Levitone

The new demon that appears in The Horror story arc in "The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club" issues 5 and 6 is not a new creation. I came up with the character back when I was in High School. In fact, it's one of a handful of my characters that predates Cactus Joe the Clown.

I created a lot of Demons when I was in High School. I was a horror film fanatic, and I was reading Todd McFarlane's "Spawn" on a regular basis. Throw in the fact that I had always had a mild obsession with the supernatural, and you end up with a kid that spends far too much time doodling monsters in his notebook. In retrospect, I'm surprised my parents weren't more worried about me than they were. Anyway, I drew a lot of monsters and demons. Around the same time, I was also obsessed with anything Clive Barker related. Which is where the concept of "The Leviathan" came from. Now, of course, traditionally, a Leviathan is a mythical sea creature that plagued sailors, and also could be used as a nickname for larger whales. But in Barker's worlds, the name took on a new significance. In "Hellraiser II" the Lord of Hell is revealed to be Leviathan, a rotating, diamond shaped, tower that shown of a horrifying black light across the endless labrynths of Hell. Whoa. I don't know why, but the combination of that name with that visual image haunted me. Then I read "The Great and Secret Show" and "Everville". In those books, there were these creatures that, I'm not sure if they had a name or not, but they were referred to as Leviathans at one point. And they were these gigantic, menacing creatures from another dimension that, if I remember correctly, their skin was constantly peeling away, revealing the rotten organs underneath, only for the skin to grow back. They were portrayed as being so humongous that the very idea of trying to combat them physically seemed futile. Again, the idea sent a visual spark right through my mind.

So, I found myself thinking about Hell Leviathans. Around this same time, I was also obsessed with H.P. Lovecraft, so I was also drawing Squid-type creatures a lot. So, I kinda crammed a lot of these ideas together, and what I ended up with was this gigantic, albino squid demon with cold, black eyes. I immediately knew that this monstrosity ate souls, and as such I designed his mouth to look like a cage, and you could see peoples souls trying futilely to escape. In the original drawings, this creature was so humongous that I never actually drew his entire body. I called this strange creation Levitone, which was a slight modification on Leviathan.

Years passed, and I waited for my chance to bring this demon into the TORCverse. Levitone's first actual appearance is in "Truth or Consequences Monthly" #4 page 12, when his demonic spirit is summoned to the Earth Plane (along with a bunch of other demons). You can see him on Panel 3, right in front of Old One Eye. He is openly identified by Toldos and Rakor on page 21, who claim that he is the strongest of all of the demons that have been summoned. Levitone would resurface on the last page of the Cactus Joe story in "SDF: Crumpled Planet". There is a scene where a group of men are at a hotel in Faunatown, IL. All of these men are well dressed, and one casts an ominous shadow. Levitone is the one on the far left. (Funfact: The demons in that scene, from left to right are: Levitone, Old One Eye, Luther Dirge, Toldos, Rakor, and Zarathon) Levitone would bide his time, consuming souls and becoming stronger, waiting for his chance to kill the Clown. That chance has now come.

Issues 5&6 of "The Hot Fudge Sundae Adventure Club" are now available from TORC Press. They are $2.50 plus a $1.50 S&H each, and can acquired by sending a check or money order to: TORC Press, c/o Joseph Morris, 330 S 5th St SW, Clay City, IL 62824. Or you can Paypal me at: cactusfnjoe@hotmail.com. Demon Fight!