February 2026 – Nicholas Diak's Homepage

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Vanya #8 Review

First new article for 2026 and it is a review of the adult, neo-jungle girl series Vanya!

Cover depicts Vanya, crouched in foliage, drawing back on a bow. It is kind of dark, with a little beam of light coming through the leaves. Her red hair is in a pony tail. — Vanya #08 standard cover by Zoran Jovicic and Zork Marinero.

I take a gander at issue eight from the series, and my review can be read right here. A review for issue nine will be published in early March.

H. P. Lovecast Podcast Returns

After over a year of hibernation the H. P. Lovecast Podcast is back!

Image shows the Synapse blu-ray boxset next to the Synapse DVD. On top of both is a well space Deadly Spawn toy. The DVD is autographed "Thanks Nick! Best Wishes, Douglas McKeown" — H. P. Lovecast Podcast Episode 63 thumbnail – The Deadly Spawn

Recorded in January but published early February, we just dropped our first episode since November 29th, 2024. So, it has been a while. Sorry about that folks, things have just been busy with Michele and I juggling a lot of projects and doing real life stuff.

We return back with the great cult film and Lovecraftian horror movie, The Deadly Spawn (1983)! One of our favorites, it was great to talk about, so hear us discuss it at our Buzzsprout page here, at the player below, or via your podcast app of preference.

The plan for our next episode is the 1991 Dan O’Bannon film The Resurrected.

Talkin’ Talkies Appearance

Author Robert P. Ottone, who has been a guest on our H. P. Lovecast Podcast (check out those appearances here and here), has his own vidcast called Talkin’ Talkies that he does via Instagram livestreaming/reels. I was super honored to be invited on his last episode to talk about non-Italian giallo films!

Square podcast thumbnail. Done in an old Golden Age of Hollywood style. There is a chevron style diamond in each corner. In the center is a film reel. It says Talkin' Talkies hosted by Robert O. Ottone. — Logo for Robert Ottone’s Talkin’ Talkies IG vidcast.

Aside from Ottone hosting and myself as a guest, the other two guests were some rad folks: Michael Varrati (co-host of Midnight Mass podcast) and Adam Allen (co-host of the Horrifically Well Read, Bled, and Said podcast). Check out their pages and podcasts.

The episode of Talkin’ Talkies I am on is hosted on Instagram, so you may have to be on your IG account on your mobile to view it. Here is the direct link. Sincere appreciation Rob for having me on!

Scholars from the Edge of Time

For February’s Scholars from the Edge of Time Michele and I talk about the 2010 neo-peplum film, Centurion.

Standard Blu-ray case. Cover shows A roman soldier swinging a sword at a legion of other soldiers. Above them are headshots of Olga Kurylenko, Michael Fassbender, and Dominic West. — Personal copy of Centurion on Blu-ray.

The episode can be streamed on YouTube.

Note: Centurion was heavily written about in Dr. Wetmore’s essay in The New Peplum. If you are curious, consider plucking up a copy of the book at McFarland.

Publishing Recap

Below is a recap of my external publishing endeavors so far in 2026.

Cover is by Mark Wheatley and called "The Beasts". It is red hued. It shows Tarzan riding atop of an elephant. Below the elephant are two gorillas and a lion. Behind them is a tree and a setting sun. — National Capital Panthans Journal #344.

“All E.T.’s Aren’t Nice: Vanya 06” reprinted in National Capital Panthans Journal #344, January 2026.

Original can be read here.

Cover by David Michael Beck. It's a drawing of Tarzan atop an elephant, with 2 axes in front. — National Capital Panthans Journal #345.

“The Prehistoric Purge: Vanya 07″ reprinted in National Capital Panthans Journal #345, February 2026.

Original can be read here.

New Sword and Sandal Acquisitions

The ever growing peplum research library grows with these recent sword and sandal acquisitions.

Hercules and the Captive Women Film Masters Blu-ray

Back in 2021 The Film Detective released a Blu-ray edition of Hercules and the Captive Women (1961) that was full of special editions, such as the MST3K version of the film, documentaries and commentaries (PeplumTV did a review of the release and compared it to other versions. It can be read here).

