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Stephen Emond

Goodreads author profile

url

http://www.goodreads.com/Stephen_Emond

born

November 18, 1978 in The United States

gender

male

website

http://www.stephenemond.com/

member since

September 2011

About this author

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Hello, my name is Stephen Emond, or just Steve if you prefer. There isn’t much about that me isn’t be said in this excerpt from the HAPPYFACE page on amazon.com:

About the Author
Steve Emond does not have any superhuman powers, neat tricks, or famous relatives, but he’s a pretty cool guy who can draw. He is the creator of Emo Boy, which ran for 12 issues and two collections, and the comic strip, Steverino. He grew up in Connecticut, where he wrote and directed a public access sketch comedy show that only his grandmother watched.

I’m pretty sure my editor on the book wrote this to mimic my sometimes self-deprecating manner because I don’t remember writing it myself.

Anyway, I’m a creator, I guess you can say. I focused solely on drawing in my yo...more Hello, my name is Stephen Emond, or just Steve if you prefer. There isn’t much about that me isn’t be said in this excerpt from the HAPPYFACE page on amazon.com:

About the Author
Steve Emond does not have any superhuman powers, neat tricks, or famous relatives, but he’s a pretty cool guy who can draw. He is the creator of Emo Boy, which ran for 12 issues and two collections, and the comic strip, Steverino. He grew up in Connecticut, where he wrote and directed a public access sketch comedy show that only his grandmother watched.

I’m pretty sure my editor on the book wrote this to mimic my sometimes self-deprecating manner because I don’t remember writing it myself.

Anyway, I’m a creator, I guess you can say. I focused solely on drawing in my youth, wanting to be a comics artist. Not so much the kind I became, I was more interested in superheroes. Starting with Spiderman, which led to the New Warriors, which led me to following Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, the guys that wound up at Image. I was a huge Image fan until a girlfriend turned me on to indie comics, which read more like the things that went on in my head.

Another thing I drew, that fed into my later love of writing, was a comic strip called STEVERINO. I did STEVERINO from my senior year of highschool, and for about six years after. Even after that, I returned to the strip off and on, the last stretch in ‘06. You can read those comics by clicking the Steverino box at the top of Stephenemond.com. I think STEVERINO really helped me develop as both an artist and a writer. The comic strip is a great way to learn writing, because every strip has a beginning, middle and end to it. It’s short, but you learn a lot in what’s interesting and how to set up and close an idea. I did twenty-five page books every month, three cartoons per page, and sent them to never more than thirty people. I worked through a lot of my own neuroses in those years, but it was a lot of fun.

Feedback for Steverino was generally positive. I won a national contest, Andrew-McMeels/Follett College Store’s STRIP SEARCH: DISCOVERING TOMORROW’S TOP CARTOONISTS TODAY and had my comic printed in a book of the same name. I had three or four local newspaper articles and ongoing dialogues with a few syndicate editors. There wasn’t really any hook, though. It was just me and my thoughts. They liked the art, they liked the writing, they thought it was charming, but you couldn’t sell it.

Eventually I had the idea for EMO BOY, which was “what if this emo kid had superpowers, but they were completely destructive and he was too emo to use them anyway?” It was a joke at first but my girlfriend at the time urged me to go on with it. I did a mini comic, ashcan style – 8 1/2X11 pages folded down the middle and xeroxed. In it, Emo Boy joins a garage band, falls for a pretty girl, kisses her and explodes her head in a fit of emo-nerves. The band is ready to beat him down when he comes up with a hit emo song about the experience.

I sent the comic to SLG Publishing, because honestly, who the heck else would publish it? In the meantime, I had so much fun with it that I kept making the books. I did four more issues, without the emo powers, just as a comedy comic about an emo kid and his happy-go-lucky friend Maxine. About eight months after I mailed the book to SLG, I got an email from Dan Vado asking if I was still looking for a publisher. Indeed, I was! I sent him the new issues to show how the art and writing had improved, although Dan did recommend giving him the powers back, as it lent the series a feeling of suspense, not knowing what was going to happen next.

EMO BOY ran for twelve issues. It started strong, but as is the case with most indie comics, sales slipped to a point that it wasn’t cost-effective to continue printing each issue. I was left with the option to do it as a digital comic, or to do a series of graphic novels. I decided to take some time off.

