Sean Woodward writes an extremely positive review of Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern over at Horror Buzz. 9 out of 10 stars!
Call for Papers
The Call for Abstracts for my collection of essays on neo-medievalism is live. The CFP can be found here.
General Neo-Peplum News
Rest in Peplum
Valeria Gagealov passed away. She starred in Romanian pepla, such as The Column (1968) and the historic epic Michael the Brave (1971).
Cannot find a news source to back this up and I only seen scuttlebutt on Facebook groups, but Reg Lewis may have passed away at the age of 85. He was in Colossus of the Stone Age (1962).
Secret Rites is a neo-peplum, mythological comic by Sammy Ward. The one-shot comic was successfully Kickstarted and subsequently published in late 2020. The comic provides an alternate viewpoint of the myth of Persephone and Hades by being told from the point of view of her mother, Demeter. Simultaneously, the comic also not only depicts, but acts as an extension and interpretation of the Eleusinian Mysteries. This places the comic in the same canon as other artifacts of antiquity and paintings that depict the mysterious rituals.
Sincere thanks to Sammy Ward for allowing the following interview about her comic.
Secret Rites cover
Tell us a bit about your background and how you got into art and comics.
I’ve always been creative and enjoyed drawing. My first interest in comics came when I discovered Kabuki by David Mack. I was really interested in how he used different media and how it didn’t follow the typical conventions of a comic book. It opened up the medium to me and I realised it wasn’t all just super heroes.
Tell us more about the catalyst that started this comic, that is when you happened across the Eleusinian Mysteries? What was the big “A-ha! I want to make comic from this!”
The first spark for me was when I did an illustration of Persephone for a drawing challenge back in 2018. I wasn’t following the usual prompt list but drawing deities from different cultures. Persephone is so fascinating as a symbol of life and death as well as being presented as powerful and a victim. When I was researching Persephone I read about the Eleusinian Mysteries. It just captured my imagination in that it was a real mystery so it opened up all these possibilities that I played around with for a while before writing what is now Secret Rites.
What texts did you use to draw inspiration from?
I’ve read Circe by Madeline Miller which explores Circe’s defiance as a witch and a mother against the Olympians. That defiance was definitely a theme I wanted to use in Secret Rites. I also enjoy listening to a lot of soundtracks whilst working and I find it can be inspiring. The God of War OST has probably been the main one but I also discovered the Hadestown the musical by Anaïs Mitchell whilst creating Secret Rites. It’s a different Greek Tragedy with a modern take but I still found it inspirational in creating the characters for Secret Rites where each one has a selfish agenda.
What texts and resources did you use for research materials?
I found articles by Mark Cartwright and Joshua J. Mark very helpful which led me to discover The Myth of Er by Plato (said to be an initiate himself) which describes the character Er joining the afterlife and then returning to reality. I also came across a talk from Terence Mckenna who was an ethnobotanist and mystic. He discusses the use of Ergot, a deadly black fungus found on wheat and barley with psychotropic properties which was a component in a drink consumed during the ritual. I found the link of this and Demeter being the goddess of the harvest very alluring.
Interior page depicting a scene of the Eleusinian Mysteries
What is your relationship with Greek mythology?
I think my interest in Greek mythology started when I was at school studying Greek playwrights in drama class. It’s not something I’ve devoted loads of time throughout my life but mythology and folklore have always fascinated me. I love reading different stories from all over the world whether it’s the Poetic Edda or Russian fairy tales. That’s my constant go to for books and comics.
Are you into any sword and sandal media?
I do enjoy the 1963 Jason and The Argonauts and [the] 1981 Clash of the Titans. I have a big appreciation for the Ray Harryhausen era of stop motion animation that really captures those stories. I also really enjoy reading Wonder Woman comics, I especially enjoyed the 2011 relaunch written by Brian Azzarello and illustrated by Cliff Chiangs and Tony Akins. Again, women defying the power and will of the Gods seems to be a favourite theme of mine.
