Angus Oblong (born David Adam Walker; August 28, 1976) is an American writer and illustrator best known for his work ''

Creepy Susie and 13 Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children ''Creepy Susie and 13 Other Tragic Tales for Troubled Children'' is a 1999 collection of illustrated short stories written by Angus Oblong. The stories mostly feature children and adolescents, although one story is about a dog. Several of the cha ...

'' (1999) and the 2001 animated television series '' The Oblongs''. The character Milo—which appeared in his ''Creepy Susie'' book—was based on a young version of himself; the Milo that appeared on the television show '' The Oblongs'' was a less exaggerated version of the character from the book. Oblong had favorite cartoons before he began animating, such as ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated comedy short film series produced by Warner Bros. starting from 1930 to 1969, concurrently with its partner series ''Merrie Melodies'', during the golden age of American animation.

'', '' Animaniacs'', '' Freakazoid!'', and '' Earthworm Jim''. He was also influenced by distorted characters from the '' Dick and Jane'' books, Brothers Grimm fairy tales, and some real life oddities in ''

Ripley's Believe It or Not! ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims. Originally a newspaper panel, the ''Believe It or Not'' feat ...

''.

Early years

Oblong was born David Adam Walker on August 28, 1976, in Sacramento, California, to Elizabeth (née Angus), a preschool teacher, and Dr. Robert David Walker, MD, a

surgeon In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...

. and attended the University of California, Berkeley for a couple of years. He moved to Los Angeles, California, at the request of his agent when a "bidding war" was underway over whether

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

, The WB, or Disney would produce what became ''The Oblongs''. When his work began garnering attention from the press, Oblong began wearing "thick clown makeup and a bulbous, red plastic nose" in public places and by now was referring to himself as "Angus Oblong" (namesake of a shape of the rectangle and his mother's former last name), a practice he has continued into 2010, when ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'' named him one of the L.A. People 2009.

Books

Oblong's book, ''

'', consists of 13 short stories of adult-oriented humor. Many of the characters from his animated TV series '' The Oblongs'' first appear in this book, including Milo and Creepy Susie. A self-published sequel, ''13 More Tragic Tales for Ugly Children'', is available from his website. He has also self-published three collections of drawings: ''Angus Oblong Random Drawings Book One'', ''Book Two'' and ''Book Three''.

Television

His animated television series, '' The Oblongs'', airing originally on The WB and in syndication on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

. The WB picked it up at the end of the day. The complete series was released on DVD. Oblong wrote, directed, and produced ''Deliriously Jen'', a television pilot that aired on Comedy Central and was shown at several film festivals in 2005.

Theater

''The Victorian Hotel'', a play written by Oblong, and created in association with

Rogue Artists Ensemble Rogue Artists Ensemble is a theater company based in Los Angeles, California that specializes in “Hyper-theatrical” performance. According to the mission statement on the company’s official website: Rogue Artists Ensemble is a collective of ...

, featuring many of his characters as puppets, played October through December 2006 at the Powerhouse Theatre in Santa Monica, California. In 2018, ''The Victorian Hotel'' traveled to Seattle.

References

External links