Standard blu-ray case. Cover is mostly white. It shows the legs of a Hercules character, with a goblet in hand, spilling out. Between his legs is a blonde woman in a blue top and bottom. There are flames behind her. You know that poster for the Bond film, For Your Eyes Only? it's just like that, but with a muscle man legs instead of a Bond girl's. — Film Masters 2026 Blu-ray of Hercules and the Captive Women.

Not five years later another Blu-ray of Hercules and the Captive Women has been released! This one is put out by Film Masters and is a bare bone release (no supplemental material). I decided to double dip (well, triple dip, since I have this on the Retromedia DVD) and pluck this copy up. Maybe I’ll do a comparison between the two Blu-rays, see if there is a difference in image? Might be fun!

Ben-Hur 4K

Hercules and the Captive Women is not the only classic sword and sandal getting a re-release in early 2026! Mutha-fucking big daddy papa pump OG Ben-Hur (1959) is as well!

Standard black 4K case. Cover shows a statue holding a shield. The words "Ben-Hur" diagonal. Below that is Charlton Heston on the Chariot with 4 horses. — Personal copy of the 2026 4K release of Ben-hur.

Back in 2022 I did an unboxing article for the Ben-hur 50 year anniversary Blu-ray set (which can be read here). That edition came out in 2011. So, 15 years later (65 year anniversary!) there is now the 4K edition of Ben-Hur.

Amazon sold out of the steel book edition, so I had to go with this version. Going to DVDCompare, the 2026 release vs the 2011 release, it looks like the 2026 version lacks trailers and the 1925 version of Ben-Hur. The 2026 version omits the 57 minute “Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema” 2005 documentary that appeared on the 2011 version, but replaces it with two new, way shorter featurettes: “Ben-Hur: Anatomy of an Epic 2026″ (6 minutes) and “The Cinematography of Scale 2026” (8 minutes).

Both have the 78 minute “Charlton Heston & Ben-Hur: A Personal Journey” 2011 documentary, the 58 minute “Ben-Hur: The Making of an Epic” 1994 documentary, the 5 minute “Ben-Hur: A Journey Through Pictures” 2005 featurette, 29 minutes of screen tests, and some other features. The 2011 has a plethora of other, smaller, features, such as newsreels, Academy Award ceremonies, etc. that are not present on the 2026 edition.

So overall, just at a cursory glance, it looks like the new Ben-Hur may have better image quality at 4K, but scales back the supplemental material. Maybe this is ok: you can only re-re-re-re-release the movie so many times and re-re-re-re-re-reuse the same supplemental material before it gets stale?

Deathstalker Comic and Remake

2025 was the year for the cult 80s sword and sorcery series, Deathstalker, and I got some loot!

Graphic novel is hardback and has a wraparound of the original movie poster. The Blu-ray shows all the characters collage together with mountains behind them. — Deathstalker the graphic novel and the Deathstalker remake on Blu-ray.

First, there is a remake of the film, simply called DeathStalker. I’ve heard good things about the remake, and I actually dig Daniel Bernhardt (Michele and I talk positively of him in G2: Mortal Conquest [1999] on Scholars from the Edge of Time). I’m excited to watch this one!

The next thing is the Deathstalker graphic novel that was done via Kickstarter. I did the Tier IV plus which was supposed to be a cloth bound hardcover, a standard dust jacket, a Kickstarter exclusive dust jacket, and a book plate. Instead the hardcover is not cloth bound, and no book plate has been sent. Per a January 12th post, it sounds like book plates will be sent later on, and they decided to change from a cloth bound book mid-production. Thems the risks doing Kickstarter, I guess.

Autographs from the Archive

Here are some autographed treasures I’ve shared on social media recently.

Hard Drive

On Robert Ottone’s Talkin’ Talkies vicast (see above) we brought up 90s erotic thriller films.

Snap case DVD. Cover shows a woman in the throes of passion, eyes closed, holding a candle in her hand. In black marker it is signed "Nick - Lots of Love! Stella Stevens — Personal copy of Hard Drive on DVD signed by Stella Stevens.

This was a perfect opportunity to show off my copy of Hard Drive (1994) which is signed by legendary starlet Stella Stevens (RIP). Her son, Andrew Stevens, acted and produced a lot of erotic thrillers, and Stella appeared in a handful of them. It’s been probably 1.5 decades since I last saw this, maybe time for a re-watch!

News from Friends

Cool kids I know have been busy lately! Here are some signal boosts I’d like to give out.