What were some of the biggest challenges you encountered while realizing Secret Rites?
Whilst the actual concept and story came pretty naturally, the script process was challenging as it would change whilst I was creating the art. There are good and bad aspects of being both writer and illustrator. I started illustrating the book in 2019 but my art has changed/improved a fair bit since then so I went back and changed a few pieces I had previously completed. My first comic, Scavengers, is a silent comic so I managed to create a story without having to do any lettering other than the intros which I hand lettered. Learning to letter Secret Rites has been a really fun journey for me though a slow one. Lettering is it’s own art form.
Secret Rites and pin-up art from a Kickstarter package. Photo by Nicholas Diak.
Do you any any successor plans to Secret Rites?
Secret Rites is a one shot so there are no sequels planned. Not to say I wouldn’t be interested in exploring the mythos a little more. I’m very interested in exploring more deities from the Greek pantheon and from many different cultures and religions. I would also like to collaborate more in the future especially with those writing mythology and folktales.
Do you have any upcoming projects on the horizon that you’d like to share?
I worked on some original pieces illustrating winter and Christmas deities which are available from my Etsy store along with my comics. I’m currently working on a comic/zine hybrid which will involve deities but I can’t say much more at this stage, it will include more mixed media in terms of art and will be a lot more experimental.
Exotica Moderne #10 is out! Copies can be ordered from House of Tabu. My contribution to this issue is pretty minimal, I only did a mini review of Zeena Schreck’s EP Bring me the Head of F. W. Murnau. However, I am ahead of the game for issue 11, which will contain my interview of Miss Pinup Miami. That interview is conducted, concluded, edited, and turned in!
Cover for Exotica Moderne #10
StokerCon 2021/AnnRadCon News
Official announcement has been made through the Stokercon channels that StokerCon 2021 will be a digital-only conference, with a physical one to resume when the world is safer from the COVID19 pandemic. This also means the AnnRadCon for 2021 will also switch to an online/digital mode. More details forthcoming as we get things sussed out. The official announcement can be read at StokerCon2021.com.
On a slight positive note, the cover art for the StokerCon 2021 souvenir book has been published online! Michele and I have a short essay in the book about AnnRadCon and the conference’s accomplishments thus far. The book is edited by Josh Viola, with cover art by Aaron Lovett and will be published by HEX Publishing.
Cover art for the StokerCon 2021 book
Podcast News
Episode 7 of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast Presents: Fragments is online! In this episode we interview Lee Murray. The episode can be listened to on our site at Buzzsprout or on your podcast application of preference.
Call for Papers
The Call for Abstracts for my collection of essays on neo-medievalism is live. The CFP can be found here.
Citation News
In the autumn of 2020, James Arthur Anderson had his book, Excavating Stephen King: A Darwinist Hermeneutic Study of the Fiction, published by Lexington Books. This text cites his essay, “Four Quadrants of Success: The Metalinguistics of Author Protagonists in the Fiction of Stephen King,” which appeared in Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays.
Cover Art
My essay “Permission to kill: Exploring Italy’s 1960s Eurospy Phenomenon, Impact and Legacy” from James Bond and Popular Culture: Essays on the Influence of the Fictional Superspy has been cited by Samhita Sunya in their essay “On Location: Tracking Secret Agents and Films, between Bombay and Beirut” which appears in the journal Film History Vol. 32, No. 3, Fall 2020.
Journal issue cover
General Neo-Peplum News
Story of a Gladiator Physical Release
On Friday Limited Run opened a pre-order for 1,500 copies of Brain Seal’s game Story of a Gladiator for the Playstation. It, of course, sold out by the day’s end (but your’s truly, who has an Xbox and not a Playstation, had to buy a copy because reasons). Though the physical copy of the game was sold out, digital copies can readily be had on the Xbox, Playstation, Switch, and Steam. As I’ve been enjoying the Xbox incarnation, expect some sort of write-up about it in the very near future.
