Back in the early 2000s, PlayStation’s Twisted Metal video games were always known as THE iconic car combat games. Throughout each PlayStation generation, we were blessed with the thrill of playing as new dark and horrific characters, each with their own twisted backstory. There were organ-eating army vets, jealousy-driven murderers donning doll masks, and faceless victims of botched surgeries seeking revenge. However, out of all these unique and chilling characters, the one that scared, yet fascinated, me the most was Sweet Tooth, the killer clown.
As a young kid, I was terrified by this character. Yet this fear was overpowered by my curiosity and desire to beat the games and learn more of his story. Every chapter I unlocked was incredibly sinister and thrilling. Prior to becoming the world’s greatest serial killer, Sweet Tooth was an average ice cream truck driver. That is until one day when he let his darker side get the best of him and he murdered his family to leave his old life behind. His addiction to killing became his curse, as his head burned with headaches whenever he tried to stop.
What really made these games and their villainous characters stand out from other video games at the time, was that the stories of all these lunatics and sociopaths were all told with first-person narration. I was surprised and intrigued by what was going on in their minds. How could such evil be seen and expressed in such a passionate way? How could a desire to take another’s life and cause suffering be conveyed in such a poetic and loving manner? This was one of my first introductions to antiheroes and helped develop my fascination with characters like Dexter, Venom, Deadpool and Hannibal Lector. However, even after all these years, Sweet Tooth still stands out above them all as the most memorable and I have always wanted to delve deeper into his mind and his past.
For that reason, I began writing a comic, which is a fan adaptation of Sweet Tooth. I hope that this comic will speak to others who are just as fascinated with these types of characters or who also have those feelings of nostalgia attached to the Twisted Metal games. For more information about this comic and how to support it, check out my Kickstarter page.