New Ride the Stream Episodes

Michele Brittany and Travis Lakata have some brand new episodes of their Ride the Stream vidcast, but something has gone down! Netflix has removed Lost from their services! That means Ride the Stream is looking at other shows and movies to talk about.

The duo kick off their post-Lost content talking about The Thursday Murder Club:

And then move on to a new show, Falling Skies!

Here is their discussion on Falling Skies, season 1, episode 1:

And then episode 2:

And finally, episode 3:

Make sure to subscribe the Ride the Stream YouTube channel to see when new episodes drop.

New Fan2Fan Episodes

Brand new episodes of the Fan2Fan podcast are now online.

First is their episode “Earl Owensby with Noel Manning“:

Then “Cinema, Criticism & Classrooms with Noel Manning“:

Followed by “Friday the 13th Franchise Part 1“:

And “Film Reviews: At the Movies to the Algorithm“:

This is followed by a new series of episodes called “Monster Mania”.

First there is “Monster Mania: Defining Monsters & Universal Horror“:

Next is “Monster Mania: The Wolf Man 1941“:

And then “Monster Mania: Creature from the Black Lagoon“:

Older episodes of Fan2Fan can be found at its Libsyn page or via your podcast app of preference.

Pacuła: Najsłynniejsza Polka na świecie

Marta Górna has a new book coming out and about cult Polish actress Joanna Pacuła (Gorky Park, Dinocroc, Tombstone, Virus). This is the first laser focused retrospective on the actress. The booked is titled Pacuła: Najsłynniejsza Polka na świecie (Pacuła: The Most Famous Polish Woman in the World).

Cover is a black and white photo of actress Joanna Pacula. It is a close up of her head, with her chin resting on her arms. — Pacuła: Najsłynniejsza Polka na świecie by Marta Górna.

Górna’s book can be (pre) ordered here. It is slated to be published March 25th by Agora Publishing House.

Morgana Pendragon Kickstarter

Madeleine Holly-Rosing (Boston Metaphysical Society) has a new Kickstarter up for issue two (with issue one caked into some of the reward tiers) of her other comic series, Morgana Pendragon.

Cover depicts a woman with long hair, lots of magic/rune-like tattoos on her face and arms. She is walking barefoot through a forest with pointy sticks and thorns on the ground. — Morgana Pendragon cover art by Claudia Ianniciello.

Check out the campaign on Kickstarter.

The End is Trending Trailer

Dannie Delisle is in an upcoming movie called The End is Trending. Check out the trailer at Youtube or below. Dannie is the conspiracy lady!

The director, Mark Christopher (husband to Kathleen Kaufman who has appeared on a few episodes of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast [this one and this one]), has a Substack where more info about the film can be found. There is also an entry at IMDB.com.

Laser Joan and the Rayguns Kickstarter

D. J. Kirkbride (whom I’ve interviewed prior on my website, check it out!) has a Kickstarter going to reprint his comic miniseries Laser Joan and the Rayguns that was originally in Dark Horse Presents.

Cover depicts two ladies, both new wave style, kind of like Gem and the holograms. They are holding guitars/guns and have stars painted over their faces. They look to be rocking out. — Laser Joan and the Rayguns.

Check out the campaign here.

Action Girls Kickstarter

J. Manfried Weichsel (whom I’ve also interviewed before on my website, check that out here) has a Kickstarter for an omnibus called Action Girls that collects three of his prior stories: Jungle Jitters (2021), Into the Bush (2024), and Space Escapades (2025) into one book.

Cover says "Action girls: Triple Threat. Jungle Jitters. Into the Bush. Space Escapades." It shows there circles, each with a themed lady in them: a jungle girl, a safari lady, and an astronaut girl wearing fishnet stockings. — Action Girls by J. Manfred Weichsel.

This campaign can be found on Kickstarter and it goes live March 3rd at 4pm EST. Click the “Notify Me on Launch” button if checking out the campaign before then.

The Story So Far

Vanya, Serah, Niya, and Guy are four soldiers from the future trapped in the prehistoric past, surviving against dinosaurs, savage humanoids, the Torridians (a race of warrior aliens hellbent on conquering humanity), and the Astral Guard (elite human warriors who view the heroes as deserters and traitors).