Rest in Peplum
Legendary actor Christopher Plummer passed away at the age of 91 from hitting his head from a fall. Renown for The Sound of Music (1965) he starred in numerous pepla productions:
Cemetery Dance has published an extremely positive review of Horror Fiction from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays.
Call for Papers
The Call for Abstracts for my collection of essays on neo-medievalism is live. The CFP can be found here.
Podcast News
Two Voice of Olympus podcast appearances happened this past week. First I was on a Sword and Sandal Cinema segment were I talk about the film Immortals. That can be downloaded/streamed here.
Secondly, we interviewed S. Alessandro Martinez about his debut novel, Helminth, on the Scholars from the Edge of Time show.
On Friday we recorded our interview with Lee Murray. That will be published on Sunday the 7th.
General Neo-Peplum News
Neo-Peplum Speed Metal Release
Canadian speed metal band Aphrodite have their second album, Orgasmic Glory, being released on March 30th. Their Bandcamp page is taking preorders and also contains two preview tracks.
Lecture Event
Dr. Jeremy J. Swist will be giving a lecture called “An Unholy Trinity: Antiquity, Heavy Metal, & White Supremacism” via Zoom on February 18th at 6 PM PST. Contact hannah-huzzey@uiowa.edu for details on how to attend.
Rest in Peplum
Cloris Leachman, who starred in Mel Brooks’ spoof on the epic movie genre, History of the World: Part One, passed away at the age of 94 of natural causes.
New Zealander Peter Vere-Jones passed away at the age of 82. He had appearances in both Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys as well as The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
The Call for Abstracts for my collection of essays on neo-medievalism is live. The CFP can be found here.
Podcast News
The preliminary ballot for the Bram Stoker Awards was just announced a few days ago. Some of the books on the ballot have been the subject of a few interviews/episodes of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast. In case you missed it, here they are and I strongly encourage a listen to the episodes, checking out the work, and if you’re a voting member of the Horror Writer’s Association, consider voting for these works:
Now, because of the Stoker preliminary ballot being announced, Michele and I are going to be shifting our February schedule somewhat to better promote/leverage/accommodate our guest that month, Lee Murry. The initial schedule was that we were going to discuss Cthulhu Deep Down Under Volume 2 on the first weekend of the month and interview Murray on the third. However, Murray is on the preliminary ballot for two publications: Grotesque: Monster Stories under the Superior Achievement in a Fiction Collection category and Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women under the Superior Achievement in an Anthology category. Because of this, we are going to flip and publish the interview the first week of the month and the discussion the third.
Outside of H. P. Lovecast Podcast news, I have two appearances on the Voice of Olympus program this week, one on Tuesday and another on Friday where Michele and I will be interviewing S. Alessandro Martinez. Also, a big heads up, it looks like I will be a guest on the Scaredy Cats podcast in April to discuss the film Slumber Party Massacre. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to April and a date is solidified.
General Neo-Peplum News
Neo-Peplum Metal Release
Italian death/black/adventure metal band Gates of Doom released a new album earlier this month called Aquileia Mater Aeterna. Per the album’s description on the band’s Bandcamp page, Aquileia Mater Aeterna is
[a] concept album [that] focuses on the Friulian city of Aquileia, from its foundation by the Romans in 181 B.C. to its destruction in 452 A.D. at the hands of Attila. Historically, the city has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures crucial for the birth of our homeland Friûl and its identity, and it’s a great inspiration for our band.
Gates of Doom at Bandcamp
Sword and Sandal Peanut Butter Commercial
Peanut butter brand Jif has a new add that spoofs Gladiator. The commercial can be watched at Adweek.
Screenshot from the Jif commerical
Academic Panels
Dr. Ross Clare was recently on a panel called “Tolkien and the Classical World: Book Discussion.” An audio recording of that panel can be found on YouTube.
