Being a fan of Evil Ernie the series just wasn't as engaging, exciting, or interesting as past entries. I also felt the art wasn't as good as its been in the past. Most of the comics in newer series have been pretty good, so this was quite a disappointment.

I haven't read much of Evil Ernie before, just a crossover he did with Hack/Slash. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but I sure did enjoy this book. It was entertaining and deeper than I expected. The battle of Heaven and Hell against another force, with Ernie representing Hell. The philosophical ideas are entwined with a good amount of action and dashes of humor. I am looking forward to reading more of Evil Ernie in the future.

I got the review this graphic novel briefly. From what I did read, I enjoyed the characters and the plot line.

This was my first introduction to the Evil Ernie comic series. I plan on buying them all! The storyline was intriguing and thrilling. I loved the illustrations, and even without knowing the origins of Evil Ernie, I had no problem jumping in with this series. Definitely a must read for horror and thrill fans!

Gorgeous illustrations and an interesting story line, looking forward to getting this in store as I'm sure it'll look even better in real life.

This was hit and miss for me. I didn't know what was going on at the beginning of this book. The pacing was way too fast. But I loved the art and Ernie and Smiley's snarkiness. The joke about Kansas and Sam Brownback was hilarious.

There's also a backup story featuring Chastity vs. Mistress Hel. It was OK.

Looks OK – but only at times – and makes sense – until the end of the title page. After that, who knows? Pish.

Interesting story and plot line, both intriguing and fast-paced! Loved Ernie's cocky and foul-mouthed badge as well as his interactions with the Devil and Hel.
My only negative would be that the art(although very atmospheric) can be difficult to follow at times.

Evil Ernie was a cult favorite years back and helped to bring Lady Death into Mainstream comics. Its demonic and ultra violent bent appealed to fans of the old Vampirella comics of Harris. Unfortunately this one edition does not match up to what came before and is a weak book on story and art.

It's been a long time since I picked up an Evil Ernie comic. This one isn't bad. I particularly enjoy the *ahem* jab at Kansas. I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but suffice it to say if you aren't a fan of Kansas' current political climate, you'll find it humorous. I certainly did. I forgot how much I liked the Ernest Fairchild and Smiley. You won't be disappointed.

Really beautifully illustrated tale of mythic proportions. The art is better than the story, but that said, the story is better than most in the genre of supernatural bad boy heros and their good girl opposites. In this tale, the eater of gods and devils is escaping to end everything and the only way to wn is to do the impossible, to join heaven and hell.

I was torn on how many stars to give this collection of the Evil Ernie series arc "Godeater". There were both good points and bad.

Overall, I really enjoyed Ernie and Smiley (Ernie's smiley-face button who emotes more than Ernie himself usually. He gives good "Uh Ernie, you're KIDDING right?!" face.) Their snarky banter is fun. I could have used some more of it however, as the comic story arc itself is very short on exposition. All you really need to know about Ernie himself is pretty much there. He's deadly, demonically glowly green inside his undead little ribcage, and has a sidekick who is typical in that he's a generator of some good comic relief. Ernie loves mayhem, death, and more mayhem. He doesn't like taking orders. He was a great match to everything I love in a main character. However, we get exactly one panel of his backstory. One. And it wasn't even a very clear one art-wise as to what that story was. One panel of just artwork does not a backstory make. Perhaps it's because Ernie himself, as a comic property, has a few backstories, and has been sold on from one company to another, etc. But fine, as I said, we basically know everything we need to about Ernie anyway. His previous (un)life doesn't matter for the purposes of this story.

For what it's worth the "Godeater" story does continue in a similar vein to previous incarnations of Evil Ernie in him being an anti-heroic figure - one who is evil, yet punishes the sinners he finds. Ernie is ever controlled by both sides of the good/evil fight although through his own free choice, he's picked the Dark Side, as it were. The Chosen help for this story's fight has some similarities in creation story, but has chosen Heaven. And here we reach the nitty-gritty and all exposition is lost. Good vs. Bad. The Greater Evil makes Good and Bad join up (no spoiler, this is all clear in Issue One). And it's all action from here on out. A few lines are spoken here and there, but give no real clues as to what the character may be thinking or feeling throughout the action. Beginning writers are often told to 'show, don't tell', and it feels much like that advice was too strictly taken to heart by writer Justin Jordan. One large problem with that is that Jordan is no beginner to writing or comics. I admit that I'm not familiar enough with his body of work to judge whether what he's done with Evil Ernie is just an aberration or not. So I'm forced to award barely 2 stars on story. I feel the bare necessities were handled but more could have been done in the vein of character development or inner voice.

