Emily The Strange #1: The Boring Issue (v. 1) [Paperback]

Cosmic Debris (Author, Artist)

Book Description

Series: Emily the Strange | Publication Date: September 6, 2005

For more than 10 years, pop culture cultists have revered and adored a mysterious, brooding 13 year-old girl named Emily the Strange. Nobody knows much about the young girl with a porcelain face and huge eyes framed by black bangs, and her ever-present brood of black cats only adds to the intrigue - but that hasn't stopped a generation of rabid fans from letting Emily put her spell upon them. Now, for the first time ever, Emily fans will be welcomed into her dark and, well, strange world - a place where kitty friends talk, the ghosts of famous weirdos come out to play, reality is never quite what it seems, and - above all - a place where anyone who's ever been considered a little "strange" themselves will be made to feel right at home. Dark Horse Comics and the creative minds behind Cosmic Debris are thrilled to present the first-ever Emily comic books, published as deluxe single issues with all new stories and art. Each issue of Emily comics will feature 48 pages of black, white, and red art (with the occasional outburst of full-color freakouts!), illustrating a wacky range of Emily stories.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 9-12. In this graphic novel, Emily, a brooding girl in black with a posse of sinister cats, takes on the issue of boredom. Six short interludes depict her tackling tedium in venues such as the school lunchroom, where she spices things up with Strange Sauce, and in the graveyard with her friends. The fun doesn't stop there, as between vignettes Emily gives readers helpful hints on curing boredom at home, including "Thirteen Uses for Wire Hangers." The surface packaging seems targeted to a young crowd, but Emily's sharp, flippant humor will be best appreciated by older teens. With artwork in stark black, white, and red, and written in almost stream-of-consciousness style, this comic will appeal to the angst-ridden outsider in many teens. Librarians will want to deep-six the book's two pages of stickers. Tina Coleman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (September 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593073232
• ISBN-13: 978-1593073237
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.6 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #834,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rob Reger has grown Emily the Strange from an image on a few skateboards and T-shirts to an international fashion brand and publishing phenomenon. He lives in the Bay Area.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Chairman of the Bored", December 30, 2005

By 

CreepyT "CreepyTendencies" (Colorado, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Emily The Strange #1: The Boring Issue (v. 1) (Paperback)

Emily the Strange finally has her own comic book series! After years of enjoying excellent merchandise revolving around Emily and her four kitties, yet mediocre books, Cosmic Debris and Dark Horse Comics have finally put out the beginnings of a decent comic book series inviting those willing into Emily's strange world.

Issue 1, "the Boring Issue," describes Emily's boredom and what she does with such time on her hands. With Miles, Mystery, Nee Chee, and Sabbath in tow, Emily sets out to find the cure for the common doldrums by doing things such as building odd devices, distributing strange sauce to her classmates, and playing croquet in a graveyard. Also included in this volume is a twisted take on Cinderella, in Emily's Scarytale Theater.

The artwork found herein is just as one would expect if you're at all familiar with any other Emily products, with lots of intriguing detail. The entire comic is done in black, white, gray, and red (with the occasional pink thrown in for good measure). Also included are two pages of Emily stickers.

My only complaint is that the comic is quite short, somewhat disjointed, and Emily's sarcastic, dry, witty comments seem kept to a minimum. However, that is the nature of comic books, as well as previous entries to Emily's short book collection. The artwork alone is still worth the cover price.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More little girls should be so strange, June 1, 2006

By 

wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Emily The Strange #1: The Boring Issue (v. 1) (Paperback)

OK. She's strange. You heard that part. That means people look at her and don't like what they see.

I see a young lady who is no slave to fashion, except her own. She know that boredom is a self-inflicted injury, and "Bored to Death" shows that she knows how to stop it. She is patient, as we see in "Grow'n Up." She is not just creative, but has control of the creative process, as shown in "13 More Uses for Wire Hangers" and "Head in the Clouds." She has mastery of many expressive media, including gardening, written and spoken word, wire sculpture, culinary arts, taxidermy, and fine hallucinogens - or whatever is in that Strange Sauce.

Emily, I wish all power to you and to your imagination. And to your legal defense team, to the mental health workers that have not yet crumpled, and to the survivors among your cohort. They will each remember you to their dying day.

And on it, no matter how distant or horrific. And possibly past it.

//wiredweird

PS: The art here is a bit raw: black and white with red, solid and saturated, with a little grey or brown to soften some parts - not that raw is a bad thing. It's what you might have seen if Edward Gorey or Gomez Addams had ever opened that last closet door and spilled the ketchup. It is also (and I don't like this part) fairly blatant in its attempts to scrape a few extra drachmae out tweenage fanclubbers. The rest is good, in a twisted but healthy appeal to the otherwise disaffected in our world, and lord knows our world makes bunches of them.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars had creases in new first edition, September 6, 2011

By 

SouthTexas123 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Emily The Strange #1: The Boring Issue (v. 1) (Paperback)

First one had creases, cheerfully replaced by Amazon. Second one not in pristine condition either. Kept them anyway to go with my son's Epiphone Emily guitar.(Guitar Rocks !!!!!!)