Bamse
The world’s strongest bear!
Bamse is a Swedish cartoon created in the 60’s by Rune Andréasson. Charged with his granny’s famous ”thunder honey”, Bamse is every thief’s worst nightmare!
Creator Rune Andréasson got a teddy bear as a gift on his first birthday. The beloved bear inspired him to create several comic bears that finally became the teddy bear we today know as BAMSE – the world’s strongest bear. The first issue of the main Bamse comic came out over 50 years ago, in 1973, and is still popular to this day with 45 magazines published annually.
Interested in a collaboration?
Get in touch!
Anna Svenman
Nordic Retail Manager
Bamse News
280K
Comic book readers every month
+200K
Books sold every year
+3M
Bamse products sold
2 Million
Audio books read per year
92% Brand Awareness
Among children in Sweden
725 000
Visitors to Bamses Värld at Kolmården in 2022
Rune Andréasson
Rune Andréasson was born in Gothenburg in 1925. His interest for drawing comics started early and he was still in school when the weekly magazine Allers started to publish his illustrated stories. His first comic strip Brum was about a nice little bear cub that lived in the Swedish forest. Allers started to publish Brum every week in 1943 and the year after Brum was also published weekly in Göteborgsposten. This continued on until 1967. Rune Andréasson did everything himself; wrote stories and made cartoons.
The Story Behind Bamse
Despite Brum’s popularity, Rune Andréasson started to think of a new bear, one with a stronger personality. At the end of the 1940s, he created Teddy. Teddy was a strong, clumsy, and somewhat slow-thinking bear with two friends – the rabbit Lasse Skutt and the turtle Skalman. Teddy didn’t need any special honey to become the world’s strongest bear, which over time became an issue for the storytelling.
With the experience of the two bears Nalle and Teddy, Andréasson decided to rework the characters from the Teddy comic, and on September 11, 1962, Bamse and his friends were born. In 1966 Bamse started as a weekly comic strip in Allers, and the same year the first six Bamse movies premiered on Swedish television. The comic and the movies were so well received that Rune started to think of a comic book about Bamse and his friends. At the end of the 1960’s, he discontinued the comic strip in Allers in order to make time for new movies and launch the comic book. In January 1973 the first issue of Bamse was released.
Bamse Celebrates 60 Years in 2026!
The 60 year jubilee for Bamse will be celebrated during 2026, with new artwork and logos for the anniversary, as well as campaigns and activities during the year. Get in touch with Rights & Brands to learn more about how you can participate in the anniversary!
The World of Bamse at Kolmården
At Bamse’s World, located at the amusement and animal park Kolmården in Sweden, children can enter the colorful world of Bamse. Here, they can experience the sights and sounds of a magical world with over 20,000 square meters of rides, play areas, parkland, shops, and food courts.
