Devils and demons were frequently depicted as grotesque figures in ancient and medieval art. More recently, some of the most recognizable traits of devils and demons—such as red skin, pointed tails, and horns— have been incorporated into pop-art imagery. Devils and other demonic imagery are commonly associated with certain types of music, such as
Heavy metal. Devils and demons are also common in horror films and comic books, such as the Vertigo Comics series Hellblazer. The Dark Horse Comics character Hellboy spawned a movie, Hellboy, in 2004. The devil appears frequently in films as a character; both Peter Cook and Tim Curry have played the devil in movies—Cook in the 1967 comedy Bedazzled, and Curry in the movie Legend (1985).
In the realm of technology, the daimons of ancient Greece have given rise to daemons of computer programming. Like the helpful household spirits of ancient Greece, daemons are processes that run in the background of a computer operating system and perform mundane tasks for the user, such as responding to network requests. The idea of daemons as souls, not evil creatures, plays a prominent part in Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy (published between 1995 and 2000), in which some characters have animal-formed daemons that live with them and cannot be separated from them without dire consequences.
The Demonata #1: Lord Loss by Darren Shan (2006) is the first book in the Demonata series of horror novels for young adults. It is about a boy whose family is killed by a demon and who narrowly escapes death himself. After he goes to live with his uncle Dervish, he discovers dark secrets about his family and the supernatural world that exists around him.
World History
