Emerson

This article is about the Emersons who were assigned to the story's current Crange.

Background
Origins of the Emersons assigned to Crange are largely unknown. The first Emerson assigned to him was first seen watching Crange from a distance and not in the bar, however.

However, we do know that the both them are involved in a cult centered around Crange. We see a flashback to one of the Emersons initiations in Crange and the Bartender.

Appearance
Both Emersons are green praying mantises who typically wear greyish-yellow aprons,though the outfits vary in later chapters.

Their appearances have both changed throughout the comic. The first Emerson is drawn much more realistically and is sometimes encased in shadows. The newer Emerson is hardly ever drawn as ominously.

Their head has become less realistically drawn over time and their body is now noticeably brighter in color. They sometimes have a two-toned body with their torso being significantly darker; other times they are not. Actual mantis anatomy as well as consistency has been long since thrown out the window, but our Emerson manages to have a charming design regardless.

Personality
The personality of both Emersons assigned to Crange vary. The pronouns are also not the same from mantis to mantis, despite them being variations of the same being. This is confirmed by usage of pronouns in the comic itself and by creator KC Green.

Crange's first Emerson, despite her short-lived appearance throughout the comic, had an ominous personality. She is often drawn in shadow and is immediately shown to have murdered someone on the page wherein she's introduced. She does in fact, kill again.

The Emerson that the story currently follows is notably more high strung and anxious. They also seem a lot more friendly towards Crange but also seem to have a harder time managing looking after him. They even admit in a chapter that they worry about him when he's not at the bar and that Crange never updates them on where he is. They aren't afraid to fight however,usually for the good of Crange, and their weapon of choice is a literal shotgun.

Story
Cranges first Emerson is first seen at the tail-end of Crange Donates his Money, but not formally introduced until Crange Can't go Home. She's introduced after killing the original bartender who ran the place. She was the one who initially convinced Crange to stay at the bar and told him he was perfect as-is when he said that he'd leave and find a job and takes his empty water bottle as he sleeps. She also tells him that she holds final say over dead men,implying that she's going to kill Crange. She says this to his face. Man,she was fun. She is unfortunately killed off and replaced by our newer Emerson in Crange Takes A Shit.

We are introduced to Cranges new Emerson at the end of Crange Takes A Shit when they throw away the body of their predecessor. We see them again after this in Crange is a good ol boy who is here and back wherein they fight what is later revealed to be a Pod Person, who is posing as Crange. In this chapter, Emerson fights them off with a shotgun and is also a teensy bit manipulated by the Pod Crange bringing up their previous friendship,which is seemingly a soft spot for this Emerson. At least they prove they're a decent shot.

They appear again at the end of Crange Leaves Himself to see Crange pass out from alcohol poisoning.

They don't appear again until Crange and the Bartender, where they ask Crange if he'll help them get some barrels of wine out of the bars stone cellar, to which he ecstatically agrees as it's wine on the line. It's then revealed that this Emerson can see all the possible ways that Crange can die,especially in dangerous situations. After accidentally losing their temper at Crange, he dissapears down a trap door which sets Emerson in an immediate state of panic. While he's gone, we see their initiation into the cult and learn that getting Crange to implicitly trust them is very important to the Emersons. Emersons freakout continues as they see more and more gruesome ways that Crange could be murdered and all of it at once completely overwhelms them, all of this unbeknownst to Crange, who is just offended he was yelled at. At the bottom of the wine cellar they reunite and Emerson is sweaty,freaking out and disoriented. Crange tries to get them to calm down and unintentionally shows off the real dead body of a very old-looking Crange. Crange doesn't care much for it,much more excited about the barrels of wine he's just found, but Emerson is effectively shaken.

At the end of the chapter,differently titled Bartender and the Crange, Emerson makes a phonebooth call to... someone, presumably their cult. They express how strong their faith is and how horrible seeing all the different possibilities of Crange dying was before finally saying that they can't do this anymore. They bring up that Crange probably doesn't even need them around. Something's different this time.

They aren't seen again until Crange Gets Attacked by a Bird; where they jump out from an alleyway and tackle Crange to the ground and out of the way of a giant bird and safety. The two have a brief nonchalant chat before the arm busts through the birds corpse and the two run off. Not very far though, as they're almost immediately picked up by the bird-hand monster. Crange presses Emerson on if there's a correlation between weird shit happening to him and Emerson showing up, to which Emerson fumbles through an explanation about the creative mind making connections! Anything can happen,yknow! No one can see the future! Crange asks if maybe he shouldn't be worried then and Emerson affirms that,no, he should definitely be worrying as they are in the midst of some shit. Crange is encouraged by this bout of newfound confidence and screams.He then goes off about how nice it is to have something tangible to be afraid of, as the bird-hand rips itself in half. Crange and Emerson float down to the ground on it's scattered feathers. As they do, Crange comments that he needed something like this to get his mind off of things, Emerson starts to press him on what that means- but he cuts it off with asking them if their bar is still open.

They are seen briefly at the start of Crange gets high with the Pod People, trying and failing to make things a little less awkward with Crange and retreating to the backroom when that falls through. Emerson is then immediately knocked out and podded. They aren't seen again until the end of the chapter when they fall out of the backroom. They're fine,don't worry.

In Crange gets Sick,Emerson is seen in a whole new knockoff Mcdonalds outfit. It's also revealed that they have backup plans in case Crange dies, as shown in Crange Gets Sick when Emerson completely revamps the bar after assuming that's the case. At the beginning of the chapter they're seen frantically trying to keep themselves calm in the face of Crange's presumed death- Crange then walks through the door,incredibly sick. Emerson awkwardly asks if he's alive and Crange says that he's more than alive,he's sick! He then coughs all over Emersons face, and they tell him he has to get out of the bar, he's really sick. He doesn't and the last time we see Emerson they are in quarantine.

Emerson is seen again in Crange Takes Himself Out, along with two other Emersons,actually! One with a scar, who is assigned to Assassin Crange and one with no discernible features but a sense of humor,at least. The three of them surround and knock out Assassin Crange as he tries to kill our main good boy, but in the attack, our funny Emerson gets shot in the arm and our Emerson with the scar is the one who knocks him unconscious with a metal bat. Emerson watches Crange from across the street as he eats a steak the size of his face, and the one with the scar asks if that's their Crange. Emerson says it is and the scarred Emerson comments that they could've been saddled with way worse, the bleeding Emerson notices them talking about him and jokes about Crange being in "self-satisfaction mode", finding his lack of focus funny. Emerson,who's obviously embarrassed, asks them to take a break and the other two remind them that it's good to distance themselves, as Crange will never really give a shit about them, no matter what they do. The Crange are only good for the Wristchapel. The jokey Emerson says to take it from themselves and not fall in love with their Crange. Though it's sort of implied by Emerson staring at Crange from across the street while blushing, that our Emerson already has.

Assassin Crange wakes up and gets the drop on the three of them,headbutting Scar Emerson and kicking the other two into each other. He hops up on the window sill and calls them all dumb suckers, saying that they can't even begin to comprehend the nightmare they're trying to release on them all. He finishes up by saying he's tried to help, but not anymore. He throws himself backwards out of the window and the Scarred Emerson yells and runs after him. They both smash into the concrete below, to their deaths. Emerson looks on, clearly nervous, while their counterpart comments on what a mess they are.