Emily Strange
Encyclopedia
Emily the Strange is an advertising mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...

 character by Rob Reger for his company Cosmic Debris Etc. Inc.

History

She first appeared on a sticker distributed at concerts, record stores and skate shops to promote Cosmic Debris, the clothing line founded by artist and skateboarder Rob Reger, racecar driver Matt Reed and Nathan Carrico, who designed Emily in 1991 for Santa Cruz Skateboards in Santa Cruz, California.

Retail Stores

Cosmic Debris has opened four Emily the Strange flagship stores to date (Taiwan, Taipei, Hong Kong and Greece), with plans to open Emily the Strange retail stores in the Americas in the next two years.

Brand Expansion

The Emily the Strange franchise has a considerable merchandising catalog, including clothing, stationery, stickers and fashion accessories. All of the products feature Emily's distinctive appearance and frequently feature one of her famous sayings like; "Get Lost," "Be All You Can't Be," and "Wish You Weren't Here".

Co-branding alliances and partnership partnerships have included Jones Soda
Jones Soda
Jones Soda Co. is a beverage company based in Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington. It bottles and distributes soft drinks, non-carbonated beverages, energy drinks, and candy. Jones Soda is a carbonated soft drink that has many unusual flavors that are not offered by other soft drink makers.Founded...

, Gibson Guitars and Manic Panic
Manic Panic
Manic Panic is a store chain based in New York City. The company is run by Tish and Snooky Bellomo.-History:Manic Panic opened its doors for the first time in 1977, with a store in New York. Since then, the store has opened establishments in many other places, including Japan...

 (hair coloring, nail polishes and colorful extensions).

Publishing Programs

Emily the Strange is published in several formats by world renowned publishers including Chronicle Books
Chronicle Books
Chronicle Books is a San Francisco-based American publisher of books for adults and children.The company was established in 1968 by Phelps Dewey, an executive with Chronicle Publishing Company, then-publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle. In 1999 it was bought by Nion McEvoy, great-grandson of...

, Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...

 and, most recently, HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

.

The Chronicle Books
Chronicle Books
Chronicle Books is a San Francisco-based American publisher of books for adults and children.The company was established in 1968 by Phelps Dewey, an executive with Chronicle Publishing Company, then-publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle. In 1999 it was bought by Nion McEvoy, great-grandson of...

 hardback graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...

las include:
  • Emily the Strange (2001
    2001 in comics
    -Year overall:* Marvel Comics withdraws from the Comics Code Authority and established its own rating system for its publications.- January :* January 23: Fred Ray, Superman's primary cover artist of the 1940s, passes away at age 80.- September :...

    )
  • Emily's Secret Book of Strange (2003
    2003 in comics
    -January:* January 2: Kid Colt artist Jack Keller dies at age 80.- April :* Action Comics #800: Double-sized anniversary issue, "A Hero's Journey," by Joe Kelly, Pascual Ferry, and Duncan Rouleau...

    )
  • Emily's Good Nightmares (2004
    2004 in comics
    -February:*February 6: Marvel Enterprises and Electronic Arts announce a multi-year agreement in which EA will develop a new generation of fighting video games pitting Marvel superheroes against a new, original set of EA heroes....

    )
  • Emily's Seeing is Deceiving (2006
    2006 in comics
    -January:*January 1, 2006: Newsweek offer a look back at 2005 through editorial cartoons. *January 2, 2006: The Cincinnati Enquirer cartoonist Jim Borgman starts a blog to detail his creative process...

    )


In 2005
2005 in comics
- January :* January 3: Will Eisner, creator of The Spirit, dies at age 87.-April:*April 13:**DC Comics announces the discontinuation of its Humanoids and 2000 A.D. titles....

, the first two issues of the comic book series were released by Dark Horse Comics -- "The Boring Issue" (#1) and "The Lost Issue" (#2). "The Dark Issue" (#3) was published in 2006
2006 in comics
-January:*January 1, 2006: Newsweek offer a look back at 2005 through editorial cartoons. *January 2, 2006: The Cincinnati Enquirer cartoonist Jim Borgman starts a blog to detail his creative process...

. The collected edition of the first three comic books (Emily the Strange: Lost, Dark, and Bored) was published in November 2006. The fourth offering, "The Rock Issue" (#4), was published in 2007
2007 in comics
-January:*January 10: Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator released.*January 24: The Boys is canceled with issue #6.-February:*February 2: Newsarama reports that The Boys has been picked up by Dynamite Entertainment....

. An ongoing, monthly, standard-length series has been published since March 2008.

Dark Horse comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...

 announced the publication of The Art of Emily Volume Onehttp://search.barnesandnoble.com/Art-of-Emily-the-Strange/Rob-Reger/e/9781595823717, the first collection of images showing the wide and inspired range of artistic styles and mediums that have been used to create the world of Emily the Strange: silk-screened vinyl skateboard stickers to custom rock-and-roll album art, large-scale psychedelic paintings, and intricate Mongolian paper cutting, the fantastic and artful imaginings of Rob Reger, Buzz Parker, and a large number of collaborators.

