Evil Ernie Gets Rebooted at Dynamite #SDCC

Anyone who grew up reading comic books in the 1990′s probably remembers Chaos! Comics and Evil Ernie.  Ernie achieved a decent amount of popularity during that decade, although never enough to push him very far into the mainstream of comics.  In 2002, when Chaos! Comics went bankrupt and out of business, Evil Ernie and the bulk of the Chaos! Universe disappeared into oblivion (with the exception of Lady Death, who was bought by Avatar Press) and were mostly forgotten.  However, after purchasing the rights to almost all of the Chaos! characters, Dynamite has announced that it will be re-booting Evil Ernie into an ongoing series beginning this October.

To quote from the Dynamite Entertainment press release…

Dynamite Entertainment is proud to announce the classic Chaos! character Evil Ernie returns to comics from the creative team of writer Jesse Blaze Snider and artist Jason Craig!  In the world of Evil Ernie, an eternal conflict has existed for all time, a war between good and evil, Heaven and Hell, God and the Devil.  And with Ardian Syaf, Nick Bradshaw, Tim Seeley, and Dan Brereton on covers, make sure to jump on board Evil Ernie for this wickedly-wild ride this coming October 2012!

In Evil Ernie #1, Ernest Fairchild was a kind and gentle soul…until one day something in him snapped, leading him to one of the most notorious killing sprees in American history. With 665 kills to his name, “Evil Ernie” requires ONE more murder to complete the ritual he started and seal his deal with the Devil. Problem is: he’s just been EXECUTED! What led an ordinary boy to become a leather-clad angel of death? How does he wield such blasphemous power? And what is the secret behind his hideous smiley-face button?  Make sure to pick up Part One of “Origin of Evil” in Evil Ernie #1 this October!

One of the more interesting aspects of this announcement, which was made during the San Diego Comic Con, is the creative team.  Jesse Blaze Snider, the son of Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider, has been writing comics for quite a while now.  His best known work includes his creator-owned Dead Romeo graphic novel series and his work on BOOM!’s Toy Story.  Yes, children, the writer of the Toy Story comics is now writing Evil Ernie.  Jason Craig, who will be providing the art for Evil Ernie, had a comic career dating back to the early 1990′s, although he did leave that behind for an advertising career for a time.  Now back to drawing comics professionally, Craig’s best known work so far includes drawing Wildstorm’s Freddy vs Jason vs Ash series.

It will also be interesting to see how Jesse Blaze Snider re-builds the Evil Ernie origin story without being able to use Lady Death.  In the 1990′s Chaos! series, Lady Death played a central role in the Evil Ernie saga, but with her now living over at Avatar Press, well, she ain’t gonna be in this new Evil Ernie series.  Based on the press release soundbite above, it sounds as if the Ernie’s origin story has been re-worked to make him much more of his own character, as opposed to being the genocidal boy toy that he was in the original series.  I guess we’ll find out in October.

In order to give us a look at what this new Evil Ernie series will look like, Dynamite has released some interior art, along with cover art for issue #1…