Icelandic Cartoonist Reveals His Grim Sense Of Humor, And Here Are 40 Cartoons To Prove It (New Pics)

Besides creating cartoons and publishing books, Dagsson has also written three plays and animated a TV show. Also, he still finds the time to do stand-up comedy and participate in occasional art projects. He joins all of his talents to create cartoons full of biting wit and some of the most controversial topics out there.

Bored Panda reached out to the artist to talk a bit more about his inspiration, the way Icelanders see the world, and what his new projects are. When asked about his sense of humor and why it is so often identified with Iceland, Dagsson said that Icelanders, like all other nations, are pretty much molded by their landscape, weather, and language. “Therefore, we are harsh, unpredictable, and weird. As is our sense of humor,” he said.

“Also, we’ve always been a bit desperate as a nation. We are constantly looking for validation from the rest of the world and I feel like that seeps into our comedy,” he explained. For Dagsson, humor is a coping mechanism: “I use comedy to cope with my own problems and the world’s problems alike. It’s very therapeutic to point at the horrors of life and laugh.”

The artist hilariously shows some of the most taboo-busting cartoons we’ve ever seen. And according to him, the inspiration for them comes from desperation. “If I don’t get ideas, I have to get a real job. Luckily, when you’ve been working as an artist for a long time, everything you think about becomes a potential project,” he explained. For example, sometimes he listens to the most popular songs, hears the lyrics, and immediately thinks of the perfect way to ruin the song. Suddenly, this one idea turned into 150 pop song cartoons. 

The pandemic also had an effect on the artist and on his work. “During the pandemic, I embraced my inner introvert and just started writing and drawing more than usual,” he said. “The timelessness of the lockdown made me think of all sorts of fun things. The one I’m most proud of is a card game called FCK CDL KLL which I created in a cabin in north Iceland. It sounds silly but is actually a very smart game. A real thinker.”

When asked about his new projects, Hugleikur Dagsson mentioned that he just released a 2022 calendar and it features his favorite cartoons from the last 2-3 years. And there are even more exciting things on the horizon: “I’m working on a graphic novel, with my friend Árni Jón. It’s called Killionaire and is about a Punisher-type superhuman that only carries off billionaires.” 

He’s also dabbling in the NFT game. “I don’t really understand it, yet somehow I'm selling them. Oh, and putting out my first 3D printed collectibles this Christmas!” Lastly, the one piece of advice that the artist would like to give you, dear Pandas, is a mantra that he has learned from Conan O’Brien: “Work hard, be kind and amazing things will happen.”

The artist has been drawing basic doodles of people since he was a child. Dagsson told The Telegraph that his childhood does not have any connection to the style of his humor: “My upbringing was normal and boring. My father was a journalist and mother a librarian.”