Dynamite’s relaunch of late 1990’s horror comic icon EVIL ERNIE continues on. With a bold new vision, will the Evil One be worth spending your hard-earned greenbacks on? Major Spoilers puts on a psychotic button and reviews EVIL ERNIE #3…
EVIL ERNIE #3
Writer: Jesse Blaze Snider
Art: Jason Craig
Colorist: Maxflan Araujo
Editor: Joe Rybandt
Publisher: Dynamite Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Previously in EVIL ERNIE: The last two issues have contained the origin-in-progress of Evil Ernie. His parents killed at an early age, Ernest Fairchild was raised by a twisted psychotic of a foster father before embarking on a murder spree of his own as a teenager. Sentenced to death, Ernie was imbued with demonic powers and the ability to see the evil lurking inside people. Now Ernie fights to escape the prison and seek revenge against his inhuman foster father.
KICK IT UP A NOTCH
I gave the first issue of Evil Ernie’s relaunch high praise. It successfully updated the story of the Evil One while simultaneously giving the character some much-needed backstory and pathos. While the setting for the book remains the prison interior, a lot of exciting things are happening in this book.
My first reaction upon finishing this book was that I was blown away by the actions of Smiley, Ernie’s psychotic button. Smiley, who only seems to be a talking lapel pin, was given a lot of time this issue. I could tell that Snider and Craig are having fun with this book, as Smiley was given a lot of amazing moments. While in the past Smiley remained a button, in this issue Smiley reminded me more of a facehugger from the Alien movies. He’s violent, crass, and possible not as helpful to Ernie as one may believe.
But the action doesn’t begin or end with Smiley. Ernie begins the issue in a bad place, and suffers some major damage at the hands of his sick foster father. That damage is later repaid in kind by Ernie in an extremely gruesome way. There’s also a major plot development in the story this issue, which hints at a war between angels and demons being the catalyst of Evil Ernie’s creation. Though this angle isn’t explored this issue, I’m on the edge of my seat wondering where it’s headed.
SPLATTER ZONE
Jason Craig continues to knock the ball out of the park on art. I was very impressed by his renditions of Smiley in action this month, and the fight scenes are all appropriately gruesome. This book reads like a slasher flick from the ‘80s, dripping with ichor. The colors pop vibrantly in this issue.
BOTTOM LINE: A LOT OF FUN, IN A TWISTED SORT OF WAY
Evil Ernie has become a book I can’t wait to read after only three months in print. This is a hyper-violent, horrific tale and as such may not be the right book for everyone. But for mature readers who enjoy a little fright now and then, and aren’t squeamish about entrails, there’s a lot of fun to be had in this book.
DID YOU READ THIS ISSUE? RATE IT!
Reader Rating
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