Evil Ernie: Straight to Hell #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeEvil Ernie: Straight to Hell #1 is the first comic book appearance of Chastity, a punk-rock vampire assassin who became one of the most enduring characters in Chaos! Comics' shared horror universe and a defining figure in the 1990s 'Bad Girls' movement. Her introduction here — sent to kill Evil Ernie while he descends into Hell hunting for Lady Death — demonstrated the publisher's strategy of spinning major new characters out of ongoing storylines rather than launching them cold, a model that proved remarkably effective at expanding reader investment. The issue also deepened the Chaos! cosmology by bringing Purgatori, Cremator, and Lady Death's absence together into a single plot, showcasing the interconnected shared universe Pulido was building. Chastity went on to headline multiple solo series across two publishers and remains active under Dynamite Entertainment's Chaos! imprint today.
In "Beyond the Black," Ernie’s desperate search for Lady Death leads him into the shattered ruins of the Endless Graveyard, where he learns Cremator has torn apart the afterlife—setting off a chain of chaos that reaches even into New York, where Chastity is sent to eliminate him. With Purgatori’s spell cutting him off from his dreams, Ernie must face both the darkness of hell and the betrayal of those who once stood beside him. Written by Brian Pulido and illustrated by Justiniano, with colors by Jason Jensen and letters by Richard Starkings and Comicraft, the cover by Steven Hughes captures the grim intensity of a world unraveling.
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The issue was written by Brian Pulido and illustrated by interior artist Josue Justiniano, with a cover by co-founder Steven Hughes — the same creative team responsible for much of the Chaos! house style during its mid-1990s peak. Chaos! Comics, co-founded by Pulido and Hughes in Scottsdale, Arizona after Pulido's earlier Evil Ernie work at Eternity Comics, had by 1995 grown into one of the largest independent publishers in North America, with a devoted fan community. The series was preceded by a 16-page color prologue issue (numbered #-1) co-published with Wizard magazine in September 1995, providing readers a narrative on-ramp before the main five-issue run launched the following month. A premium special edition of issue #1 was produced alongside the standard printing, limited to 10,000 copies.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Chastity (Chastity Marks), a vampire assassin and one of the most prominent characters in the Chaos! Comics shared universe, confirmed across Grand Comics Database and multiple wiki sources.
- Script by Brian Pulido; interior art by Josue Justiniano; cover by Steven Hughes (October 1995, Chaos! Comics).
- Story title: 'Beyond the Black.' Purgatori's spell blocks Ernie from dream-visiting Lady Death, sending him to Hell where he finds the Endless Graveyard destroyed and Lady Death missing.
- Cameo appearances by Cremator and Purgatori; full appearances include Evil Ernie, Smiley, Lady Death, and Dr. Leonard Price, establishing the wide cast of the Chaos! shared universe.
- The series ran for five issues (Oct 1995–early 1996); a 16-page color prologue (issue #-1) was co-published with Wizard magazine in September 1995 as a lead-in.
- A premium special edition of issue #1 was produced, limited to 10,000 copies.
- Chastity has since starred in multiple solo series: her own Chaos!-era titles, a 2014 Dynamite miniseries written by Marc Andreyko, crossovers including Swords of Sorrow and Hack/Slash vs. Chastity, and a 2019 Dynamite volume written by Leah Williams.
- In 1997, horror writer Nancy A. Collins filed a copyright infringement suit claiming Chastity's character and storyline were derived from her character Sonja Blue; the lawsuit was ultimately dropped by both parties without a monetary settlement.
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