The Call for Abstracts for my collection of essays on neo-medievalism is live. The CFP can be found here.
Podcast News
New episode of the HP Lovecast Podcast is online! For this month’s Fragments episode, we interview Jason Parent about his new novella, Eight Cylinders. The episode can be streamed at Buzzsprout or your podcast application of preference.
General Neo-Peplum News
Rest in Peplum
Animator Dale Baer passed away at the age of 70. He worked on quite a few sword and sandal-adjacent and sword and sorcery animated movies:
An essay from the collection Ancient Violence in the Modern Imagination: The Fear and the Fury cites Dr. Wetmore’s essay, “In the Green Zone with the Ninth Legion: The Post-Iraq Roman Film” from The New Peplum. I am not sure which, but when I find out I’ll update this citation in The New Peplum resource page.
The New Peplum also gets an extremely positive mention in the preface in Christopher Wood’s book Heroes Masked and Mythic: Echoes of Ancient Archetypes in Comic Book Characters:
“Yet we all stand on the shoulders of giants, and therefore I should like to take a moment here to give a brief nod to those scholars and thinkers who have strengthened my own resolve to write this, sometimes as a catalyst to change, and others with whom I couldn’t agree more or have said it better myself.
The New Peplum: Essays on Sword and Sandal Films and Television by Nicholas Diak is one such book. His main focus is on the modern “sword and sandal” films, and by that he means in the past 30 years rather than including the 1960s. The author views the use of technology and narrative approaches that change the end experience of the viewer as something impossible to achieve at a time earlier than now.”
– Christopher Wood, Preface to Heroes Masked and Mythic
I’m extremely flattered to receive such honour!
Call for Papers
The Call for Abstracts for my collection of essays on neo-medievalism is live. The CFP can be found here.
Podcast News
The Podcast Section of the website has been updated with episode dates and titles for the next few months.
Note: This Is Horror has their public nomination period open until January 15th. If you like the HP Lovecast Podcast and want to show support, consider nominating the podcast for the non-fiction podcast category. Info on nominating can be found at the This Is Horror website here.
General Neo-Peplum News
Spencer Alexander McDaniel has an article online about the white domestic terrorists who stormed the Capitol last week and how they used iconography associated with ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and Germanic peoples. The article can be read at his Tales of Times Forgotten website.
Rest in Peplum
Director Steve Carver passed away at the age of 75. He directed the original version of The Arena (1974).
Hammer actress Barbara Shelley passed away at the age of 88. She was in Nero’s Weekend (1956).
John Richardson passed away at the age of 86. He appeared in lots of Italian filone, though not so much in pepla. He was however in On My Way to the Crusades, I Met a Girl Who… (1969) and One Million Years B.C. (1966).
Band of Warriors is a neo-peplum comic that is currently in the stages of being crowdfunded on Kickstarter. Written by Samuel George London (The S Factor, Milford Green, and Project Hoax), with art by Federico Avila Corsini (Treble, Remitente, and Maranatá) and editing by Nicole D’Andria (Miraculous), the story begins with King Minos at the height of his reign and leads to an epic, adventurous tale that incorporates both Grecian and Celtic mythologies.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what got you into comics.
I only got into comics in 2015 after finding out that the TV show, The Walking Dead, was based on a comic. I bought all the compendiums up to that point and was hooked. After that I discovered Image’s back catalogue and went down a rabbit hole of indie comics. After a year or so, I was inspired enough to give writing a go and luckily an idea came to me in the form of Milford Green, which is best described as a Victorian space adventure. I Kickstarted that in 2018 and have since successfully funded five other comics as well as having a four issue mini-series titled The S Factor published by Action Lab – Danger Zone, which is about the dark underbelly of a superhero dating reality TV show.
What was the genesis of Band of Warriors (BoW)?
