Was watching Casshern last night with some friends when I saw a great idea I could explore. The Custodians take Enkidu aboard a train or a large cargo jet, exactly like the torture flights the US government is currently involved in.

Circus Phant logo: A bloodshot eyeball wearing a top hat, flanked by either iconic flame or a hypnotic swirl. Something to symbolize the fever dream of ‘phantasmagoria’.

Run by Clarence Peyroux and Matthew Mear. Financed by Matthew’s father, Jacob Mear, an investor and progressive social philanthropist.
What was the Circus like before Clarence found his way into it? And how old was Matthew then? Was it bought for Matthew when he was young, a rich child’s plaything that he later grows into? Or was Jacob a man who used to be a poor circus performer, who made it big and waxes nostalgic about those times? Enough to buy a circus? For his son’s sixth birthday?

And the subversive level of Circus Phant after Matt and Clarence are done changing it? Does Jacob know they do this? And if not, do Clarence and Matthew try to hide it from him? Do some circus actors have a problem of this? Do they betray the circus to Jacob who betrays Clarence to the Patriots, “protecting” his son from Commie influence? Is that what gets Noah captured? Via Jacob Briggs? Shaken down by fears his son and investment is being hijacked by Reds?

And the performers? Who are they? Who are these people who raise Clarence? Who are the good and bad influences in his life? The Forture Teller. The Alligator Man. And others. His very vast family.

And who are the Judases? Who are these self-loathing freaks looking to cure their unique identities?

Qui custodiet ipsos custodes?

The Atomizers- Polished metal rayguns with slights fins and concentric rings around the muzzle. These Buck Rogers-esque weapons are in fact capable of small atomic disintegrations, due in large part to the intensely radioactive isotropes which supply their core. It is because of this that only Custodians (due to genetic immunity from radiation sickness) and Bobby (with his iron hand) are capable of wielding them.

The Atomizers are capable of two beams. The Disintegration beam is a quick, fiery red beam that immediately evaporates and disperses its target into subatomic particles. The Stun beam is a lower grade, less intense radiation that causes an immediate comatose state in the target. This latter setting, used in addition with Prison Cubes, is used for capture missions in which the targets are meant for later study , rather than search-and-destroy.

The Prison Cubes- Used by Custodians to incarcerate their prey without too much conflict or notice, these black glass-like cubes are at first the size of a small child’s block, able to fit in the palm of the hand. When activated, they quickly expand in a microsecond to ‘swallow’ or contain their target and then immediately shrink again, changing their target’s molecular structure so that they too shrink to the cube’s original size. Thus any victim, say a family of four, is captured within a Prison Cube and stored conveniently and discreetly for transportation and later study.

To the captured victim, it would seem to be a large 10’x4 room, with strange etchings in the walls. Victims have no idea how small they’ve been shrunk as they cannot see outside the walls of a Prison Cube. Only a Custodian can activate a Prison Cube’s capability.

Custodians/ Patriots- Faceless agents/probes/information operatives in the service of the Argus Institute. Also known as the Men In Black, most Custodians are originally everyday citizens who have responded to anti-Communist propaganda and military recruiting efforts. Their identities and past are erased, through a series of Orwellian torture and intense behavior modification; their immune systems are later genetically enhanced to handle the intense oncological dangers of their weapons and their tasks and their adrenal glands and internal organs improved for sustainable combat efficiency.

The Argus Institute/JASON Society- The secretive organization overseen by ARPA and the Pentagon and headed by the so-called ‘Wise Men’. Responsible for studying advanced scientific concepts and their application within the military sciences as well as global monitoring of ‘extraordinary’ activity. It is the Argus Institute and its board members that are behind such projects as The Custodians, their weaponry and the MAIU Project (Mechanized Assassination/Infiltration Unit), the codename for Rossum.

Rossum- Built for assassination and post-nuclear warfare, Rossum was built by Alan Turing and other JASONs in an effort to construct a cognitive and intelligent robotic soldier capable of seizing Russian targets and yet incapable of damage from possible nuclear attack. Rossum comes fitted with both energy defenses and small-arms weaponry within his body as well as the ability to construct silicon and fiberglass masks. It is only as a result of his programming (and a flippant comment he overhears a general making) that Rossum begins to question his orders in relation to the so-called Higher Authority (i.e. God).

And who is the master of the Fomorians?

Leviathan ("Twisted; coiled", Standard Hebrew Livyatan) was a Biblical sea monster, referred to in passing in the Old Testament (Psalms 74:13-14; Job 41; Isaiah 27:1)

There's mention of three giant creatures, Behemoth, Leviathan and Ziz (giant ox, sea monster and bird). I can do without Ziz as there's hardly any mention. But there's a helluva lot of mention about Behemoth and Leviathan, primarily that the two of them have the capacity to destroy the world.

Based on Psalm 50:10, Behemoth was created out of 1000 mountains. The Lord deprived him of the ability to procreate so that he would not overpopulate the earth. He appears daily in Paradise just to delight his Creator, and there he drinks from a stream called Yuval, consuming in one gulp the equivalent of a year's water supply from the Jordan River. In addition, Behemoth's daily ration of food consists of the produce from 1000 mountains. At the end of days, Behemoth and Leviathan will fight and kill one another, and the righteous will eat the flesh of these beasts.

Leviathan is also known as Tannin, Rahab and Yam. He is purported to be the most magnificent of the sea creatures and ruler of the seas. Though sometimes mistaken for a whale or crocodile, he is really a huge water dragon. When God created him on the fifth day of Creation, he made a female as well, but seeing that their procreation would destroy the world, he killed the female. Her flesh is pickled in brine also to be served to the righteous in the world to come. Leviathan is guardian of the deep. He sits on the ocean floor like a giant bathtub plug to stop the oceans from draining into the abyss. He drinks the Jordan River as it flows into the sea, and his food is fish and sea creatures. At the end of their designated lifespans, all living things in the ocean must report to Leviathan, whereupon he devours them. His breath is terrible, one belch being sufficiently hot to wither all the forests of the world and turn every city to dust.

Leviathan is beautiful. His fins and eyes emit light that at times is brighter than the sun. His skin is iridescent and also glows. When Adam and Eve received their coverings of skin from God (Genesis 3:21), these were actually made from the skins of the female Leviathan.

The Wise Men, those behind the Argus Institute, the Patriots/Custodians and Rossum, are determined to awaken Behemoth so that he will slay Leviathan, whom the Fomorians wish to awaken.

the associated picture is © Tommy Castillo