Evil Ernie (1991): Why Were Horror Comics So Extreme?

There are few characters in comic books more Metal than Evil Ernie. He's got the hair, the jacket, the attitude, and oh, he's also dead. In our continuing celebration of October, we deep dive into the original 5 issues of Evil Ernie collected in the trade "Youth Gone Wild". We of course talk about the obvious Metal influences contained within the pages, but we also saw this as a reflection of the mental health crisis happening with America's youth in the late 80s and early 90s. There's a lot of to unpack in this read demonstrating that comics really are social and cultural artifacts from their times. Chapters 00:00 Intro and Comic Talk 12:15 Historical Context 20:53 Chaos! Comics 25:56 Ernie as Abused and Neglected 30:43 Rise of Reported Abuse in the 80s 39:58 Smiley the Psychotic Button 44:53 The Influence of Heavy Metal 49:17 Cultural References 56:55 Final Words: Explore Small Publishers #chaoscomics #coffincomics #ladydeath #horror #heavymetal #comicsincontext