My mother has a house on the island of Crete and when I visited there for the first time in 2016 I was enthralled by the history it had, both fairly recently (WW2) and even further in the past, especially the bronze age (3,000-1200 BC). That same year, I visited my wife’s family in Brittany, France. Of course, I had visited them before but this time we visited a megalith which was next to an old tin mine. For those of you not in the know, bronze is made up of copper and tin.
When investigating all of this further it turned out that bronze age tin from France and Britain (my own homeland) had been found among bronze age artefacts on and around Crete. This trading relationship between France, Britain and Crete during the bronze age got my imagination fired up and the idea of Band of Warriors began.
BoW was actually the first idea that came to me but I thought the scope of the story was far too big for me to take on as a first time writer. But now that I’ve got a few books under my belt, I thought it was high time I got it out to the world. Honestly, it hasn’t been easy trawling through all the history and mythology surrounding all of those regions to create a coherent story but I think (if I don’t say so myself) I’ve created a rather epic story.
What were your other sources of inspiration for this comic?
To name but a few; 300 (both comic and movie), Kill the Minotaur and Vikings (both comics and TV show) have all inspired BoW. The mixture of mythology, history and action really helped me see that it’s possible.
What texts did you use for research for BoW?
One that really stands out is 1077 B.C. by Professor Eric Cline. The book is an outstanding insight into the era and as an added bonus you watch a lot of his lectures online, which are also massively useful.
What was some of the most interesting things you learned while researching?
One of the most interesting things to me was just how international that time was. There were full on trading relationships from France and Britain to Crete and even to Egypt, Turkey and Afghanistan. It’s incredible to me that over 3,500 years ago this was going on.
There’s a few other comics out there that merge different mythologies: what would you say sets yours apart?
My USP, so to speak, is that I’ve grounded the mythology in actual historical events. Using actual history to try and connect the dots of mythology is time consuming as a writer but I think that it will help the comic shine for the readers.
Do you have any favourite sword and sandal texts?
This might seem vacuous but I really enjoyed the 2014 movie with Dwayne Johnson, Hercules. I thought they did a superb job of merging mythology, history, reality and action. Sure the character development wasn’t great but man was the action awesome.
What is your general thoughts/impressions of the current state of the sword and sandal genre?
I think the sword and sandal genre can be quite one-dimensional and predictable, so I think it’s important that for those of us who are passionate about it think outside the box. Dwayne Johnson’s Hercules was a great example of subverting my expectations from everything being about magic and what not when in reality it was all tricks of the eye and playing into the reputation Hercules and his team had created.
How did you go about meeting/recruiting your artist Federico Avila Corsini and editor Nicole D’Andria?
I met Nicole a couple of years ago through Kickstarter and it turned out she did freelance editing. I then hired her to work on the Milford Green series and she’s been my trusted editor ever since. Federico on the other hand, was through Reddit. A few months ago I put a call out on Twitter and Reddit for an artist to work on a story that involved both Celtic and Greek mythology and after sifting through about thirty artists, Federico stood out. Both his style and work ethic are fantastic, so he’s the ideal artist for BoW.
What were some of the biggest challenges or obstacles you encountered while creating BoW?
My biggest challenge was connecting all the dots and making the story consistent. I actually have one of those cork boards that allows me to see all the storylines side by side in chronological order. I feel like I’m trying to catch a serial killer but it really does help.
Having successfully Kickstarted other projects, what advice do you have for other folks looking to use the medium?
First and foremost, get involved with the community. Secondly, research successful campaigns. Lastly, make sure you triple check your reward and postage costs.
What is the biggest thing you want to accomplish with BoW?
Great question! We’ve got an initial six issue arc sorted but I’d love for BoW to become an on-going series that would be released every three months, direct to the people via crowdfunding. However, that’s only possible if we get the right level of support, so we’ll have to wait and see.
Thank you your time for this interview, any final words?
I’d just like to say thanks to you for taking the time to do this interview and to your readers who have read this interview. I hope you’ve enjoyed it and that you’ll check out Band of Warriors to potentially help support it.
