Moominpappa reads in the newspaper that a lighthouse keeper’s position is open, so he starts pressuring the rest of the family to move to a lonely lighthouse where he could write a book about the sea, because “one should write a book, having got a typewriter for a birthday present.”

So the family packs a huge load of supplies into their boats and moves to the lonely lighthouse, where, however, nothing seems to go right. They encounter a fisherman and a ghost, and Too-ticky appears as a new friend to join their company. They run into a sea mine, and eventually Moominpappa realises that he doesn’t want to write a great sea novel but a book about “how I miss my own secure verandah.”

If you’ve read the Moomin books, the story will surely feel partly familiar. That’s because the book Moominpappa at Sea, published eight years later in 1965, is like a novel adaptation of this comic strip. Many small scenes in the book correspond exactly with this comic strip.

The most significant addition to the Moomin stories’ cast of characters in this comic is Too-ticky. Too-ticky is the spitting image of Tove Jansson’s life partner, graphic designer Tuulikki Pietilä: she is energetic, skilled with her hands, and unromantically realistic. A very interesting detail is that Too-ticky, who becomes an important resident of Moominvalley, first sees the light of day specifically in this comic strip. Moomin and the Sea began appearing in the newspaper as early as March 1957, while the book Moominland Midwinter, in which Too-ticky plays an important role, was not published until November of the same year.

Another amusing supporting character is the lonely fisherman, who responds to the Moomins’ questions about his fishing luck—such as “Any luck?”—with a carefree, “No, but dusk is so beautiful.”

In this comic, Tove Jansson also returns to full-page panels, making it brimming with small details that delight the reader on multiple readings. Much to Moominpappa’s delight, the Moomins also find a large crate full of Old Smuggler whisky bottles in the sea. Like Tove Jansson, the Belgian comic artist Hergé features whisky product placement in the Tintin comics, as Tintin’s friend Captain Haddock’s favourite drink is Loch Lomond whisky.

Moomin and the Sea was published in 1957. The Finnish name is Muumiperhe ja meri, and the Swedish name is Mumin och havet.