I took part in the Comic Strip World Championship contest arranged by Oulu Comic in November 2023 as I did last year. This year, the theme was Love and initially it didn’t ring any bells or feel inspiring. What’s there to say about love, that hasn’t been said a thousand times already? Well, the winner Einar Másson had a really intersting point of view! Congrats Einar!

My inspiration finally came from the song Kotiinpaluu, jotenkin (Homecoming, somehow) by the band Absoluuttinen Nollapiste. They probably don’t sing about love in their piece originally, but I could see it interpreted that way. It was a bit tricky to translate the lyrics into English without messing up the meaning and the rhythm that connects them to the panels the same way the Finnish lyrics do… but I think it worked out fine.

The strip was designed and drawn in a matter of days, since the competition announces the yearly theme only five days before the deadline. I wanted to do something simple, so I relied on sepia and black fineliners, and a bit abstract style. Each panel is tied both to the line from the lyrics, but also to an aspect of love, and together they represent the moment of falling in love. Falling in love is like coming home. Somehow.