Review Fix Exclusive: Q & A With Emily and The Strangers Creator Rob Reger

Review Fix chats with “Emily and The Strangers” Creator Rob Reger, who discusses the first two issues of the series. Laid back and fun, a conversation with Reger is just as enjoyable as an issue with Emily and her band mates, who, if Reger has his way, will land on a motion comic one day.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for the comic?

Rob Reger: Originally, when Emily the Strange (as a comic character) was signed to Virgin Records, I wanted to create the back story of how the band was put together and possibly more importantly, “why would Emily perform with Strangers, when she loves so much to do it herself?” That, and eventually, why would she want to perform in front of thousands of people, when she really just prefers the company of her cats (over humans). This series is dedicated to the “making of the band”…

Review Fix: Artists and writers are always influenced by things they encounter in their everyday lives. Considering that, what are some influences that played a part in the creation of any of the characters in the comic?

Reger: Raven came directly from her novel series published by Harper Collins.
Winston’s name references a cool dude I know that was featured in the Emily the Strange “Rock” issue… (he’ll pop up in issue #2)

Evan was originally created because my former editor (Shawna Gore) and I thought it would be funny to have a character named Evan Stranger (like he was even stranger than Emily herself). It turns out he’s not stranger, but still strange… and in fact a “Stranger.”

In general the characters were all created to represent different dynamics and different types of music we like, to form a unique multi-talented band… Not so much in particular references specifically… We reference some of their musical tastes in the coming issues, and these of course we all stand by and have influenced us- like The Clash, Zappa, etc.

Kraken was sort of a Jimi Hendrix’s “Axis Bold As Love” type of character.

Review Fix: What do you think is the comic’s selling point?

Reger: It’s a new look into Emily, deeper look into her personal space, new characters to meet, and will eventually lead to her “real” music. Every page is cram packed with details you can feast your eyes on for a long time. I still find stuff on these pages I hadn’t seen before and lots of cool kitties.

Review Fix: What’s your favorite part of the first issue, why?

Reger: Really, it’s the art. As I say above, all the subtle hidden messages and “easter eggs” keep you looking at every scene.

Review Fix: How important is the art to the series?

Reger: It’s huge. Look into the backgrounds for foreshadowing into future issues and secret messages.

Review Fix: Who do you think will enjoy the series the most?

Reger: New readers? People who want to know why and how Emily Rocks… It’s a new way to introduce a character that has been around for 20 years now…

Review Fix: What are some of your guilty pleasure comic books and television shows? How have they shaped you as a creator?

Reger: Is any comic a guilty pleasure? I stand by all the comics I loved: 8-Ball, hate, Mad Magazine, Steven, Hellboy, Dr. Seuss (Okay, that’s not a comic, but a big influence.) TV: 90210 was about as guilty as I got. I really don’t watch too much TV… when I was younger (I’m kind of old now) I dug McGuiver, Magnum PI, Smurfs (I guess that was a guilty pleasure), 90210 (that too), PeeWee’s Playhouse was a rad show. PeeWee’s Playhouse and McGuiver certainly stuck with me and have rubbed off on Emily. I suppose 90210 was an influence in that it represented what I (and Emily) really wanted to get away from.

Review Fix: What are your goals for the series?

Reger: More Serieses. In all series-ness, my goal is to create more of a character arc for Emily, to show some emotions and relationships we have not seen her in before. And to explain why music with a band and not solo. Also, to further inspire the band to become real to get animated music videos, and motion comics going.

Review Fix: How do you want it to be remembered?

Reger: On Vinyl and on YouTube.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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