The Bottomless Bottle of Beer: Koroviev's Back!

Some of the Gang

Terrance Lindall

Or should I say, "Behemoth's Back!"? We see Koroviev's front, obviously. Either way, he was missing from yesterday's "Cast of Characters," so I wanted to include him today.

In this rough sketch by Lindall -- a study for his later, colored one -- Behemoth appears seated and enjoying a drink as Koroviev, Webster, and the Naif and the Wife enter The Witch's Brew, a demons' drinking place run by Old Nancy, the Witch of Salem, who used to host Alonzo Deen Cole's old radio program, The Witch's Tale, a popular horror series that aired from 1931 to 1938. Old Nancy had a cat named "Satan" who perhaps morphed into Behemoth, though Mr. Em -- in my story, The Bottomless Bottle of Beer -- is more properly to be identified with Satan.

The four entering The Witch's Brew were on their way to Our Back's Ratskeller when Koroviev expressed a need to quench his thirst and asked if they could stop for a drink, to which Webster reluctantly acceded. They find Behemoth within, and he joins their party as they continue along the road paved with good intentions.

And you know where that leads . . . unless you don't, but you can order the tale to find out.