Emily's Good Nightmares

Emily the Strange Graphic Novels #3

by Rob Reger, Cosmic Debris

A bona fide anti-hero of international fame, Emily's first two books have taken the world by dark-and-stormy might with more than 130,000 copies of the US editions sold, plus editions in 5 different languages. Now, Emily invites her brooding devotees to come even closer with a trip deep into her psyche in Emily's Good Nightmares. The same winning format and highly designed package featuring ghostly varnish effects on the page, a revealing die-cut, and a frightening new production trick involving Emily's worst nightmare (the color pink) lure fans into the intriguing dominion of Emily's dreamlife. Witness her favorite nocturnal imaginings, some scary, some spooky, some significant, and some just plain old strange.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fiction, Fantasy, Comics, Young Adult, Art, Picture Books

64 pages, Hardcover

First published May 26, 2005

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

[Arnela · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's more art than words.

A really easy read for kids [especially kids who like spooky things].

I especially liked the gloss over some of the images [especially when it spelled out little messages hidden around the art].

[Auntie Raye-Raye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would read this book to demented little goth kids.

[Pamela Martinez · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve always loved Emily The Strange, love the artwork, her world and ideas. She was one of many characters who taught me that being weird is great. This book was a real treat, the storyline or rather narration wasn’t very good, it didn’t make much sense but it had its moments. I do love the art though and the few pages of flip book. If you’re a big fan of art this is a great book.

[Kat Smyth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The shiny, secret, UV-coated graphics (which can only be seen if tilted in certain directions) are especially cool. Another fun & dark adventure with Emily the Strange.

[Felicia follum · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the illustrations and the use of gloss vs matte finish. I red all three of these in one sitting.

[Naki · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vorrei scrivere una recensione approfondita ma la verità è che c'è poco da dire.
Questo volume non è altro che un libro illustrato, ricco di bellissime immagini su carta "lucida" con dei bellissimi effetti. Vi sono di tanto in tanto delle frasi che accompagnano i disegni e... basta!
Nulla di che.
Conosco la serie Emily the strange e sono rimasta incuriosita dal volume tanto da farmelo prestare ma c'è davvero poco da leggere. Una cinquantina di pagine di disegni, un volume sicuramente apprezzabile dai fan della serie ma a mio avviso inutile e costoso (10 euro non sono pochissimi). Lo voto quattro stelle perchè carino soprattutto se "letto" a scrocco ma l'utilità è pari a zero... dimenticabilissimo.

[Emily Owens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is for anyone willing to interpret ideas/creativeness. All pictures and text are up for interpretation but if you really dig deep in to the illustrations, “A picture is worth 1,000 words...” has never felt so prominent. This book gives an idea of a young girls thoughts/struggles and life through nightmares ... “good” nightmares. Worth the read and worth enjoying the creatives of the author/illustrators.

[Breanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought a beautiful physical version of this. What a delight! 8/10

[melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A creepy, cute, quick read.

[Sapphir · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fanciful and morbid adventures of Emily, a VERY quirky young heroine, and her cat(s).
A dark, funny, creepy, extremely freaky and, yes, strange, elaborate little book, which is immensely entertaining for fans of black humor. 4.5 Stars.

[Lectora de la tierra media · Rating 2 out of 5]

Es una novela gráfica pero con demasiado poco diálogo, que no me dio para más y tantísimo que la busqué... Por suerte la leí en kindle.

[Natilin Alpaca Saurio · Rating 4 out of 5]

La chica era tan Darks que la única vez que se asustó es porque había más colores que el rojo.

[Chrissy Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

i wish there was more of a verbal story to go with each one. I did really like the piece of mind bit.

[Ümit Sevgi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emily'nin ender renkli kitaplarından yani kırmızı-siyah-beyaz dışında renkler de olan.
There's no place like alone... (s.5)

[Giada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vorrei scrivere una recensione approfondita ma la verità è che c'è poco da dire.
Questo volume non è altro che un libro illustrato, ricco di bellissime immagini su carta "lucida" con dei bellissimi effetti. Vi sono di tanto in tanto delle frasi che accompagnano i disegni e... basta!
Nulla di che.
Conosco la serie Emily the strange e sono rimasta incuriosita dal volume tanto da farmelo prestare ma c'è davvero poco da leggere. Una cinquantina di pagine di disegni, un volume sicuramente apprezzabile dai fan della serie ma a mio avviso inutile e costoso (10 euro non sono pochissimi). Lo voto quattro stelle perchè carino soprattutto se "letto" a scrocco ma l'utilità è pari a zero... dimenticabilissimo.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very light on text, but with bold, beautiful illustrations that use subversive wordplay and familiar images to show Emily's strange reality. For example, Escher's stair picture with the caption, "A step in the wrong direction is the right way to get lost," and Emily as Dorothy with the cation, "There's no place like alone, unless you have an evil twin."

[cyncynatti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book! It's cute and it's prosey and even though I thought that maybe some pages had glow in the dark secret messages it was still cool when I found out that it didn't. I would love to own more books like this. BTW this was one of the gifts I got from my best friend for my birthday ;)

[Ariel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't auctually read anything "Emily the Strange" before. I'd just heard a lot about it and I saw this book for 50 cents, so I figured, why not. It's a cute little picture book about things she dreams of. It's not so bad. And I wouldn't mind reading more Emily stuff.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

How do I review a book with less than 20 words?
Well...
Amazing illustration, I really do love Emily the Strange.

[Debbie Hoskins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the mazes , circus scene, and especially Emily. La amo.

La pieza interior is very cool.

Nicely designed, interestingly colored.

[Jayde BEERS · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the artwork in this book it was fascinating.

[Desiree · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perfect balance between clever and dark.

[Kricket · Rating 3 out of 5]

a weird little book with really pretty artwork.

unfortunately, the library copy is falling to pieces to i have to withdraw it.

[Punkie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars
Cute.😊

[Cami · Rating 3 out of 5]

¡Ilustraciones hermosas!

[Austin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! More ink work in this one and a lot of cool contrasting colors.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful short book that is all about its gorgeous visuals. Emily Strange could definitely be friends with Wednesday Addams, what with her love for the macabre and the eery. There is of course nothing particularly scary or shocking about this book; it is all Halloween-ish fun and filled with fun adventures for the kids who are fond of that aesthetic -like I was and still am.

I think the only thing I knew about Emily Strange was the Hot-Topicy black/white/red merch, which is nostalgic for me. This book -which I unexpectedly got for free in one of the book boxes scattered around my town- seems like a good introduction to the character and her brand for the young kids. There is no wall of text: it is basically just images taken from a dreamscape with a few sentences here and there. To my knowledge, the Strange books usually have written stories, but this one is mostly up to the readers.

It's a very pretty book that might inspire kids a fantasy or two (or a brand new emo look, who knows!)