frode Hanssen published the weekly science/humor podcast 80% from 2019 to 2020, after its end in october 2020 when Schau moved to Drammen, Runde started an english-language science podcast called Wunderdog, where he talks to "the scientists behind the ideas". Guests so far have been professor Philip Lubin who invented the concept for

Stephen Hawking Stephen William Hawking (8January 194214March 2018) was an English theoretical physics, theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge. Between ...

and

Yuri Milner Yuri Borisovich (Bentsionovich) Milner (, ; born 11 November 1961) is a Soviet-born Israeli entrepreneur, investor, physicist and scientist. He is a co-founder and former chairperson of internet company Mail.Ru Group (later VK), and a founder ...

s "Breakthrough starshot" laser, professor

Robin Hanson Robin Dale Hanson (born August 28, 1959) is an American economist and author. He is associate professor of economics at George Mason University and a former research associate at the Future of Humanity Institute of Oxford University. Hanson is k ...

who invented the term "The Great Filter" and wrote Age of Em about mind uploads, doctor Cynthia Phillips from NASA, staff scientist for the

Europa Clipper Europa Clipper (previously known as Europa Multiple Flyby Mission) is a space probe developed by NASA to study Europa (moon), Europa, a Galilean moon of Jupiter. It was launched on October 14, 2024. The spacecraft used a gravity assist from Mar ...

project.

Early years

Debuted as a 19-year-old with winning a competition in Norway's biggest youth magazine, Spirit, with a 3-page comic in rhyme. Broke through as a 21-year-old as co-writer and artist on Margarin, a family saga that was compared to

David Cronenberg David Paul Cronenberg (born March 15, 1943) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. He is a principal originator of the body horror genre, with his films exploring visceral bodily transformation, infectious diseases, and ...

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...

and

Dave Cooper Dave Cooper (born 1967) is a Canadian cartoonist, oil painter and animator. Biography Cooper was born in Nova Scotia in 1967 and moved to Ottawa, Ontario at the age of nine. He began his career in the 90s, making underground comics for Seattl ...

. Margarin ran in the magazine Smult and marked the co-writing debut of Norwegian comedian and musician Kristopher Schau, who later created the TV series Dag When collected, Margarin was considered a cult comic and got generally favorable reviews, with the exception of Norway's then-leading comics critic Morten Harper, who called Smult "Norway's most important comics magazine", but also noted that the main course, Margarin, was "disgusting" and "what happens in it could hardly be called sex". Runde abandoned the detailed drawings of Margarin to create a strip of stick figures. The stick figure strips got collected in 2008.

Writing

Runde then turned completely to writing: Futen with Knut Solberg and two graphic novels for artist Geir Moen, De Fire Store (The Grand Four). The steampunk action comedy took advantage of the fact that four of Norway's 18th century writers,

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

, Bjornstjerne Bjornson,

Alexander Kielland Alexander Lange Kielland (; 18 February 1849 – 6 April 1906) was a Norwegian realistic writer of the 19th century. He is one of the so-called " The Four Greats" of Norwegian literature, along with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson an ...

and Jonas Lie are collectively called "the grand four". Runde and Moen reimagined them as a reluctantly assembled team of special agents, forced to cooperate because of a zombie invasion in the

Frogner Park Frogner Park () is a public park in the central West End borough of Frogner in Oslo, Norway. The park is historically part of Frogner Manor and is Oslo's largest park, open to the public at all times. It includes the manor house which is the sea ...

. De Fire Store book 1 got all over favourable reviews, while book 2 was considered well drawn and full of ideas. 2009 saw the publication of Runde's biggest project after Margarin, the Saga of Olav Sleggja. Sleggja was drawn in a more realistic style than any of his other works. Sleggja got a sequel in 2018, Berserk. Berserk got enthusiastic reviews. In 2017, Øystein also published his first fact book, Stamceller, kroppens superheltar (Stem cells, superheroes of the body). Among other things, it follows stem cell researcher Cecilie Gjerde on her quest to regenerate jawbone. Dagbladet called it "A book that makes your kid smarter than you." English versions of his work are sometimes made available for supporters on hi
Patreon
page.

Projects

For Sleggja, co-director Lars-Petter Iversen and Runde created a live-action trailer. Sleggja was praised for its intense and touching story. In 2015, Øystein Runde and Ida Neverdahl published a travelogue comic, MOSCOW, in English. Also the book FUTEN, about a mythological tax collector, was finally published after 8 years of work by artist Knut André Solberg. Futen was well received. Together with co-director and producer Torstein Jacobsen and co-director Johanna Raita, Runde released a horror comedy, Last Christmas.

Bibliography

* ''Rundetid'' – Monthly strip in the zine ''Spirit'' * ''Margarin'' – published in the comic ''Smult'', written by Kristopher Schau * 2004 – ''Bjartmann'' –

Jippi Comics Jippi Comics is a Norwegian comics publisher, best known for their ongoing anthology " Forresten", and publishing the work of now famous Jason long before his international breakthrough. Started and run by the comic creators themselves, Jippi has ...

, Oslo * 2004 – ''Bjartmann er din presang'' –

* 2006 – ''Margarin'' – collected edition in hardcover Seriehuset AS * 2007 – ''De Fire Store'' – graphic novel in hardcover, drawn by Geir Moen

Gyldendal Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag A/S, usually referred to simply as Gyldendal (), is a Danish publishing house. Founded in 1770 by Søren Gyldendal, it is the oldest and largest publishing house in Denmark, offering a wide selection of ...

* 2008 – ''Rundetid'' – collected edition in hardcover

* 2009 – ''Soga om Olav Sleggja"

Samlaget Det Norske Samlaget is a Norwegian publishing house founded on 24 March 1868 with the aim to promote and publish books in Landsmål, now known as Nynorsk. ''Det Norske Samlaget'' is now divided into two institutions: a literature organization, '' ...

* 2010 – ''De Fire Store – Bukk fra luften, bukk fra bunnen, Obstfelder er forsvunnen'' – graphic novel, hardcover, drawn by Geir Moen

Cappelen Damm Cappelen Damm AS is a Norwegian publisher established in 2007. The company is Norway's largest publishing company, publishing fiction and non-fiction works, including academic literature. It resulted from the merger of J.W. Cappelens Forlag, fou ...

* 2011 – ''De Fire Store – julen 1898'' (Christmas special)

* 2012 - "Elefanten Tommy"

* 2012 - "Bjartmann" - collected edition in hardcover

* 2013 - MOSKVA - with Ida Eva Neverdahl

* 2016 - FUTEN * 2017 - Stamceller - kroppens superheltar

– kids' fact book about stem cell research. * 2017 - Los Angeles - with Ida Eva Neverdahl

Jippi comics Jippi Comics is a Norwegian comics publisher, best known for their ongoing anthology " Forresten", and publishing the work of now famous Jason long before his international breakthrough. Started and run by the comic creators themselves, Jippi has ...

* 2018 - Sleggja Berserk

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Runde, Oystein Norwegian comic strip cartoonists Norwegian comics writers Norwegian comics artists 1979 births Living people People from Ulstein