Petri Hiltunen

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Petri Hiltunen (1967-) is a Finnish cartoonist and illustrator.

Hiltunen has produced work in a variety of genres, but is most notable for his fantasy and horror work. His own comic albums include the horror/fantasy tale Laulu yön lapsista ("Song of the children of the night") and a comic version of Macbeth. The fantasy world Jaconia, created for his Praedor comics, has been adapted into a RPG. His work has also been featured in the science fiction magazine Tähtivaeltaja, the Finnish Conan magazine and twice in the war comics magazine Korkeajännitys: a western story and one story set in the Finnish War. His drawing style is quite detailed, particularly with his characters, and features heavy lines.

Hiltunen is known in the Finnish popular consciousness from his very much lighter, humorous newspaper comic strip Väinämöisen paluu ("The Return of Väinämöinen"), published in many major newspapers and as comic books. In it, the Eternal Sage of Kalevala ends his self-imposed exile to find that he might have been gone for too long. He must try to adjust to modern Finland (e.g. finding out that these newfangled "potatoes" are now considered a traditional food) as modern Finland must try to adjust to him (e.g. a group of neo-nazis coming to greet him and introducing themselves as indigenous Finns; they are nonplussed when he starts apologizing and it turns out he thought they were Sami.) As the culture shock gradually faded, the strip became a more character-based comedy but eventually followed.