Evil Ernie #3

Ernie's quest for revenge continues as he attempts to murder his foster father Buford and comes face to face with an Angel!

The issue pretty much picks up from where it left off in issue 2 with Ernie knee deep in criminals and just about to run out of the arcane energy he relies on to function. As his powers run dry its Buford's time to try and shine but rather than kill Ernie outright, he reveals his desire to steal his power instead. Smiley, Ernies imaginery best friend and button decides its time to take charge and of course an arch angel as mentioned above shows Ernie what his life should have been like before his destiny was altered.

I was suprised to find that this was not in fact the final part of his origin story, i guess hollywood and comic books in general have gotten us so used to everything being wrapped up in 3 issues/3 movies i fully expected the same here. It is however a pleasant suprise and as with all good tales you are left with more questions that answers as the book continues. Several times during the book we are shown again that Ernie is only interested in killing those truely evil people, the innocents for the most part are spared or in the worst case are killed by someone other than Ernie himself, the dark avenger role he has been using definetly fits him well.

The dialogue is written well and actually had me grinning a few times, Ernie has had a few writers over the years and despite that he still sounds like himself, his personality and origin may have undergone some changes but he still acts and talks like our undead friend from all those years ago. Smiley is now his own character too and no longer relegated to comic relief, he has his own agenda as we began to see last issue and he wont allow anyone to stop his plan from progressing be he human or otherwise. The art is way more consistant this time around too and it definetly feels that Jason Craig is really getting used to Ernie's world and the characters inhabiting it which is great to see.

This has once again been in my top 5 comics of the month and is one i am eagerly awaiting each month, it is a welcome break from costumed heroes and mutant Ninjas and has given me little reason to worry since i first started reading it. The writing is as always great as mentioned above, Snider has managed to balance the horror and violence in the book with an interesting narritive and whilst its not going to appeal to everyone, it will keep fans old and new sitting on the edge of their seats until January rolls around.