Since 2008
2008 in comics
-January:*January 9: Teen Titans: The Lost Annual, delayed since 2003, is published.*January 23: Hellblazer #240, marking the 20th anniversary of the series, is released.-February:...

 Emily the Strange is published in France by Soleil Productions
Soleil Productions
Soleil Productions is a French publisher of both original and imported comic books.-Partnerships and collaborations:In 2004, Soleil and Delcourt created a joint venture called "DelSol", a partnership distribution society for France, Belgium and other Francophone countries.In 2008, Marvel Comics is...

.

In October 2007, it was first announced that four young adult novels based on the Emily the Strange character will be published by HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

. They will be co-written by Rob Reger and Jessica Gruner.

The first HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

 novel, Emily the Strange: The Lost Days, was released in June, 2009. Written in a diary format, it opens with Emily attempting to recover her memory and regain her sense of style. Co-Author, Rob Reger says the book maps new territory inside the mind of his popular character. “In the past, it’s been us describing her,” he says. “This is the first time anybody gets to hear how she talks to herself and her cats.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203658504574191551545139022.html.

The next book in HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

' four book series, Emily the Strange: Stranger and Stranger, was released in March, 2010. In this book Emily is back in Blandindulle and preparing to move to a new town. While experimenting with her supply of Black rock and duplicating device she accidentally clones herself. Enjoying the benefit of a second Emily at first, the real Emily comes across problems such as identity crisis, loss of some of her unique talents, and an increase in nose picking. Not to mention the fact that her clone thinks she's the real Emily and evidently plans to end Emily Strange for good.

The third HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

 book, Emily the Strange: Dark Times was released on December 28, 2010. Emily is in Duntztown when she needs a student ID to obtain a discount at the local hardware store. After going to school and borrowing an ID, she decides to homeschool herself literally, as opposed to lying about it in the past two books. During a seminar "History of the Strange Family 101", Emily finds out that Great-Aunt Lily died by white fever at age 13, though she had healing powers and could probably heal herself. A rumor that a Dark Aunt caused her death is spreading too. Emily goes to Blackrock to find black rock for her Time Out Machine, only to find that Blackrock's not there and that the caravan is with her. She learns about Boris, Attikol's ancestor, and decides to time travel into 1790 to save Lily and take Boris off her tail using a moving, severed cat's tail.

The fourth and final HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

 book, Emily the Strange: Piece of Mind will be released December 27th, 2011. The teaser says it includes:

1. The Thought Thief

2. Ancestral enemies (and a few ancestral friends)

3. Modern-day Seasidetown

4. FelinoMobileTranscriptoSpy devices

5. Abandoned souvenir kiosk

6. Jakey's memories

7. Super secret book vault

8. Stolen blueprints

9. Regret Maneuvers A through Z

10. Final exams in Particle Physics and How-to With Glue

11. Hero-worshipping engineers

12. The 13th Dark Girl

13. Black rock

Clothing

Emily the Strange has been a popular apparel and accessories label for nearly 15 years, with sales in Department Stores, Specialty Boutiques and other trendy retailers throughout the world. Products are also sold on the brand's official website http://www.emilystrange.com

In July/August 2003 V
V (American magazine)
V magazine is an American fashion magazine published since 1999. The magazine is printed seasonally and highlights trends in fashion, film music and art. A men's fashion quarterly entitled VMAN started as an offshoot in 2003.-History:...

magazine ran a double page spread of clothing inspired by the character, created by Chanel
Chanel
Chanel S.A. is a French fashion house founded by the couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, well established in haute couture, specializing in luxury goods . She gained the name "Coco" while maintaining a career as a singer at a café in France...

, Gautier
Gautier
-People:*Saint Gautier , French saint*Gautier le Leu, thirteenth-century French poet*Gautier furniture, French furniture manufacturer*Émile Théodore Léon Gautier , French paleographer...

, Helmut Lang
Helmut Lang
Helmut Lang may refer to:* Helmut Lang , Austrian-born fashion designer and artist* Helmut Lang , brand created by Helmut Lang in 1986...

, Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for Marc Jacobs, as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, with more than 200 retail stores in 60 countries. He has been the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton since 1997...

, and others. Emily has been shown in Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky is a 2001 American psychological thriller film directed, co-produced and co-written by Cameron Crowe. The film is an English-language remake of the 1997 Spanish movie Abre los ojos , the screenplay for which was written by Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil...

and on MADtv
MADtv
MADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licensed the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise had no connection with the humor magazine outside the animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first...

. Celebrities including Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...

, Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

, and Björk
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...

 have all worn the brand. Epiphone
Epiphone
The Epiphone Company is a musical instrument manufacturer founded in 1873 by Anastasios Stathopoulos. Epiphone was bought by Chicago Musical Instrument Company, which also owned Gibson Guitar Corporation, in 1957. Epiphone was Gibson's main rival in the archtop market...

 has created an Emily the Strange-themed SG
Gibson SG
At the launch of the SG in 1961, Gibson offered four variants of the SG; the SG Junior , the SG Special, the SG Standard, and the top-of-the-line SG Custom. However, Gibson's current core variants as of 2010 are the SG Standard and the SG Special...

 guitar, based on an Epiphone G-310, with a bolt-on neck, customized Emily the Strange graphics, and a special strap.

