A drawing of Bamse and his wife Brummelisa. One of many fictional power couples of my childhood. ~ ✨

Some context for people outside of Sweden and the Nordic countries.

Bamse (first created for other comics in 1966 by Swedish, socialist comic book creator Rune Andréasson. Before Rune made Bamse his own comic in 1973 which is still running today.) is the titular character of the comic Bamse - Världens Starkaste Björn (Bamse - The Worlds Strongest Bear.)



Bamse becomes super strong whenever he eats Dunderhonung (Thunderhoney) that his grandmother who lives on the tall mountain makes. Anyone else who eats it (except for his daughter Brumma and his pet Bee) ends up with a really bad stomach ache for 3 days.


Bamse is usually accompanied by his two friends Lille-Skutt (A nervous, easily scared rabbit who loves to tend to his garden of carrots.) and Skalman (a calm turtle hermit and inventor who lives by himself and prefers to be by himself. His least favourite word is the word "hurry" and he will scold you if you use it in his presence.).



The comics usually follow Bamse and his friends going on adventures and sometimes solving mysteries (and sometimes they travel through time using a time machine built by Skalman.).

The comics have tackled a lot of complex topics since the comic started ranging from: gender equality and equity, disability, the queer community, classism (one of the main bad guys in the comic is literally a super rich capitalist who tries to screw over poor people and get all the money. Gee just like rich people now. Guess the only thing that's changed is that the rich try to "blend in by dressing casual".), environmentalism, and many social issues just to name a few.



Bamse is as big big of a thing for us Swedes as (insert whatever is big across generation equivalent where you live and you get the picture.). You could literally show anyone a picture of Bamse or play the instrumental of his theme song and they'd instantly recognize it.



Here's the instrumental of Bamses theme song: https://youtu.be/Fa0hCOR6Fvw




Image description: two happy, light brown bears holding transgender pride flags and holding hands in front of a bisexual flag background. the bear on the left wears a green dress and is taller than the bear on the right. The bear on the right wears blue pants and pink surgery scars on his chest.