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Creepy Susie and 13 Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children
by Angus Oblong
Angus Oblong, Creepy Susie and Thirteen Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children (Ballantine, 1999)
First off, don't let the title of this little twisted gem fool you; Angus Oblong (who, according to the “About the Author” bit, does actually illustrate childrens' books as well) did not mean this book for kids. In any way, shape, or form. To give you an illustration of why, one of the funniest panels here is of a human hand offering a biscuit to a dog, who's thinking to himself, “fuck you.” (Note to self: asterisk that out for Amazon...) Perhaps it was meant as a jab to parents who buy books for their kids and don't flip through them first, but I'm guessing the lawsuit factor would eliminate that hypothesis. In any case, this is about as kid-friendly as is Tim Burton's The Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. By the way, you'll be hearing that comparison more than once in this review; the two are of a piece in many ways (and so you don't have to read to the end, I'll tell you now—if you liked that one, you're going to like this one, too). Possibly, depending on your attitude towards such things, appropriate for adolescents, but probably not for the kiddie crowd.
In any case, Creepy Susie... is fourteen very short tales, told in cartoon form, that display a mean-spirited, if very funny, brand of warped genius. All are structured in the same loose morality-play style of, say, Aesop's Fables, but with a (forgive me for using this phrase) postmodern sensibility and a viewpoint so downbeat that it borders on the nihilistic. For example, the moral of the first story: “the popular kids at school got you down? Disguise yourself, infiltrate, get invited to a slumber party, and dispatch them in their sleep.” Now, I'm one of those who believe that if you get ideas to go out and do very bad things from the books you read, you belonged in the asylum before you read those books, but I'm thinking you probably shouldn't be reading that one to your six-year-old at bedtime.
For discerning adults (and teens, perhaps), however, it's all in good fun. You have to have the kind of sense of humor (or revenge fantasies) that's going to click with Oblong's tales, but if you do, this is pure comedy gold. As I said, look to Burton as a guide, but Oblong goes farther in every direction, especially that of tastelessness. Actually, the closest thing I can compare it to is the web animation Salad Fingers, but Oblong is even more tasteless (and violent) than that. Needless to say (for those who know me, anyway), I loved it. There were a few tales that I think could have gone on for another few pages. Actually, given that the main draw here is Oblong's sense of humor, these could have been a collection of full-length graphic novels, and they'd probably be just as good. But a few are really spare, and I wanted more. Otherwise, though, find yourself a copy of this now-obscure treasure and laugh along. *** ½
First off, don't let the title of this little twisted gem fool you; Angus Oblong (who, according to the “About the Author” bit, does actually illustrate childrens' books as well) did not mean this book for kids. In any way, shape, or form. To give you an illustration of why, one of the funniest panels here is of a human hand offering a biscuit to a dog, who's thinking to himself, “fuck you.” (Note to self: asterisk that out for Amazon...) Perhaps it was meant as a jab to parents who buy books for their kids and don't flip through them first, but I'm guessing the lawsuit factor would eliminate that hypothesis. In any case, this is about as kid-friendly as is Tim Burton's The Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. By the way, you'll be hearing that comparison more than once in this review; the two are of a piece in many ways (and so you don't have to read to the end, I'll tell you now—if you liked that one, you're going to like this one, too). Possibly, depending on your attitude towards such things, appropriate for adolescents, but probably not for the kiddie crowd.
In any case, Creepy Susie... is fourteen very short tales, told in cartoon form, that display a mean-spirited, if very funny, brand of warped genius. All are structured in the same loose morality-play style of, say, Aesop's Fables, but with a (forgive me for using this phrase) postmodern sensibility and a viewpoint so downbeat that it borders on the nihilistic. For example, the moral of the first story: “the popular kids at school got you down? Disguise yourself, infiltrate, get invited to a slumber party, and dispatch them in their sleep.” Now, I'm one of those who believe that if you get ideas to go out and do very bad things from the books you read, you belonged in the asylum before you read those books, but I'm thinking you probably shouldn't be reading that one to your six-year-old at bedtime.
For discerning adults (and teens, perhaps), however, it's all in good fun. You have to have the kind of sense of humor (or revenge fantasies) that's going to click with Oblong's tales, but if you do, this is pure comedy gold. As I said, look to Burton as a guide, but Oblong goes farther in every direction, especially that of tastelessness. Actually, the closest thing I can compare it to is the web animation Salad Fingers, but Oblong is even more tasteless (and violent) than that. Needless to say (for those who know me, anyway), I loved it. There were a few tales that I think could have gone on for another few pages. Actually, given that the main draw here is Oblong's sense of humor, these could have been a collection of full-length graphic novels, and they'd probably be just as good. But a few are really spare, and I wanted more. Otherwise, though, find yourself a copy of this now-obscure treasure and laugh along. *** ½