Oskar Emil "O. A." Andersson (11 January 1877 – 28 November 1906) was a Swedish cartoonist and one of Sweden's first true comic creators. He greatly influenced Swedish cartooning culture.
Biography
Early life
Andersson began working in his teens in the Royal Mint. When he realised his passions lay with drawing, he enrolled in Technology school and passed with good qualifications. Design, however, did not interest him. His teacher, Kaleb Althin, encouraged him to take up caricaturing.
Turn to cartooning
At the age of twenty, Andersson debuted with his cartoons in the Söndags-Nisse magazine, where he soon got employed. Inspired by the early comic artists from the United States and England in the late 19th century, Andersson created Sweden's first recurring comic strips: Bröderna Napoleon och Bartholomeus Lunds från Grönköping Resa Jorden Runt (about two brothers on a world tour), Mannen Som Gör Vad Som Faller Honom In (about a strange man who does whatever comes to his mind) and Urhunden (about a prehistoric dog and its owner), all around the turn of the century.
Andersson was apparently friends with Swedish sculptor Carl Milles.thumb|left|A 1902 instalment of "Mannen som gör vad som faller honom in", a cartoon by Oskar Andersson.
Other strips
Other cartooning works by Oskar Andersson include Urhunden, a strip about a prehistoric man and his pet dinosaur, and countless political satire cartoons. Among his contemporaries, Andersson was primarily known for his caricatures, which were published in Swedish newspapers Söndags-Nisse and Strix, between 1897–1906.
thumb|right|A military caricature by Andersson