The newest Emily the Strange collection is now available in hardcover from Dark Horse; Emily and the Strangers continues the story of Rob Reger’s cute little sociopath and her cats.
The story is fun, but it’s Emily Ivie’s art that jumped out at me. It’s startlingly good. I haven’t run across Ivie before, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for her work from now on.
In order to win a legendary haunted guitar, Emily is determined to create the most rockin’ song the world has ever known . . . but can she do it solo? Emily isn’t known for playing well with others, but she’s going to have to rely on the help of some Strangers if she’s going to succeed on her musical journey to the true heart of rock ’n’ roll! Collects the three issue miniseries.
Rob Reger and Mariah Huehner’s story in this book is equal parts dark and slightly silly, as any good Emily the Strange story should be. It’s very fun and straightforward; it’ll appeal to younger readers as well as Emily’s grown-up fans.
But it’s the artwork that sucked me in. Ivie uses strong lines and clean, cartoonish shapes to create surprisingly complicated pages. The colors are gorgeous, full of contrast, and Emily’s expressions are particularly wonderful. Ivie almost makes it look easy.
It took me a long time to finish reading the book because I kept lingering over the pages, finding more in each panel the longer I looked. One page in particular (Emily reading tarot cards) really caught my eye, both from the details and the beautiful colors.
Whether you’re a long-time Emily fan, or completely new to her world, this book is worth checking out.