'Hedebyxorna', a parody of the popular Swedish TV series 'Hedebyborna', from the Swedish version of Mad Magazine, issue #5, 1982.
Torvald Sundbaum was a Swedish comic artist, best-known for his work for the Swedish edition of Mad Magazine from the 1960s through the 1990s. Earlier in his career, he worked for children's comic books of the Bonnier press group, drawing comics and features like 'Spaluck' (1950), 'Buster Perk' (1954-1956), 'Osynliga Klubben' (1959).
Early life and career
Sven "Torvald" Sundbaum was born in 1928 in Linköping, southern Sweden, as the youngest of three children. His father was Sven Oskar Sundbaum (1898-1940), at one point conservator of the Östertalje Museum. During the early 1950s, Torvald Sundbaum began his career with the comic books and magazines published by the Bonnier press group and its imprints Serieförlaget (the predecessor to Semic Press), Åhlén & Åkerlund and Alga. In 1950, he appeared in the Algas Serietidning collection with a comic book about the adventures of the boy 'Spaluck'.
'Spaluck'.
Buster Perk
In 1954, Sundbaum took over the 'Buster Perk' (1953-1956) comic from Göte Göransson, who had launched this detective comic in 1953 in Serieförlaget's Buffalo Bill comic book. It featured the adventures of the journalist Buster Perk who, together with his sidekick Plåt-Pelle, solves crimes. By the time Sundbaum took over the pencil in 1954, 'Buster Perk' moved to the landscape format-shaped comic book Dick vid Radiopolisen (1954), and it was later continued in this title's successors Mysteriemagasinet (1954-1955) and Stjärn-Magasinet (1955-1956). 'Buster Perk' was the only Swedish comic strip in these titles, the rest of the content consisted of translated American newspaper comics ('Dick vid Radiopolisen' was 'Sgt. Pat of the Radio Patrol' by Eddie Sullivan and Charlie Schmidt).
The 'Buster Perk' series also inspired its own "Buster Perks Deckarklubb" ("Buster Perk's Detective Club"), which at the top of its popularity in 1960 had 35,000 members. Since at this point the 'Buster Perk' comic had already been canceled, the club operated as a general detective fiction fanclub, before merging with the "Fantomenklubben" (a club based on Lee Falk's 'The Phantom'). The final 'Buster Perk' comic ran in the 19th issue of Fantomen magazine in 1956. The feature was replaced by the American comic 'Jet Scott' by Jerry Robinson and Sheldon Stark, which, ironically enough, kept appearing under the title 'Buster Perk'.
'Osynliga klubben'.
Comic book adaptations
In 1959, Sundbaum drew a comic version of the Swedish radio serial and children's book series 'Osynliga Klubben' ("The Invisible Club"), created by novelist Gunnel Linde and dealing with a group of kids solving crimes. Sundbaum's version ran in the magazine based on the serial published by Åhlén & Åkerlund in 1959, which lasted only six issues. During the 1970s, Sundbaum was also one of the artists for the comics based on Arne Stivell's film series 'Anderssonskans Kalle', which in turn were based on early 20th century boys' books by Emil Norlander. Published in a comic book (1972-1975) and in a series of Christmas annuals (1975-1987), the comic adventures of this mischievous boy in the early 20th century northern Stockholm were drawn by Bowen, Torvald Sundbaum, Georges Bess and Abel Romero.
From: Svenska Mad #4, 1961 (the Swedish-language Mad Magazine)
Mad Magazine
From the 1960s on, Sundbaum was mostly known for his work for the Swedish edition of the American satirical magazine Mad, initiated by former Serieförlaget editor Rolf Janson at Williams Förlag. Besides material from the American original, "Svenska MAD" also ran humorous work by local artists in order to satirize typically Swedish phenomena. Sundbaum was present from the very first issue in 1960, and remained a prominent contributor until the end of the magazine's original run in 1993. Among the other local cartoonists were Bowen, Bengt Sahlberg, Alf Woxnerud and Folke Hallin, who were later joined by David Liljemark, Daniel Ahlgren and Johan Wanloo. Sundbaum also designed a Mad-themed board game, 'Götebörsen' (1976), spoofing Monopoly, with references to Swedish culture. The game was released as a supplement to Svenska Mad issue #4 (1976) and later re-released as a supplement to Svenska Mad's stora julpajare (1982).
'Scandinavia - Your Vacation Playground' poster (ca. 1965) and advertisement for OLW crips.
Graphic contributions
Sundbaum illustrated the cover of Rickard Fuchs' book 'Fy skäms så uppför man sig inte' (Helsingborg, Allerbok, 1981). Another recognizable image to tourists of the 1960s is the 'Scandinavia - Your Vacation Playground' poster, which Sundbaum designed for Scandinavian Airlines. It depicts various picturesque images of Swedish people, designed in the shape of the Swedish map. As an advertising artist, he designed the mascot of crisps company OLW, a wolf named 'Olwen'. During the 1980s, the canine appeared in many ads and also on the crisp bags themselves. Sundbaum also drew a food piramid where every ingredient was anthropomorphized.
In addition, Sundbaum was active as an LP album cover designer. He livened up the covers of the comedy compilation record 'Sveriges Roligaste Skiva' (1979), the musical album 'KENT - En Musical För Folk' (1985) and Kjell Swanberg & Bengan Wittström's live comedy album 'Knattetyder' (1986), based on the popular radio show 'Plattetyder'.
Record cover for 'Sveriges Roligaste Skiva' (1979).
Final years and death
In 1990, when Rune Andréasson, creator of the popular Swedish children's comic 'Bamse' retired, many writers and artists applied to take over the series, and Sundbaum was one of them. Interviewed in Bamse issue #31, Sundbaum revealed that the comic was more complicated than he thought. He managed to crank out five stories before throwing in the towel. The series was simply too far removed from the kind of comics he was used to making.
Torvald Sundbaum passed away in Stockholm on 25 January 2018, at the age of 89.
'Osynliga klubben'.