Since 2010 Emily the Strange apparel is manufactured and distributed by Italian company Pier spa

Entertainment and film adaptation

Rob Reger designed and included the Emily the Strange cartoon in a 12-page foldout booklet for the album BatBox
BatBox
-Charts:-External links:** at YouTube...

by Miss Kittin
Miss Kittin
Miss Kittin is an electronic music DJ, vocalist, and songwriter. Since rising to prominence in 1998 for her singles "1982" and "Frank Sinatra" with The Hacker, she has worked with other musicians such as Chicks on Speed, Felix da Housecat and Golden Boy...

 in 2008.

An Emily the Strange feature film has been optioned by Mike Richardson
Mike Richardson (publisher)
Mike Richardson is an American writer, film producer and the founder of Dark Horse Comics, a comic book publication company based in Milwaukie, Oregon.-Career:...

, of Dark Horse Entertainment
Dark Horse Entertainment
Dark Horse Entertainment is a motion picture and television production arm of American comic book publishing company Dark Horse Comics.They also have a sub-label, Dark Horse Indie.-Productions:*30 Days of Night*B&B*Barb Wire...

, as producer. A release date has not yet been granted to the film, but it is in active development with Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

 attached for distribution. The actress Chloë Moretz
Chloe Moretz
Chloë Grace Moretz is an American actress, known for her role as Hit-Girl in the 2010 superhero film Kick-Ass. She also appeared in The Amityville Horror, Days of Summer, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Hugo, and portrayed Abby, the child vampire, in Let Me In.-Personal life:Moretz was born in Atlanta,...

 has been cast in the role of Emily.

Cats

Emily is usually shown accompanied by four black cats, named Sabbath, Mystery, Miles, and Nee Chee.

Character origin controversy

The very first Emily the Strange illustration dates from 1991, but the 1978 children's book Nate the Great and the Lost List
Nate the Great
Nate the Great is a series of novels written by Marjorie Sharmat and illustrated by Marc Simont, with occasional co-authorship by Mitchell Sharmat or Craig Sharmat , and recent illustrations by Martha Weston or Jody Wheeler...

features a very similar illustration of a young girl named Rosamond. She also has long black hair and is frequently accompanied by her black cats. When Rosamond is introduced she wears a short dress and white Mary Jane shoes, similar to Emily, and in a similar pose.

This illustration is accompanied by the text, "Rosamond did not look hungry or sleepy. She looked like she always looks. Strange." The first Emily the Strange design by Cosmic Debris says: "Emily did not look tired or happy. She looked like she always looks. Strange."

When Rosamond's creators, Marjorie Sharmat and Marc Simont, allegedly began contacting companies who had contracts related to Emily the Strange and urged them to drop their relationships with Cosmic Debris, Cosmic Debris sued Sharmat and Simont. Sharmat and Simont counter-sued. "Emily the Strange, like Rosamond, is a young girl in a short dress, black tights, and Mary Jane shoes. Emily, like Rosamond, has long dark hair with square-cut bangs. Emily, like Rosamond, is typically attended by four black cats. Emily, like Rosamond, is described as being strange and has a fascination with dark themes," alleged the complaint.

Cosmic Debris contended that Emily and Rosamond both drew from a tradition of similar characters including Vampira and Wednesday Addams
Wednesday Addams
Wednesday Friday Addams is a member of the fictional Addams Family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams for The New Yorker.-Wednesday:In Charles Addams's cartoons, Wednesday and other members of the family had no names...

, and argued that while the text of the initial Emily illustration was nearly identical with Sharmat's text, that illustration had been withdrawn in 1998 and the statute of limitations had therefore run out.

On August 12, 2009, creator of Emily the Strange and the creators of Nate the Great jointly announced an agreement resolving all disputes between them. Each side agreed to give up all claims against the other as part of their settlement. "We recognize that Emily and Rosamond are both unique and original characters, and we are pleased that we were able to resolve this dispute," said Marjorie Sharmat and Marc Simont. "We wish Rob, Cosmic Debris, Emily and her fans all the very best."

Video Game

The Official Emily the Strange video game "Strangerous" has been developed by exozet games and was released by UK publisher PQube
PQube
PQube Ltd are a publisher and distributor of games and software for video game consoles and personal computers including Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSi.The company is based in Letchworth UK....

 on June 10th 2011.

“Strangerous” for Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...

 and Nintendo DSi
Nintendo DSi
The is a handheld game system created by Nintendo and launched in 2008 and 2009 in Japan, North America, PAL territories, and other regions. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival is Sony's PlayStation Portable...

is a puzzle and adventure story based around Emily the Strange and her missing kittens spanning 6 chapters and over 60 puzzles.

The official website for the game is emily-game.co.uk

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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