The Complete Emily the Strange: All Things Strange

Emily the Strange (Dark Horse Comics Book single issues) #1-12

by Rob Reger, Jessica Gruner, Brian Brooks

Emily the Strange is not your ordinary thirteen-year-old girl--she's got a razor-sharp wit as dark as her jet-black hair, a posse of moody black cats, and famous friends in very odd places! She's got a broodingly unique way of experiencing the world, and you're invited along for the ride. Legions of fans worldwide have joined forces to make Emily a pop-culture phenomenon.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics, Young Adult, Horror, Paranormal

432 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2010

About the author

Reger's friend Nathan Carrico designed Emily in 1991 for a skateboard company in Santa Cruz, where Cosmic Debris was born. In his Santa Cruz garage (and later an artist warehouse in San Francisco) Reger created the designs, and with Matt Reed brought them into the fashion world by creating t-shirt designs that captured the essence of this mysterious young girl with 4 black cats. Since then, Cosmic Debris has grown into a multi-million dollar firm with dozens of employees.

Cosmic Debris has most recently moved its operations to Berkeley, California, and plans to open an Emily retail store there soon. With the momentum of mainstream success, several comics about Emily have also been made. Key creative people over the years (designers, graphic artists, illustrators), who have worked with Reger's Cosmic Debris design house are Buzz Parker, Brian Brooks, Grace Fontaine, Liz Baca, Noel Tolentino, Fawn Gehweiler, Jessica Gruner, Adele Pedersen and Nicomi "Nix" Turner. Rob Reger remains the key creative force behind the brand, and Buzz Parker is the key illustrator for the comic books and website.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

Little interludes with Goth kid Emily about how bored she is. After reading her stories I can identify with her. These are extremely boring and serve no purpose whatsoever. I'd rather stare at the wall for an hour than read another page of this.

Received a review copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.

[Greekchoir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let’s be honest with ourselves - it’s not very good, and if I wasn’t nostalgic about the art then it would probably be a 1 ⭐️. The comic shorts are odd but not in a way that feels compelling or true to the character of Emily. Mostly they come across as non-sequiters clearly written because something needed to be on the page. At times they reference rock musicians (including what appear to be a few full-length fake interviews?) for no reason other than the writers like those musicians, and more than a couple of the stories age extremely poorly.

That being said, I do very much like the art, some of the comics are endearing, and the longer issue at the end is genuinely charming and well-written. It’s no secret that Emily the Strange was purely created out of market incentive, and the worst of the this book reveals that, but Emily and her cats are also silly and fun for kids when the authors have the chance to stretch their legs past 1-4 pages.

[Cale · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone who has never been a teenage goth, I think I prefer Lenore over Emily. They both aim at the child with a fascination with black and death, but Lenore uses humor where Emily uses music (and apparently product placement). This massive tome collects three previous volumes, or 12 issues of Emily, which includes two actual segmented stories and a lot of one-off pieces. The art is occasionally impressive (some of the collage work especially), and occasionally distractingly poor, and the humor goes from poor puns to acid-trip reflections (especially in the four-issue 13th Hour story). The book is predominantly black and white, with red as an accent (and a few other colors interspersed). It's too much of a not-quite good thing for me, but I'm sure its target audience would appreciate it more.

[Ashley (Chris's version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed The Complete Emily The Strange: All Things Strange I love Emily The Strange she's the best!!

[Anomaly]

DNF @ 7%

This was a library hold I made on a whim because I hoped Emily the Strange would be a bit reminiscent of my own childhood - I was very much a preteen baby-goth and total outsider back in the day. The art style also reminded me of Invader Zim, which still holds a very special place in my heart.

Unfortunately, however, this collection is just boring and confusing to me. It starts with a fake interview between the author, artist, and character which contains spoilers and is overall just a little too cringe for me... and I say that as someone who partakes in play-by-post and tabletop (and video game) RPGs. It takes a lot to make me cringe at playful interactions between real people and fictional ones, but this managed to do it. After that, the actual comics were just... bizarre and nonsensical. And, frankly, boring.

I wanted to give this a try all the way to ten percent before coming to a conclusion, but my eyes were glazing over and I decided to go ahead and call it quits.

[Akira · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think 🤔 reading Em Strange as an adult takes you back to the nostalgia of who you were when you were “into” Emily and all she stood for to you at the time😃, but with that being said now that you are an adult a lot of the dialogue really does fall short ☹️ sadly. The art work and all the the memories are just too awesome to pass up though so that’s honestly what saves this collection, as well as some of the short stories that weren’t too bad. This is definitely something more for the keepsake nostalgia pile than anything else for me unfortunately, but don’t get me wrong that’s still a major plus for a fan like myself 😁.