Sorry folks, I missed a few weeks on doing a news roundup: holidays, other obligations, etc. This roundup will hopefully cover the last few weeks.
New Indie Peplum Comic and Interview
Comic book creator Samuel George London is currently crowd funding his newest endeavor, the neo-peplum comic Band of Warriors. I’ve interviewed London about his comic.
As a side note, expect more posts in the next few months as I do more write ups/reviews/interviews about sword and sandal comics I’ve Kickstarted. These include: Secret Rites, Aztlan, Teoatl, Isidora and the Immortal Chains, and S.P.Q.R.
Podcast News
Two new episodes of H. P. Lovecast Podcast are online. In the first episode Michele Brittany and I discuss “You Will Never Be the Same” by Erica L. Satifka and “Weird Tales” by Fred Chappell from Wonder & Glory Forever, edited by Nick Mamatas. The episode can be streamed at Buzzsprout or your podcast application of preference.
Second, our episode discussing Jason Parent’s Eight Cylinders is also online. Later this month we will be interviewing Parent about this novella.
The Call for Abstracts for my collection of essays on neo-medievalism is live. The CFP can be found here.
General Neo-Peplum News
Dr. Jeremy J. Swist interviews power metal band Judicator about their concept album, Let There Be Nothing, which is about the Byzantine general Flavius Belisarius. The interview can be found at his Heavy Metal Classicist website.
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum (1966)
Beowulf (2007)
Spartacus (1960)
Life of Brian (1979)
Asterix: The Mansions Of The Gods (2019)
Alexander (2004)
Barabbas (1964)
Hero (2002)
The Trojan Women (2004)
Centurion (2010)
The History Of The World, Part 1 (1981)
Agora (2009)
Confucius (2010)
Rest in Peplum
Animator Doug Crane passed away at the age of 85. He contributed to many animated sword and sandal, sword and sorcery, and sword and planet cartoons:
The Mighty Hercules (1963)
The Mighty Thor (1966)
Heavy Metal (1981)
Various He-Man and She-Ra projects in the 80s
The Pirates of Dark Water (1991)
Italian actor Corrado Olmi passed away at the age of 94. He was in Satyricon (1969, Gian Luigi Polidoro).
Bond Girl Tanya Roberts passed away at the age of 65. Known for her appearance in A View to a Kill and in Charlie’s Angels, for sword and sorcery fans, she stole hearts with her appearance in The Beastmaster (1982, Don Coscarelli).
Michele Brittany, Tanya Roberts, Nicholas Diak in 2013The Beastmaster DVD autographed by Tanya Roberts, John Amos, and Don Coscarelli.
I’ve finally procured a copy of The Borgia Family: Rumor and Representation and was able to confirm that Jennifer Mara DeSilva’s essay “The Secularization of Cesar Borgia and the American Motion Picture Production Code” contains my intro to The New Peplum listed in the bibliography. I’ve updated the page for The New Peplum to reflect this. The book can be found for sale at the Routledge store website.
The Borgia Family: Rumor and Representation
Dr. Hannah Mueller’s essay, “Male Nudity, Violence and the Disruption of Voyeuristic Pleasure in Starz’s Spartacus” is cited in Dr. Maria San Filippo’s book, Provocauteurs and Provocations: Screening Sex in 21st Century Media. This book can be found at the Indiana University Press bookstore.
Provocauteurs and Provocations
McFarland Sale on Viking Books
McFarland is having a sale for books about Vikings in film and pop culture. From now until December 31, if you use the code VIKINGS30 during check out, you’ll get a 30% discount. The New Peplum is part of this sale, no doubt due to the presence of Steve Nash’s excellent essay “There are no Boundaries for our Boats: Vikings and the Westernization of the Norse Saga”.
Call for Papers
The Call for Abstracts for my collection of essays on neo-medievalism is live. The CFP can be found here.
