Emily the Strange is an outsider by choice and by nature. She has black hair, four black cats, and a personality that runs toward dark humor, scientific experimentation, and a categorical rejection of anything mainstream. Rob Reger created her in the 1990s as a design on stickers and skateboards, and she grew into a character with her own novels, graphic novels, and comics.
In the novel series, Emily’s adventures begin when she wakes up in a strange town with no memory of how she arrived. The books are told partly through her journal entries, giving readers her unfiltered observations on the people and situations around her. She is clever, self-reliant, and genuinely weird in a way that feels earned rather than performed.
Emily’s appeal comes from her consistency. Whether she is forming a rock band in the Emily and The Strangers comics or dealing with doppelgangers in the novels, she stays true to her own code. She does not explain herself, does not apologize for her interests, and does not pretend to be anything she is not.
Reading Order
See the complete Emily the Strange reading order for all books in the series.