[Silver Jenkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm kinda lossing my mind here. I don't understand a single thing... I'm done with this. I guess the first chapter describe the book "Emily's guide to xtreme boredoom"

[Xanthi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The storylines are a bit hit or miss but I do love the concept and artwork. Funny thing is, I looked like Emily as a kid and had the same temperament. Then I grew up to be a goth with a black kitty. My love for all things Emily was inevitable.

[Jack Stark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yawn.

This is like Lenore, but without the fun, humour, sarcasm, whit and quirkyness. Nothing happens. It's 400+ pages of nothingness. I'm so bored with it, I can finally relate to Emily.

[MKF · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF- I really do not see the point of this comic at all and was bored with it rather quickly. My biggest problem is that they keep putting Allen instead of Allan whenever they wrote Edgar Allan Poe. If you are going to create a comic with a Gothic vibe at least pretend you know what you are writing about.

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found these quite boring in all honesty. They seem to clash/contradict the novels, which I deeply enjoyed a whole lot more. These comics serve no purpose in the story and honestly turned Emily from a clever inventor reminiscent of Violet from A Series of Unfortunate Events, into a shell of a character. The comics are also throw in tiny mentions of offensive and triggering subjects without warning and not in a careful, clever, classy or witty way. Mentions of suicide (in many forms), murder, the abuse of the homeless and drug abuse and this offensive and disgusting line “so artistic we’re almost autistic”. This is not the character I love nor the story. Would not recommend to anyone in all honesty, especially not those a fan of the novels.

[Shadowdenizen · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I picked this up on a whim. (As an asaide, kudos to Dark Horse for the pricing on their graphic novel lines; I'm a total "Impulse Buyer", so they really feed my need.)

I waffled between 3 and 4 stars on this. (It's really a 3.5 for me.)

I can get why people really seem to love this title, but it's just not for me. While I love the concept and enjoyed the title overall, I didn't really LOVE it like some of the other titles I've picked up recently.

[Ron Turner · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't understand the appeal of Emily the Strange. She's basically a reject from Hot Topic. An entrepreneur from California made her up to sell crap to emo kids. Everything about her is shallow and insincere. There's almost no story. It's just page after page of her staring back at you complaining about being "bored."

[Caitlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this is a case where the style is greater than the substance. I absolutely adored the aesthetic of the art style, but it feels like this fits better as a series of standalone instagram posts than an omnibus as there's not really an overarching narrative. The character felt very shallow in this collection.

[Lisa Kleinert · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really tried, but just could not get into this. It sat in the bathroom for almost three months, and I could only do one or two pages at a time.

Bizarre, since you would think this would be totally up my alley.

[Vi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's like The Sandman for a certain set of people. I'm glad it is still in print. (unlike The Sandman).

[Rei ⭐ [TrulyBooked] · Rating 1 out of 5]

My lack of connection to this book made a lot more sense after I found out she's an advertising mascot. I think my expectations were off and that ruined the book for me.

[Lorryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really like the artwork but there was nothing I liked about the story.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

[Amy Layton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was something I'd always wanted to read when I was younger but was deemed as too mature for me to read when I first ventured into a Hot Topic when I was twelve.  On one hand, come on, mom.  On the other--well, she was right!  There's a lot in here that I'm not sure I would have understood when I was younger, and now that I'm older and can laugh at myself as an adult and hate capitalism and love cats, I understand now what all the hype is about from the intricate collages to bold cartoon illustrations.

There was also a lot I didn't expect in here--I think I expected some sort of overarching plotline, but all 12 issues of Emily the Strange offer short stories, one shots, an "advertisement" page, interviews, and collages.  Not to mention, of course, that some of those interviews include Elvira, Marilyn Manson, and Gerard Way!  My eighth grade self would have been screaming in excitement.  

Honestly, this was such a refresher and a reminder of where I came from mentally to where I am now.  I think I can better fully appreciate it now that I'm still a weird adult as opposed to an impressionable and moody kid.  Definitely worth the read!

Review cross-listed here!

[Aundrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so Dark, so thick with ink, it transported me back to being 13 . . . oh to be an Emily again. . .

[R.J. Huneke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is about as innovative as it gets. The style, wit, humor, cats, and philosophy here should not be overlooked.

[I'mogén · Rating 4 out of 5]

Video review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekFdU...