Some people have criticized the comic's artwork style as being unusual, with lines that are 'too thick' and colors that aren't bright enough. I enjoyed the artists's style a great deal and applaud the color choices. The darkness of the comic, character, storyline, etc. demand darker color choices and heavier line work. So I give two thumbs up for creativity and artistic license in this artwork. And towards the end, the brighter, more usually favored colors do enter the picture as Heavenly forces come into play in the panels more often and intensely. I also absolutely adore the cover art for each of the issues of this arc. Evil Ernie is portrayed in take offs of classic popular works. I would love to have just the artwork for a couple of the covers framed and on my walls. The tongue in cheek nods to even something like Norman Rockwell's September 20th, 1958 Saturday Evening Post cover made me grin happily. I do also want to note one snarkily amusing pop culture political reference in the Smiley line, "I guess that explains Brownback." So there was definitely some real thought, talent, and heart that went into the artwork in this comic. No, it's not the usual. And that is what makes it great. Bravo to artist Colton Worley! 5 stars for artwork. This title is worth it just for the artwork. An opinion that lovers of the 'classics' are going to disagree with.

So, overall, 3 stars for this comic arc. If you're a fan of heavy metal (I kept wanting to call Ernie, "Eddie" in this most recently rendered form-think Iron Maiden), horror, darkness, death, mayhem, not sticking to strict artistic tropes, snark, and comics, this may be a book for you. However, if you prefer a lot of story, exposition, character development, and more typical comic art, this Evil Ernie collection is not going to be your cup of tea.

There is one more major note here: Extra conceptual artwork is included in the final pages, which is very interesting to see. But I'm still very glad they chose the concept of Ernie that they did. I feel it was the best depiction and style.

There's also a short story bonus comic included to round out the book. It's written by Keith Davidson and the artist is Cezar Razek, and is titled "Last Ditch Bitch". It features Mistress Hel and the vampiric Chastity battling for a death metal band singer's soul which Hel wants to use to start Ragnarok. This brief tale is done in classic comic artwork style, and has the normal amount of exposition. For being a short tale, I found it highly enjoyable, coherent, and well done. I'd buy this particular tale as a continuation if they could figure out a way to expand upon the storyline and characters within it, especially the singer, Liv Halvorsen. A lot could be done there with the links to Norse mythology and Liv's parentage.

Obligatory disclaimer ahead! I received "Evil Ernie: Godeater" free and without obligation from the publisher and Netgalley. This review wasn't influenced by anything other than my honest reactions to the title.

Dynamite Reboot

As I understand it, Evil Ernie has been around, as a character, since 1991. He's gone through lots of changes and a couple of backstories. Over time he's changed from being a psychotic muderer to something more powerful and mythic. He has almost unlimited power and seems to have one foot in Hell and one foot in Heaven. Most importantly, from an entertainment perspective, he always has Smiley, the psychotic, wise-cracking, comic relief smiley button, clipped to his lapel and ready for action. That's pretty much all you need to know, (and pretty much all I knew, since this character has only recently been rebooted by Dynamite), in order to enjoy "Godeater".

Bottom line on that - Godeater is, well, a god eater and he wants to escape his current prison in order to eat gods. MILD SPOILER. Heaven and Hell aren't in love with that plan, and so turn to Evil Ernie for help. As you might imagine, major mayhem and serious sarcasm are the consequence. Since Ernie usually looks like a wickedly powerful cross between Alice Cooper and Howard Stern, and because Smiley is reliably funny, I was good for the entire book. (This edition collects the five most recent Evil Ernie comics, and is a complete story arc.)

This is not mainstream stuff, but there's always room for an Evil Ernie type in any chaotic world, and this Ernie was handled and presented very well. The story itself is sort of blah, but once you get to the level of heaven, hell and godeaters mixing it up you're usually plotted into a corner anyway, so this is one of those arcs that you just need to sort of go with. I was happy with this as a change of pace. (Didn't like much of anything about the bonus short story, so no comment there.) (Please note that I received a free advance will-self-destruct-in-x-days Adobe Digital copy of this book without a review requirement, or any influence regarding review content should I choose to post a review. Apart from that I have no connection at all to either the author or the publisher of this book.)

Interesting art style and story line. Nothing that amazing, but worth checking out all the same.

I've been hankering for something goosebumps-inducing lately. Based on the cover, the title, and the description, I thought this would hit the spot.

The art is interesting and dark. I'm not an expert, but as a casual reader of graphic novels, I enjoyed the art. It's dark and ominous. There's aren't many colors, but there are nice details that make the illustrations more interesting. The main story with Evil Ernie doesn't look like your usual comic book, but I don't mind. There's a short segment at the end that is illustrated in a much brighter, comic book style. But it's a very short segment, so I won't comment as it's not really part of the main story.

Now on to the writing. The writing is weak. The dialogue is irritating. I wish that more effort was put into creating a rich story and well-developed characters. As the reader, I had no idea what the characters are thinking or doing. There's not much exposition (which isn't a criticism in and of itself), but because the story moved so quickly with no true character development, I think that it made the story weak.

Visually, it was enjoyable. But I would have loved to see more of the characters outside of the fighting. Basically the whole story is just action, action, action. Nothing there to tell me who Ernie is or what that talking smiley pin has to do with anything. I would have enjoyed a little bit of back story and exposition. Everything moved so fast that I didn't have time to be invested in any of the characters.