Vanya and her lover Serah make their way to Terran Base Alpha, and Serah is taken in for treatment for the cerebral implant put into her by the Bone Tribe Witch. Concurrently, Niya and Guy make off to hide a batch of Torridian Dragon Eggs from the Witch. Their efforts are in vain as they are apprehended by the Astral Guard, and in turn, everyone is captured by the Witch who has the eggs back in her possession as she needs them to fulfill a prophecy to make her a powerful god-queen.

Issue 08 Plot

At Terran Base Alpha, Relo Quarr reveals to Vanya that the Federation has their own Torridian Dragon, one that is to be released in an emergency should the Torridians overcome their defenses. Quarr recalls to Vanya how the Torridian planet was destroyed by the Galactic Federation when they set the dragons free on their world. Nearly conquered, the Torridians surrendered to the Federation, but asked for a new home world, which turns out to be the human’s planet Terra.

Vanya has her red hair in a long pony tail behind her back and is wearing a white shirt. She is pointing forward. NExt to her is the alien Relo Quarr. He has a grey, angular face with a green jacket that has big shoulder pads and collar. — Vanya and Relo Quarr gaze upon a Torridian Dragon.

Serah awakes from a nightmare with more visions of the Bone Tribe Witch. Sensing the situation as dire, Quarr gives Vanya the clearance to arm herself and to go and destroy the eggs that Niya and Guy hid.
At that moment the Torridian army, led by the ruthless Geneal Tora, launch a massive attack on the Terran base. With their numbers already decimated by a plague, the Torridians take a suicide approach of fight or die, sending their spaceships crashing into the base’s shields followed by waves of cybernetic dinosaurs. Quarr and his men take to the battlefield in their tanks and mechs to ward off the Torridians as the base is given an evacuation order.

Meanwhile at the Bone Tribe’s cave, a captured Niya, Guy, and Astral Guard Elah watch as the Witch leads her tribe in a giant orgy to imprint their pheromones on the hatching eggs.

Commentary

Issue eight of Vanya is the Battle of Helm’s Deep of the series so far. The fervor attitude of the Torridians under Tora’s command is depicted in their hail Mary attack on the Federation base. Knowing that the plague that has decimated them has put them in a dire, inescapable position, the Torridians send their spaceships, their only way off the planet, to Kamikaze the base. The army of cybernetically enhanced dinosaurs the Torridians command is epic to behold, and the Federation responds in kind by sending in giant tanks and ED-209/AT-ST looking mechs to intercept the attackers.

A booming battlefield filled with explosions and laser cannons. In the background moving forward is a fleet of tanks. Behind it are burning building and mountains. In the foreground, advancing toward the tanks, are cybernetic ally enhanced triceratops, stegosauruses, Tyrannosaurus Rexes, and more. The color of the page is all shades of red due to all the fires going on. — Epic battle between the Torridians and their dinosaurs and the Galactic Federation with lots of tanks.

In a traditional story, at a scene like this, the grunts would be sent in to do the dirty work as their commanders and leaders sit safely back at their command center. Not so in Vanya as Quarr and his other commanders join in the fray as well. Both sides of the skirmish are depicted as equally brave among panels that show tanks blowing up dinosaurs while T-Rexes with sharp metal claws rip apart mechs. Overall, the battle is a blast (pun intended) to see unfold in the issue, from the large-scale fighting to the minutia in the commanders planning in their war room.

The panel shows the backs of six commanders, looking at a green screen on the wall. The screen is a computer display, with coordinates and lattitude/longitude, and shows the gathering torridian forces. — Terran Base Alpha War Room.

A new development in this issue of Vanya is Serah’s cerebral implant allows her to communicate with the cyberdinos. As she is fleeing the base, she encounters a raptor with blades protruding from its back, but Serah is able to convince the reptile she is friendly and the beast scoots away. Possible foreshadowing here: if Serah can do this to one dinosaur, she can probably do it to more. Say, an army of dinosaurs

There is a certain irony that Vanya is sent back out to destroy the Torridian eggs as they were all in her possession not a few days ago. If Guy and Niya had not split off to hide the eggs, they would instead be in the Federation hand’s and not the Bone Tribe Witch’s, where they would be destroyed (or, more likely, made into additional weapons). Regardless, the orders from Quarr get Vanya back into her natural habitat, the jungles primeval. A missile blast from a robo-pterodactyl (yes, only with Vanya can one say that sentence with a straight face) knocks Vanya out, disintegrating her clothes. It is only a matter of time in a subsequent issue that she will not doubt be back to wearing her normal neo-jungle girl garb (or nothing at all).

