Ernest P. Worrell Goes to Comics For His First Adventure Since 1998

Writer Corey Perkins will team with illustrator M Arief Russanto and colorist Mariam Yasser to bring the character of Ernest P. Worrell back to life with Ernest & the Dream Stone, a new, spooky comedy story being crowdfunded starting next month. The book, a trailer for which you can see below, has been in development for a couple of years, and is being developed with the franchise’s rightsholders. The late actor Jim Varney, who played Ernest onscreen, obviously can’t endorse the project, but his biographer and cousin appears in the trailer to say it was the kind of thing Varney would have loved.

“If you’re an Ernest fan, rest assured over the last couple of years we poured over the script making the story as strong, on brand, and Ernest-y as possible,” Perkins wrote on the project’s Facebook page. “Even the dialogue reads so that you can hear Ernest’s voice on the page!”  

Ernest was originally created as a regional pitchman — but with a twist. Rather than being the mascot for a single company, the character — played by Varney, and created by Varney and an ad executive named John Cherry. When his Nashville-based ads started to become a sensation — something Hats Off Entertainment calls “the original viral star” — Ernest went on to become a bona fide movie star and pop culture phenomenon. After having done hundreds of commercials as Ernest, Varney appeared in a series of shorts, followed by nine — yes, nine! — feature films.

He made his non-commercial debut in a Saturday morning sketch comedy series, Hey Vern, It’s Ernest!, for which Varney earned a Daytime Emmy Award. The movies started in 1987 with Ernest Goes to Camp. The movie, which starred Varney alongside a cast of mostly-unknowns that included future Supernatural standout Richard Speight Jr. and beloved character actors Iron Eyes Cody and John Vernon. The movie, made for a reported budget of $3.5 million, made $23.5 million at the domestic box office and became a staple of the video rental market, where it would continue to make a profit for years to come.

That movie, and the next four, all went to theaters. By 1993, the box office draw of Ernest had started to wane, but he still connected with audiences at video stores around the country. While the movies rarely connected with critics, audiences — epsecially kids — loved Ernest. That, combined with how cheap the movies were to make, made Ernest one of the safest franchises in Hollywood.

The Kickstarter campaign for Ernest & the Dream Stone will run from September 17th until October 17th, ending just in time for spooky season. You can sign up for notifications here.