Jay Mewes cared for his mother as she died of HIV from drug use, escaping into comic books like Vigilante. As a kid he fantasized about the hero eliminating drug dealers, wishing he could eradicate heroin. Years later he tried heroin himself.
Comics were a big part of my life because twofold. One is my mom passed away from HIV. She, she was a dope fiend and she got HIV. And I took care of her at this point, at one point before she passed. And it was really hard. And I would escape by just taking walks to the store to get her stuff. And I would literally fill a backpack full of comics and just read comics like the whole time and just escape in there. And vigilante is a big big one for me because he was a lawyer whose— his family got killed and he went on a spree where he was killing tons of drug dealers. Um, and of course, as a kid, it was like I hated heroin. I mean, years later I wind up trying heroin and become— but up to 21, um, I hated heroin and I hated drugs. And so you, you imagined being that hero. Yes, he was a lawyer by day but vigilante at night, and he would go like if someone got off on a technicality, a drug— big drug dealer I would like imagine like this. I wish I could go do this. I wish I could rid the world of heroin and hardcore drugs.
