I have just launched the new website for “The Evil Pin Club.” I know burying the idea of doing good under the title of “evil” might be a huge marketing mistake (see image above), but at the end of the day, if I ever wanted to make my new enamel pin club work, I really needed to combine two major parts of my life, that seemingly constantly conflict: the horror genre and the idea that more businesses should do good.
“Horror” and “Social Good” usually are not placed into the same category. While there’s some talk of horror actually helping people by giving them a dopamine ride or showing them that fear can be conquered safely, it’s generally regarded as the outcast of genre media, with many concerned parents trying to protect their kids from it (I had a friend tell me she had turned off my Facebook feed since my paintings were scaring her daughter).
Regardless, trying to champion feminism with a genre that often relegates women to topless murder victims can be complicated, to say the least. Reconciling how “the Black guy always dies first” or HP Lovecraft’s rampant racism with Black Lives Matter isn’t always easy either (but thank you, Jordan Peele, for making this sooo much easier). That said, in the classic monster movies I watched as a kid, I often cheered for the monsters to win. Why? Because I related to the monsters.
As a kid, I read a lot of books. Mainly, because I could read much more horrific things in books than I was allowed to watch on TV or in the movies. I also read a lot of books because I was alone a lot of the time, and I also really didn’t like meeting new people because I had a speech impediment (I literally couldn’t even pronounce my own name correctly). So when I watched “Creature From the Black Lagoon” for the first time, I was sort of disappointed that the Gill Man was shot and killed at the end.
Sure, he had killed a few people, but they sort of freaked out and attacked him first. He was just chilling in his Black Lagoon when a bunch of scientist peeps came in and invaded. I thought it was vastly unfair. Godzilla saves Japan time and time again, but they still banish him to Monster Island. In fiction, often time good wins out over evil. The evil is banished, killed, or sent crawling home, while the good guys rejoice in their victory.
However, in the real world, I learned that “good” is often perverted for terrible purposes. When I was 8 years old, my aunt was stabbed to death by her husband, a supposed “good guy.” Popular kids pick on the “weird” ones. I grew up watching as police beat and kill the people they are supposed to protect. I watched as spiritual leaders take advantage of children they were supposed to protect.
Today, elected officials choose to pass laws that line their own pockets rather than helping their constituency. Men in power sexual assault their peers. A large part of the country supported a racist, lying, misogynistic egotist to lead the country.
If the mainstream “good” is like this, I figured, with my love of horror and my mission to make the world a better place, maybe it’s up to “evil” to change things up. This is why I started up the Evil Pin Club: the enamel pin club where Evil Does Good.
So I hope you like the new site and choose to join me in my quest to create thoughtful horror and macabre enamel pins. Join up today and let’s show the world how much good “Evil” can do.
-Rick
PS – The original Evil Pin Club over on Patreon will still stay alive as long as I have people there who support it, but I’ll be doing most of the future of the EPC over here.