Covers and Swag Impressions

Issue #8 of Vanya was successfully Kickstarted in early February 2025, with digital editions being fulfilled in June and physical editions later that summer. This issue was released in numerous covers by a variety of different artists, in normal and nude incarnations. The standard cover was done by Zoran Jovicic (who has been the illustrator of the series since its beginning) and Zork Marinero.

Vanya is nude save for her bracers, spikey shoulder pads, and boots. She is leaning against a tree branch. Her hair is in dreadlocks. She is hiding behind her a serrated halberd. She is biting on her finger seductively. Behind her it is a sunny day, with a canyon wall and a sky with a faint, fluffy cloud. — Personal copy of Vanya #08, nude variant, done by Brian Miroglio.

The best alternative cover for issue eight is the one done by Brian Miroglio. A vibrant and seductive cover (nude or not), it shows a battle-ready Vanya against a rather serene jungle scene. Whose blood in on the spear she holds behind her in an assuming fashion to how Negan (Walking Dead) holds his baseball bat Lucille? Did she slay a dinosaur? Or perhaps a violent caveman? Aside from the attractive pinup vibes of the cover, it invites readers to hypothesis their own Vanya story, and it probably would not be too far off base.

The Tarot Card is of "The Hanged Man" and it is from the issue 8 cover done by Luca Strait. It shows Vanya, sitting on her knees, holding a spear in her right hand. Behind her is a giant snake. The sticker is done in 16 bit era style graphics. It shows Vanya holding a bow and stepping backwards. — Vanya #8 Tarot Card and pixel art style sticker.

For additional Kickstarter loot, Vanya #8 came with three additional goodies: a tarot card, a sticker, and a PDF story. The tarot card continues the tradition Bad Bug has been doing with their other comics, and these are always fun to see. The best tarot cards have unique artwork, though the card for issue 8, The Hanged Man, uses the Luca Strati #8 alternate cover.

The sticker realizes Vanya in a 16-bit, pixel/retro style and it is awesome. It fuels the imagination that a retro game based on the Vanya IP, perhaps done by a company like WayForward, would be entirely plausible. There are a plethora of vintage cartoonish caveman game out there, such as Chuck Rock, Bonk, and Caveman Ninja, why not instead go the serious route and make a Vanya platformer or Metroidvania?

And finally, a first for the Vanya series, there is a short story with some black and white comicbook style illustrations (though it is not a comic) titled “First Encounter”. The story is about Vanya’s first week upon arriving in the prehistoric past and encountering both a raptor and a sabre tooth tiger. This is a great way to add more story, character development, and “Vanya-ness”, to the series.

Conclusion

How far Vanya has come in scale in eight issues! Initially a more singularly focused on Vanya and surviving the hostile dinosaur world, the stakes have been upped many times in the issues since: large scare battles between humans and purple-skinned warrior aliens, a tribe of cave people wanting to rule the world, fleets of cyber dinosaurs, almost mystical dragons. It all seems over the top, and, well, maybe it is, but it works. There is a dead-seriousness vibe with Vanya that grounds it. Issue eight contains all these elements (an epic war, a jungle girl tale, etc.) and then some, such as romance and a little political intrigue on a galactic scale. With four more issues to go (the series is already 2/3s of the way complete?!), it will be fantastic to see where this escalating action goes.

For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:

Also, consider checking out the reviews I’ve done of other titles published by Bad Bug:

Ep 63 – The Deadly Spawn – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

Earl Owensby with Noel Manning – Fan2Fan Podcast

Cinema, Criticism & Classrooms with Noel Manning – Fan2Fan Podcast

Friday the 13th Franchise Part 1 – Fan2Fan Podcast

Film Reviews: At the Movies to the Algorithm – Fan2Fan Podcast

Monster Mania: Defining Monsters & Universal Horror – Fan2Fan Podcast

Monster Mania: The Wolf Man 1941 – Fan2Fan Podcast

Monster Mania: Creature from the Black Lagoon – Fan2Fan Podcast