Just to add a bit of context; I was utterly obsessed with Emily the Strange when I was younger, however I never knew where she was from (I guess really until now). Was she from a show? A book? A made up character for merchandise, like that of Hello Kitty or Pon and Zi? I think I just knew her from the figures my brother had, and so my idolization of her begun! I recall drawing her for hours at a time! :D So you can tell, that when I received this bind up of all the comics (?? My edition says it's the first 3 volumes but Goodreads says it's complete) I was thrilled.
Now, I've written the above to state that yes, I am as little biased to her, because of the fond nostalgic memories I had of her, when I was growing up, so the rating is probably pushed up a tad more than some may think it deserves... With that out of the way, let's move onto the actual review! ^^

Although I didn't understand the music references, found the jokes very "emo" and cringey and was confused as to why the last issue was a formulated story, as opposed to the chaotic nonsense that was the vast majority of the volume, I found myself really enjoying it. It was an incoherent mess, but felt bizarre and perfect for that theme.
There were times where I wasn't sure when a particular story finished, but I soon began to notice obvious "The End" markings or just quickly realized when it was clearly a different story, due to art style change, story line, etc.
I loved that this showcases a variety of art styles because it still felt fluent and complementary and you could still recognise Emily. Some of the art reminded me of I Love U Baby: Characters Collection Book.
I loved how throughout this volume, Emily and her creators poke fun at famous fairytales by twisting them to her own interpretation. I particularly favoured the Cinderella one and liked her Edgar Allan Poe inspired Scarytale Theatre segment.
The interviews were very random and for the most part and I didn't really pay much mind to them, apart from the Gerard Way one.
I think the introduction interview should really be read after if you haven't read the comics before as I was spoiled... even though some said spoiler alert... little too late.
These comics definitely have a lot going on and can look very over crowded and intimidating, but I think a lot of people will just get used to that and I like having lots to look at.
There was some cool use use of colour (red) against black, but it was difficult to read when it was read TEXT on black.

Overall, it's quirky layout makes sense for the nonsensical, bizare, yet charming stories. I'm so happy to have been gifted this as it's a nice bit of novelty that I appreciate after being a long time fan, but is also an entertaining read that I can jump in and out of anytime I feel like it.

Pick it up, give it a go and enjoy >(^_^)<
Gén

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 2 out of 5]

In one of the most literal examples of style over substance, Rob Reger's "Emily the Strange" character was a picture on a skateboard decal that gripped the alternative-pop zeitgeist enough to spawn merchandise, pop-up stores, two different comic series, a novel series and one (genuinely cool) music compilation.

The trouble is, Emily is goth-Garfield, a character made up of a single idea without a world to inhabit it. She's aesthetically brilliant (any former spooky-kid or emo-adjacent person will remember her face like it's their own), but she poses and quips and... that's about it. So a four-hundred page omnibus of her comic run is three hundred pages of incredible art, all sound and fury signifying nothing, and then a baffling-but-cool goth-hipster reimagining of "Alice in Wonderland" meets "The Phantom Tollbooth." Reger and company aren't total shills: Emily is never really advertising anything in her books, with The Damned being the most recent band referenced in the books. (Reger seems to have a very serious hard-on for Miles Davis and the 1960s Zappa/Beefheart jazz-rock scene, so despite their absolute lack of gothiness, hardly a page goes by without referencing one or the other.) A decade later, Emily's reboot as young-adult-novel heroine would get the character "right" and put her in a world where she can be more than a slogan-spitter, but the art here is at least worth thumbing through if you're into 2000s album-cover-psychedelia.

[Radwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

is it weird that i might've preferred this without any words? I like a lot of the art, and actually the way I was introduced to the character of emily is through memes that show her and her black cats complaining of boredom, and that's what initially made me interested in reading these, but a lot of the comics were a miss honestly.

I mean, the thing I liked the most were the short stories in the style of top ten lists and the ads pages. the art is unique, but the stories felt like a psychedlic trip all the time. we followe emily who loves everything black, her cats, metal and rock and the dark side.

[Saima Ahmad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is this book perfect- No
Its emotionally 5 stars-yes

[Mkb · Rating 3 out of 5]

All points here are for the aesthetics. I love the aesthetics (I've bought the stickers, the lunch box, the notepaper, the post-it notes, and even the dress!!!), but it turns out that the stories leave me cold. I'm a bit disappointed, but I think the point of EtheS is the aesthetic exercise so I can still enjoy what I always liked about it.

[Chinook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the look of Emily the Strange far more than the content. I might have been more into it as a teenager but only The Thirteenth Hour really worked for me. The rest doesn't really have anything like a narrative arc, it felt like random bits mashed together to me.

[Aimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of the Emily the Strange comics

[Red Fields · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars