Rasmus Klump

Rasmus Klump (translates to Rasmus Lump or Erasmus Lump) is a comic strip series for children created in 1951 by the Danish wife and husband team Carla and Vilhelm Hansen. The series was translated into a number of foreign languages, in some of which the title character Rasmus was renamed Petzi, Pol, Rasmus Nalle or other variations.

The series tells the adventures of the bear cub Rasmus Klump and his friends: Pingo (a penguin), Pelle (a pelican), Pilskaden (a turtle), Skæg (a seal) and others. Always dressed in red dungarees with white polka dots, Rasmus Klump travels the world on board his boat Mary, which he builds with his friends in the first episode.

The comic strips do not make use of speech balloons but rather captions, whose humour, as well as the affectionately drawn pictures, contributed greatly to the popularity of the series. It can be classified as a text comic, though there is however a parallel humor strip version of the series, where speech balloons are used frequently.

Rasmus Klump began as a newspaper strip and was successfully published in translation worldwide, with total sales running over 30 million. When fans appealed for more, the Hansens began publishing storylines in book form. A television series was recorded in Danish between 1997 and 2000.

In 1998, Carla Hansen created the Rasmus Klump Prisen (Rasmus Klump Award) for Danish people that had followed the virtues exhibited by the comic series. The winner receives an original comic strip, and 25,000 Danish kroner. Winners include Michael Laudrup and Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark.

On 17 November 2001, the comic reached its fiftieth anniversary and the occasion was marked in Denmark by the issue of a commemorative stamp.

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