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Evil Ernie (Chaos!) #1
Evil Ernie: Youth Gone Wild!
dark-comedy-graphic-novels-comics
150 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
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98 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 25, 2016
If you've heard of Chaos! Comics, it is due to Lady Death and Evil Ernie. Also, you were probably reading comics in the 90s. Once the duo became popular in the mid-90s, it was basically impossible to get a copy of the original Evil Ernie stories, which were published by Eternity Comics (with what I imagine to be an almost non-existent print run). Enter Evil Ernie: Youth Gone Wild, which is a reprinting of the original 5-issue series, giving fans a means to read the characters' origin stories.
It's actually rather simple, for comic books at least. A young boy is taken to a shrink by his parents for being withdrawn, and they ask him to help their son. So the doctor hooks the boy up to a dream machine to.. do something. I don't know, it's a comic book. Unbeknownst to the doctor, the parents are physically abusing their son, which causes the dream machine to do strange things...
While in the dream state, young Ernie meets Lady Death, who saves him from his parents (in his dream). He falls in love with his savior, this master of death and hater of all things living. So he decides to kill people out of his love for her.
That's the premise of Evil Ernie and Lady Death. She is manipulating the misplaced love of an abused kid in order to bring death to humanity. I mean, for all of the ways this entire series uses blatant sex and violence to sell comics, it's not a bad premise.
The above is presented as flashbacks to our actual tale, in which Ernie is in an insane asylum for murdering about 40 people. Some new doctor wants to attempt to cure him, things go sideways, and zombies zombies everywhere.
As usual with such things, some people will complain about the violence and some people will complain about Lady Death's outfit, or lack thereof. These were books targeted at teenage boys. 'nuff said.
It's actually rather simple, for comic books at least. A young boy is taken to a shrink by his parents for being withdrawn, and they ask him to help their son. So the doctor hooks the boy up to a dream machine to.. do something. I don't know, it's a comic book. Unbeknownst to the doctor, the parents are physically abusing their son, which causes the dream machine to do strange things...
While in the dream state, young Ernie meets Lady Death, who saves him from his parents (in his dream). He falls in love with his savior, this master of death and hater of all things living. So he decides to kill people out of his love for her.
That's the premise of Evil Ernie and Lady Death. She is manipulating the misplaced love of an abused kid in order to bring death to humanity. I mean, for all of the ways this entire series uses blatant sex and violence to sell comics, it's not a bad premise.
The above is presented as flashbacks to our actual tale, in which Ernie is in an insane asylum for murdering about 40 people. Some new doctor wants to attempt to cure him, things go sideways, and zombies zombies everywhere.
As usual with such things, some people will complain about the violence and some people will complain about Lady Death's outfit, or lack thereof. These were books targeted at teenage boys. 'nuff said.
April 19, 2014
I enjoyed the read, but I was expecting a lot more after reading Evil Ernie's cross over with Hack/Slash. There we see Evil Ernie as a sympathetic lovelorn guy looking for someone to replace Death. His pen talks an adds another dimension to the character, plus he's funny. In Youth Gone Wild it's essentially a zombie movie very much akin to early George A Romero, which I am a fan of, but not what I expected coming in. Ernie is still in the pursuit of "love", but it's really just lust. It's not as compelling. Ernie is just killing people left and right because he wants to F**k Lady Death. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the story despite my listed grivences. There's good humor here and Ernie, Price, and Lady Death are amazingly drawn. The story is just a little flat. Still entertaining though from beginning to end.
October 2, 2012
One of my favorite comics as a rebellious teenager. in fact, I have smiley tattooed on my chest! The series that brought out Lady Death. a very counterculture and violent comic. Well worth the read.
