Emily the Strange is the same. I expect that had I been acquainted with Emily as a teen, I would be have smitten by her unapologetic wit and refusal to conform. I could relate to her constant boredom due to being an introvert and the fact that she dealt with it in grotesque, absurd ways; like transforming her classmates into monsters with a sandwich sauce and playing croquet with the damned. I was expected there to be more of a narrative throughout, which would have appealed to me more, but the fact that the comic was broken down episodically might work better for today’s kids who are more apt to take the time to watch TV than read a full length storyline, whether visual or not.
I’d been looking forward to scooping up Emily the Strange as soon as my semester was over and I wanted to like the comic more… really I did. What I clung to most throughout was her cheeky pop culture references throughout, mostly because they were music references (Beatles, Springsteen, Ozzy Osbourne). The Marilyn Manson bit in its entirety was fantastic, particularly because the Manson responses throughout the interview were written by the man himself. The Lostco scene was also quite hysterical; the mockery of Costco had endless supplies of free samples that mind-freaked its shoppers into dishing out tons of cash on ridiculous foods: ”Taco Flavored Bubble Tea! Pineapple Gravy! Oatmeal Salsa! Candied Arugula! I want it all!” Her imaginative, morbid takes on traditional fairy tales were a treat as well. Okay, so perhaps I enjoyed more than I admitted to, but beyond the clever bits, Emily’s character was just too beyond my reach.
The origin of Emily the Strange is quite extraordinary as well, as is her message to girls; according to blogs and unreliable sources, Emily seemed to have started as a advertising mascot for Rob Reger’s Cosmic Debris, and her personality snowballed as her image started appearing on stickers and merchandising at comic and record shops in the ’90s. Since then four international flagship Emily the Strange stores have popped up, four graphic novellas and there’s talk of a film in development as well. Since the novellas, it seems that there is a monthly issue of Emily the Strange that’s been released for at least three years now. I love what she stands for, even if I didn’t identify with her interests; she is the antithesis for all things feminine, and in hating the world she exudes individuality and alternative culture.