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Hey Vern! Ernest Gets A Graphic Novel, Knowwhatimean?

The Ernest franchise is getting a revival for the first time in decades as a graphic novel written by Corey Perkins on Kickstarter.

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Article Summary

  • Ernest franchise gets new life as a graphic novel by Corey Perkins.
  • Announced on Ernest Day, the project launched with a Kickstarter campaign.
    • {li>Fans remember Ernest from five cinema releases and four direct-to-video films.
  • Jim Varney's iconic character Ernest P. Worrell to be featured in comic book form.

The Ernest franchise is getting a revival for the first time in decades as a graphic novel written by Corey Perkins and announced on Ernest Day, the 8th of June. Yes, apparently, Ernest has a day. Launching on Kickstarter later this year, there is a holding page for now.

Hey Vern! Ernest Gets A Graphic Novel, Knowwhatimean?

 

I am told that pretty much everyone born in the USA in the seventies and eighties, remembers the Ernest Goes to Camp, Ernest Saves Christmas, Ernest Goes to Jail, Ernest Scared Stupid and Ernest Rides Again ? But it seems no one else does. I was born in 1972 and I haven't seen one. Is this the USA's equivalent of the Carry On films? Five films were released in cinemas with four more direct-to-video and starred Jim Varney, who later voiced Slinky Dog in Toy Story.

Ernest P. Worrell was originally created by Varney with the Nashville advertising agency Carden & Cherry for various local and national television ad campaigns, beginning with the Beech Bend Park amusement park with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders in 1980, and were followed by Coca-Cola, Chex, and Taco John's.

Always dressed in a denim vest and a baseball cap, Ernest would appeared at the door or window of an unseen neighbour named Vern, structured in a way to allow the viewer to be "Vern", and deliver monologues about the product in question, ending it with a "Knowwhatimean?" catchphrase.

Ernest's first appeared on film in the science fiction horror spoof Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom Beam, before getting a Saturday morning TV sketch comedy series, Hey Vern, It's Ernest! and five Disney movies between 1987 and 1993, followed by four direct-to-video versions, continuing to appear in adverts. Varney died in 2000, but was revived in 2005 in ads as a CGI cartoon, now voiced by John C. Hudgens. And now? A graphic novel version.

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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from The Union Club on Greek Street, shops at Gosh, Piranha and FP. Father of two daughters. Political cartoonist.
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