July 26, 2023
4/5 ✩
• I absolutely love the character designs, specifically for Evil Ernie and Lady Death - they're totally iconic from the moment you lay eyes on them; I love that you call see how much Hughes loved drawing these characters
• the art and styling takes delight in the chaos and gore of the story, it makes the gruesome imagery into something fun to take in
• the story itself isn't deep, however, it isn't meant to be, it's very much intended to be fun insanity
• the ending was a little underwhelming, but it still made me want to read more of Evil Ernie's stories
• I absolutely love the character designs, specifically for Evil Ernie and Lady Death - they're totally iconic from the moment you lay eyes on them; I love that you call see how much Hughes loved drawing these characters
• the art and styling takes delight in the chaos and gore of the story, it makes the gruesome imagery into something fun to take in
• the story itself isn't deep, however, it isn't meant to be, it's very much intended to be fun insanity
• the ending was a little underwhelming, but it still made me want to read more of Evil Ernie's stories
April 17, 2025
Another foray into 1990s alternative comics for me. This one is a bit like a Megadeth album cover come to life. A ghoulish serial killer with a supernatural element leads an army of zombies on a rampage as a means of wooing the personification of death. Not a lot deeper than that going on between these pages, but you can't argue that it doesn't deliver on the premise. The 90s aesthetic had me thinking about the Chick Tracts of my youth, and this is probably what all secular comics look like in the Jack Chick universe.
November 21, 2025
I don't hate this but it is definitely something more suited to a 12 year old if 12 year olds could read something ultra violent and gore ridden. A product of its time. I feel like this character and concept could actually make for something much better IF they could find a way to make it a bit less childlike. Would love an evil Ernie movie or show if it could get a better writer for it.
January 8, 2018
An extremely dark comic about a disturbed young man who is on a mission to kill as many people as possible creates a plague of undead.
Recommended to me by listener Tommy B. (@grendeltech)
Read by: Tab
Recommended to me by listener Tommy B. (@grendeltech)
Read by: Tab
April 30, 2018
I appreciate that this is what started it all, but I actually think I prefer the reboot.
Fun though.
Fun though.
June 29, 2019
Very fucking silly, very 90's silly horror. I love it.
January 20, 2021
How can you not *love* the nihilistic nastiness of Evil Ernie & Lady Death?
March 25, 2023
Luv this v much
February 8, 2024
Very cool. Like an 80s slasher movie with a billion dollar budget
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 20, 2025
If you love a good fun campy slasher flick, pick this up! It's a goofy gory fun 90s zombie Rollercoaster.
March 1, 2015
First of the Evil Ernie books -- the first edition Entity (or whatever) comice with covers by Tim Vigil are prohibitively expensive!
Abused by his parents as a child, Ernest Fairchild didn't meet with his parents' social expectations. So they took him to see Dr. Price.
Dr Price put him in his Dream Machine and Lady Death chose Ernie to be her avatar -- and Ernie became Evil Ernie, serial killer. He killed his parents and a majority of his neighborhood before he was captured.
Now it's a few years later and Ernie is the terror of the Criminally Insane -- Dr. Mary Young says she has a cure.
HER Dream Machine kills Ernie, but he comes back as king of the Zombies (he calls them his Dead Onez) and Lady Death, who he loves, has set him the task of freeing her from the land of the dead (Hell) by killing every living being on the Earthly Plain, but Ernie wants revenge on Drs Price and Young first!
collects 1-5
Abused by his parents as a child, Ernest Fairchild didn't meet with his parents' social expectations. So they took him to see Dr. Price.
Dr Price put him in his Dream Machine and Lady Death chose Ernie to be her avatar -- and Ernie became Evil Ernie, serial killer. He killed his parents and a majority of his neighborhood before he was captured.
Now it's a few years later and Ernie is the terror of the Criminally Insane -- Dr. Mary Young says she has a cure.
HER Dream Machine kills Ernie, but he comes back as king of the Zombies (he calls them his Dead Onez) and Lady Death, who he loves, has set him the task of freeing her from the land of the dead (Hell) by killing every living being on the Earthly Plain, but Ernie wants revenge on Drs Price and Young first!
collects 1-5
Read
August 7, 2011i had no idea what to expect when i opened this book. Turns out Brian Pulido has a 13-year old horror fanboy deep down in his adult mind ready to burst forth Freddy-style. Great 80's teen slasher megadeath fun!
February 23, 2013
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome
May 23, 2015
What the hell have I just read. It was totally disturbing and waste of my free time.
Ani ta kresba mě nemohla zaujmout.
Ani ta kresba mě nemohla zaujmout.
April 4, 2012
LOVED IT!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews