The comic Moomin’s Desert Island was Tove Jansson’s fourth comic strip for The Evening News.

Despite a storm warning, the Moomin family sets off on an excursion in a helicopter borrowed from Moominpappa’s aunt. But the personified helicopter, which thinks and acts independently, abandons the Moomin family on a desert island and takes their provisions with it.

Moominpappa is enthusiastic about the opportunity to rebuild the world, but the family has no food. Moominmamma sets out to look for something to eat and sees a wild boar. Although Moominmamma is a member of the “pity the dumb beasts association”, she does not hesitate for a moment when her family is in danger. She throws powder in the boar’s eyes, kills it, and cooks a delicious meal, which she seasons with salt and pepper that she always carries in her handbag.

However, the killing makes Moominmamma feel guilty. Her guilt is eased when the boar’s widow, who is initially angry that her husband has been killed, says that ‘he was an awful bore’. The four ‘most violent’ strips in the boar section were too much for the Swedish agency that distributed the series in the 1950s, so the agency removed them from Nordic newspapers. 

In this exciting adventure, the Moomins meet their ancestors as well as pirates. Mymble, who has been held captive by pirates, sees the light of day in this story. Snorkmaiden, who is jealous of Mymble, steps furiously into a seashell. In the image, Tove Jansson clearly references Botticelli’s painting Birth of Venus. 

Moomin’s Desert Island was published in 1955. The Finnish name is Yksinäinen saari, and the Swedish name is Den ensliga ön.