Durin(less)

53 posts
Stephen Emond's Blog

"The YA Version Of…"

I had dinner with my editor Connie last night, and one of the things we ended up talking about was books that could essentially be boiled down to "The young adult version of…" or "a YA ___." To me it feels like lazy writing and a cash grab. The books could very well stand on their own, but just the phrase rubs me the wrong way.

"You mean like 'Garden State meets 500 Days of Summer?" Connie asked...

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Published on March 20, 2012 19:00 • 9 views

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combine editions
Books by Stephen Emond

Average rating: 3.59 · 1,527 ratings · 367 reviews · 6 distinct works

	Winter Town 3.47 avg rating — 702 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Happyface 3.70 avg rating — 738 ratings — published 2010 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Emo Boy Volume 1: Nobody Cares about Anything Anyway, So Why Don't We All Just Die? 3.56 avg rating — 85 ratings — published 2006	My rating:
	Ultima: The Ultimate Collector's Guide 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	My rating:
	Emo Boy Volume 2: Walk Around With Your Head Down 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2007	My rating:
	Steverino: The Complete Collection 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2010	My rating:

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Stephen is Currently Reading

Stephen Emond is currently reading:

Boy21

by Matthew Quick (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

My rating:

Sep 13, 2011 05:48pm

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Stephen Emond wrote a new blog post: "The YA Version Of…" "The YA Version Of…" I had dinner with my editor Connie last night, and one of the things we ended up talking about was books that could essentially be boiled down to "... read more »
Mar 20, 2012 11:04pm · like 1 like
Stephen Emond is currently reading: Boy21 by Matthew Quick (Goodreads Author)	My rating:
Sep 13, 2011 05:48pm
Stephen Emond gave to: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris	My rating:
Sep 11, 2011 05:54pm
Stephen Emond gave to: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger	My rating:
Sep 11, 2011 05:54pm

More of Stephen's books…

Quotes by Stephen Emond

“I swear, with Chloe Bear once again as my witness...

That my problems and failures will not stop me, nor will they dictate who I am.

That I will continue to be my own person.

That life is too short, and I will live every day as the best person I can be.

That I will grow and that I will change.

That I will smile and hold my head high.

That this is a new start and a new day.

That I will allow myself to cry or sit by myself when I need to.

That I will find things to really smile about.”
― Stephen Emond, Happyface

tags: depression , recovery

15 people liked it

“I'm not exactly Miss Confidence. I busy myself with all kinds of activities and I do well in school and I try to look pretty but I still need someone to tell me I'm worthwhile. To show me attention. I don't like it. I don't like it at all...”
― Stephen Emond, Happyface

tags: confidence

12 people liked it

“I'm on the Internet. I stay informed. They let old people on the Internet, you know.”
― Stephen Emond, Winter Town

tags: elderly , humor , internet

5 people liked it

See all Stephen Emond's quotes »

Polls

Which book do you think has a real chance to win the ALA Printz Award January 10th?

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green

4 votes 19.0%

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

4 votes 19.0%

Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

4 votes 19.0%

Happyface by Stephen Emond

2 votes 9.5%

Black Hole Sun by David Macinnis Gill

2 votes 9.5%

The Last Summer Of The Death Warriors by Francisco X. Stork

2 votes 9.5%

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

1 vote 4.8%

Matched by Ally Condie

1 vote 4.8%

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

1 vote 4.8%

Efrain's Secret by Sofia Quintero

0 votes 0.0%

The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk

0 votes 0.0%

The Sky Is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

0 votes 0.0%

21 total votes

16 comments

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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JoCo Library Teens: What is this folder?	163	18	Feb 06, 2011 08:59pm
JoCo Library Teens: * Group Reads	4	14	Oct 24, 2011 03:32pm
Paranormal Romanc...: 2011 October Challenge	385	431	Nov 03, 2011 06:12am
YA Book Club: * A-Z Reading Challenge 2012	201	882	May 26, 2012 11:49pm
Wild Things: YA G...: * Reading Challenge #12: Report Points Here	162	98	11 hours, 44 min ago

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Stephen Emond

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