by: Jason Dyer

I wage a one man war to return my favorite comic book character Evil Ernie back to print. While other kids in the 90’s were reading the X-Men, with their multiple pouch uniforms. Or Superman who was red and blue for some reason, I was busy reading Evil Ernie from Chaos! Comics. I was convinced he was the best, the strongest, the most powerful superhero (well he was more an anti-hero but I digress) of all time. I debated Evil Ernie Vs Superman, Evil Ernie Vs The Hulk, Evil Ernie Vs Darth Vader with my fellow comic loving friends. To me at the time, it seemed as if Evil Ernie was unstoppable, looking back now I was so very wrong.

Evil Ernie started his publishing history with Eternity Comics in 1991 with a 5 issue limited series. In 1993 Evil Ernie along with Lady Death (who was created in the first issue of Evil Ernie) was the flagship titles for the upstart independent company Chaos! Comics. Evil Ernie was the second most successful comic for the company, only behind Lady Death. Trouble began with the bankruptcy of Chaos! Comics, and the subsequent selling of all their assets including Evil Ernie in 2001. Soon after bankruptcy Devil’s Due Publishing picked up the right to Evil Ernie along with several other characters. In 2002 Devil’s Due published a few issue of Evil Ernie but soon pulled the book “due to low sale”. Evil Ernie was not seen again for 3 years; in 2005 Evil Ernie in Santa Fe a 4 issue miniseries was released. This removed Evil Ernie from the Chaos! universe brining him into Devil’s Due universe, soon after Evil Ernie was seen in Hack/Slash: The Final Revenge of Evil Ernie. At the end of this issue Evil Ernie sacrificed himself to save Cassie Hack, thus leaving him “dead” in the Devil’s Due universe.

It has been over 5 years since Evil Ernie has seen print, this upsets me greatly. I think it’s hard for anyone to see their favorite comic book character not being used. Its one thing for him not to have his own title but the fact that he is not used in any of their books is a travesty. Perhaps it’s the fact that Evil Ernie was so closely tied to Lady Death, and the fact that Lady Death is won by a different company. But I highly doubt this, comics are a business and they must feel that no one wants to see this character. My personal feeling is they have forgotten about this property, and it only takes on writer to want to use him in their book.

I implore all fans of horror comics to email Devil’s Due Publishing an make your love know of the Evil One. Original, entertaining comic book characters are hard to come by, and we shouldn’t let Evil Ernie fade to distant memory. If you’re looking for blood, guts, a massive body count, and women with massive breasts look no future than an Evil Ernie comic.

How Ernest became Evil:
“Ernest Fairchild was born as extraordinary kid; he inhibited the power of telepathy and precognition. His parents noticed how Ernest was drawing things happening before they actually did. They misunderstood his powers and thought that Ernest makes things happen by drawing them. Being devoted Christians they thought Ernest to be possessed, they saw a priest in these matters, but got no help there. When his father went bankrupt, he started drinking, occasionally hitting Ernest. One time Ernest secret friend, a mouse named smiley dropped down into his mothers coffee cup, his father killed smiley. Ernest being angry with them drew a picture of them hitting a lamp post. Coincidentally his parents drove off the road and hit a tree. His father was in a coma for a while and mother lost a baby. His parents still thinking that Ernest's drawing was the reason they crashed, feared him. Over time Ernest's life descended into hell. His abusive parents and lack of any friends made him a very lonely child. After being relentlessly beaten he told his school about how his parents beat him, his parents denied the charges and said he was uncontrollable. The school requested he be taken to a psychiatrist. Doctor Price believed that Ernie's problems were so ingrained into his subconscious that he would need to use his experimental Dream Probe which would put Ernie into a deep sleep. While Doctor Price worked, Ernie dreamed. He dreamed of a large endless graveyard with a beautiful caretaker who called herself Lady Death. Seeing his potential for destruction, Lady Death told Ernie that in exchange for killing everyone on the planet she would love him forever.”

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