It started in 2016, I had been working on an autobiographic strip for a while. I picked a handful of strips, and shipped them off to the Norwegian strip competition runned by Dagbladet (a tabloid newspaper). For some reason, I’ve allways been drawing myself with a cone-like hat, a dunce-cap, so I named the strip Dunce. 

Dunce ended up winning the whole thing. The jury stated that “Dunce is a really good and unique strip that (…) has cracked most codes for becoming a successful comic strip. (…) It has interresting, recognizable characters that you want to get to know, a lovely snap in the dialogue, and a timing and communication skill that makes you read with anticipation from panel to panel, without knowing what will happen next. Styve has also succeded in filling his characters with a lovely hot temper that creates great comedy.”

Best of all, the main prize was to be printed in the newspaper, on a daily basis, for four months, it ended up running there permanently.

Norwegian newspapers and magazines (23) running the Dunce strip: Klassekampen, Bergens Tidende, Adresseavisen, Stavanger Aftenblad, Fedrelandsvennen, Teknisk Ukeblad, digi.no, Firda, Haugesunds Avis, Nordlys, iTromsø, Avisa Nordland, Namdalsavisa, Tidens Krav, Harstad Tidende, Folkebladet i Troms, Altaposten, Framtid i Nord, Fredrikstad Blad, Sarpsborg Arbeiderblad, Lunch, Pondus and Framtida Junior. In Sweden (4): Helsingborgs Dagblad, Landskrona Posten, Nordvästra Skånes Tidningar, Sydsvenska Dagbladet. AND in Latin America (!): Un Pasquín (Colombia).

Book rights for the Dunce-collections are sold to France and Spain/Latin-America, we’re also looking for publishers in other languages. In Norwegian there are five book collections (on Egmont Publishing): Dunce - Impulskontroll (2022), Dunce - Nedetid (2021), Dunce - Apokalypse Snart (2020), Dunce - Lut og kaldt vatn (2019) and Dunce - Førstebossen (2017).

What can I say?

It’s pure awesomeness.