'Kronblom'.
Gunnar Persson was a Swedish comic artist, and a longtime contributor to the comic magazine 91:an. He is best-known for taking over his father Elov Persson's iconic comic series 'Kronblom' (1967-2010), but he has also worked on other comics like 'Gus' (1961), 'Herr Larsson' (1965-1967), 'Flygsoldat 113 Bom' (from 1971 on) and '91:an'. He is part of a true dynasty of comic creators. Besides his father, his brother Ingvar Persson also worked in the industry, while his son Jonas Persson, nephew Lasse Persson and niece Bia Melin also followed in their fathers' footsteps.
Early life and career
Gunnar Verner Persson was born in 1933 in Storvik, a town west of Sandviken. Both Gunnar and his older brother Ingvar grew up with the joys of having a famous father, comic creator Elov Persson. Both boys were given nicknames based on their father's creations, 'Kronblom' (1927- ) and 'Agust och Lotta' (1928- ). The short Gunnar was called "Agust", and the taller Ingvar became "Kronblom". Ironically enough, both brothers would eventually continue their father's comics, but switched namesakes! It was Ingvar "Kronblom" Persson who continued 'Agust och Lotta', while Gunnar "Agust" Persson took over 'Kronblom'. Gunnar Persson showed early artistic talent, and attended drawing courses at the Bergh school in Stockholm between 1952 and 1954. He then became a freelance journalist in Stockholm, working for Dagens Nyheter and Stockholmstidningen. He later developed a talent in cartooning, which he did for several papers from the late 1950s on.
'Herr Larsson'.
Early comics
In 1961, Gunnar Persson's pantomime comic strip 'Gus' first appeared in Sydsvenska Dagbladet. It was later syndicated to about 30 newspapers throughout Sweden, Norway and Finland. By 1965, he began an association with the leading Swedish comic magazine 91:an, based on the comic series of the same name by Rudolf Petersson. Persson's first creation for the magazine was 'Herr Larsson' (1965-1967), but he abandoned this character after two years, when he was asked to take over his father's comic feature about the ever-lazy 'Kronblom'.
'Kronblom'.
Kronblom
When Gunnar Persson took over 'Kronblom' he had big shoes to fill. Elov Persson's lanky sexagenarian from the fictional country village of Vinkelboda was already firmly rooted in Swedish culture. His name and image have become synonymous with a laid-back, or lazy, life. Gunnar Persson expanded the 'Kronblom' universe with new characters like neighbor Svängrot, and a foster son called Boris. He dropped most of the comic's original philosophical elements, and focused more on humor. Both Rolf Geschwind and Jonas Persson wrote scripts for the series in the 1980s. Gunnar Persson continued 'Kronblom' for over forty years, eventually surpassing his father in terms of longevity. He not only provided the bi-weekly 91:an with episodes, but from 1987 on, also the weekly magazine Allers. However, an attempt to give Kronblom his own magazine in 1997 lasted only four issues. In 1987, Kronblom became the mascot of the Swedish association football team Örebro SK.
Other 91:an comics
At a rough estimate, Gunnar Persson has drawn about 7,000 'Kronblom' pages. This didn't keep him from also helping out Nils Egerbrandt with 91:an's title comic. Nowadays this strip is produced by a team of artists and writers, but in 1969 Egerbrandt was solely responsible for its production. As the editors demanded a steady supply of stories for the bi-weekly title, Persson helped out with the plots and sketching of the adventures of the soldier 91:an and the other recruits in the Klackamo base during the 1970s and 1980s. Between 1984 and 2000, Gunnar Persson also drew the spin-off strip 'Ur Klackamo Dagbok' ("Klackamo's Diary"). This comic strip version was also syndicated to Swedish newspapers like Hallandsposten through Bulls Press.
91:an and Kronblom swap clothes at the occasion of the magazine's 50th anniversary in 2006.
Scriptwriting
In addition to his work on 'Kronblom' and '91:an', Gunnar Persson served as a scriptwriter for 91:an's funny air force strip 'Flygsoldat 113 Bom', after the departure of its creator Torsten Bjarre in 1971. New artists for the comic were Lasse Persson (Gunnar's nephew), Bertil Wilhelmsson and Anders Persson. Persson also wrote the scripts for the humorous comic about police officer 'Konstapel Knut' (1971), drawn by Leif Rosenqvist for Kul med Åsa-Nisse. Between 1982 and 1987, he was one of the scriptwriters for another Nils Egerbrandt creation in 91:an, 'Frisk och Rask', at the time drawn by Bertil Wilhelmsson.
Final years and death
During the 1990s, Persson dropped most of his work for Egerbrandt and concentrated fully on 'Kronblom'. His son Jonas Persson joined his father in the production of the comic in 2006, and took over completely in 2010. Gunnar Persson lived in the Swedish city Örebro since 1964. He passed away on Sunday 8 April 2018 as a result of injuries sustained from a fall a couple of weeks earlier. He was 84 years old.
'Kronblom'.