- Punaniska
"Punaniska" (Finnish for "
redneck ") was a Finnishcomic strip drawn byHarri "Wallu" Vaalio and written by Rauli "Rallu" Nordberg in the 1990s."Punaniska" was a comic about the AmericanWild West in the late 19th century, similar to the French comic "Lucky Luke ", but even less serious. While "Lucky Luke" revisited factual events in Wild West history, "Punaniska" mostly had completelyfictional stories, most of which were absurdly humorous.Despite depicting a unilingually English culture, the comic was unilingually Finnish. A great deal of its humour depended on Finnish
pun s that were difficult, if not impossible, to translate into foreign languages. Still, one album was published inGermany in 1993.The comic began in the Finnish
newspaper "Helsingin Sanomat ", replacing an earlier Finnish comic strip called "Taneli", a comic about akindergarten -aged boy. It quickly rose in popularity and spawned fifteen comic book albums, which featured "Punaniska" comics drawn also by other Finnish artists (and some others, too, likeHunt Emerson fromBirmingham ,England ), and articles about the American Wild West.In 2003 it started again, now in a small Finnish
golf magazine called "Gaddie-magazine". This new comic strip is called "Viheriöiden Punaniska" "Redneck on the Green" and here Punaniska plays the old Western style golf.Characters
; Punaniska : The main character. Modelled after Rauli Nordberg, writer of this comicstrip, Punaniska was a stereotypical "rough and tough"
cowboy . He had a taste forwhiskey and women, and an itchy trigger finger. His most notable characteristic was his poor personalhygiene .; Dolly : A beautiful woman whom Punaniska lusted after. The relation was mostly (but not entirely) one-directional, as Dolly didn't care much for Punaniska. Dolly's profession was apparently a singer at a saloon.;Calamity Jane : In the comic, Calamity Jane was an ugly old woman who lusted after Punaniska. Because of her appearance, Punaniska despised her, and did everything he could to get away from her. However, like the real Calamity Jane, the character was good with ashotgun and had ways of getting her man.;Billy the Kid : Like "Lucky Luke", the comic emphasised "the Kid" aspect, carrying it even further. Where the Billy the Kid in "Lucky Luke" was a pre-teenaged brat, the Billy the Kid in "Punaniska" was an infant, who hadn't even learned to walk yet. He talked in baby-talk, pronouncing "R" as "L" (which led to some untranslatable Finnish puns), and was sometimes overruled by his mother.; Törttö-Bill : A wannabe cowboy, with good intentions, but had a serious lack of intelligence. He wore araccoon hat .; Psycos-Bill : An outlaw, famous for the duels he had fought. At one time he showed hisrevolver gun, whose handle had dwindled to almost nothing due to all the notches he had carved.
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