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The Codex of Cool: Interviews with Retroists in Vilioti Vintage

What is neo-vintage?

With a show-not-tell approach, this is the question that Jimmy Vargas and Lady Medusa’s book, Vilioti Vintage (2022), seeks to answer via interviews with twenty luminaries from the retro and vintage scenes. Per Vargas’ introduction, Vilioti Vintage is not a retrospective but instead a look to the contemporaries of vintage who seek to recreate it through different means. In its representation of neo-vintage, Vilioti Vintage casts a wide net, not just across occupations (artists, designers, musicians, photographers, pinups, publishers, et al.) but geographically (United States, Australia, England, Germany, Indonesia, and others), for its featured subjects. The end result is a resource that hits upon all the different avenues regardless of approach to the neo-vintage subculture.

The interviews begin with Scotty Morris, lead vocalist for American swing revival band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Morris shares his thoughts about some of the songs in the BBVD canon and talks about the importance of the movie Swingers(1996) in catapulting them (and by extension the retro scene) into greater visibility. However, with nearly three decades of being part of the music-business, it feels like Morris is reserved, or rehearsed in his answers. 

The second interview is with Vegas-based burlesque performer Hazel Honeysuckle who is overt in naming her sources of inspiration. She is much more candid than Morris, talking in depth about her origins and even relating some fun anecdotes, such as when she was a guest on the Netflix series House of Cards (2013-2018).

Tom Ingram, the creator of the Viva Las Vegas festival, holds no punches and brings a candidness to his interview. While other interviewees in Vilioti Vintage name drop the folks who inspire them, Ingram takes the opposite approach of speaking about dubious business partners and other obstacles he has faced over the years. He comes across as weathered and weary of the corporate aspect of running an iconic festival, but he has definitely seen it all and exhibits his learned wisdom. 

Filmmaker Chris Magee, who takes on a John Peel-esque role of presenting Americana music on his Bopflix YouTube channel, is not afraid to speak his mind on political issues. While folks in the retro and pinup scenes espouse mottos such as “vintage aesthetics not vintage values,” Magee follows through with these promises, illustrated when he talks about his drawing the line in the sand and saying a firm “no” to displaying confederate flags in music videos.

The fifth interview is with Jason Croft, founder of Bachelor Pad magazine. Croft’s observations of the retro revival happening during the 90s coincides with Morris’ recollections in one of the many displays of networkedness showcased in Vilioti Vintage. Croft’s answers come across with extreme enthusiasm and really dives into the history of Bachelor Pad. Though Vilioti Vintage mostly focuses on the noir to atomic age of vintage and retroism, Croft’s description of running a cheesecake website during the halcyon web 1.0 days adds a small element of vaporwave retroism to the book.

Croft’s interview is followed by artist Nathalie Rattner who talks in great detail about the technical aspects of creating pinup art. An interesting aspect about Rattner’s interview is her embracement of the corporatization of vintage. While Vilioti Vintage seems to take the angle that businesses swoop in on the newest trend, capitalize and cannibalize it, then move onto the next thing, (a sentiment certainly echoed with other interviewees in the publication), Rattner speaks freely of her art appearing on merchandise and advertisements and the associated boon it brings.

The next interview is with Don Spiro of Zelda Magazine, who brings in a contrasting perspective to the world of publishing when compare to Croft. While Croft’s rag seems on the up and up, Spiro talks of the death of his business partner, having to scale back Zelda to an annual publication, and how demand for his portrait work has dwindled due to the shift in models using selfies for self promotion instead of commissioning a professional. 

Rockabilly musician Wes Pudsey, who has performed at Ingram’s Viva Las Vegas, brings in an Australian perspective of Americana, relating fun stories of being on tour, such as when his vehicle got stuck in a low clearance situation while in Germany. 

Ken Holewczynski, publisher of Exotica Moderne and owner of House of Tabu, brings perhaps the most offbeat perspective to Vilioti Vintage. While other interviewees speak of events in their youth that set them on their retroist path, Holewczynski is fairly new to the scene having only gotten into tiki culture a few years ago. His past is with comics and industrial music, which do not tint his glasses when assessing tiki culture. It is probably this idiosyncratic background which has allowed Holewczynski to flourish and publish a high quality magazine and create desirable tiki mugs and glassware where others have faltered.

Italian burlesque star Albadoro Gala brings a continental touch with her philosophical answers. Gala has the most memorable yarn in Vilioti Vintage when she relates the tale of how she got her namesake when a crazy old lady attacked her with a knife. 

Ralph Braband, owner of Rhythm Bomb Records in Germany, echoes similar sentiments of Spiro in the difficulties of running a business, starting with great highs but dealing with current world woes. He offers realist answers of how his music business has weathered Covid-19 and the actions he had to take to do so.

Hairstylist Tom Vacher offers up an amusing story from his youth of getting to the car of two strangers – a couple who were into vintage clothing and driving an old school car. He was smitten immediately with their vintage lifestyle. He follows this up with stories of operating in the hair business in both the UK and in Australia.

Marcella of the Puppini Sisters has the most bubbly interview of the lot. Like Morris, she has experienced the whirlwind of a major record label swooping in on her music and then whooshing out. Though her and her singing partners, Kate and Emma, look the pinup part with their old school aesthetic with a modern twist, Marcella is adamant that they are musicians first while style comes second.

After Marcella’s interview, Vilioti Vintage loses a bit of its steam with the next handful of interviews of Harry and Edna (radio hosts from the UK), Maryann Lant (a European rockabilly musician), Aldi_ Hydrant (Indonesian clothing designer), and Tamara Mascara (drag queen) being on generic side. The answers in these interviews are short, and lack many of the personal details that prior subjects exhibited. The folks are interesting none-the-less and offer nuggets of wisdom and insight into their craft, their responses are simply not up to the caliber of prior interviews.

Vilioti Vintage regains its footing with Beck Rustic’s interview. Rustic is the owner of the Swelltune record label in the UK. He dives into an amusing story of how his label was accidentally started when he wanted to print a commemorative vinyl of the festival he hosts only to pounced upon by music acts to become involved. He gives candid responses on the impact of social media and streaming on the music business. 

Australian burlesque artist Porcelain Alice showcases the most inspiration in her interview to readers. She offers approachable advice for those who want to get into the business: there’s no qualifications required! One doesn’t need to know how to dance and there is no gatekeeper stopping someone from trying. For outsiders looking in at the retro world who might feel intimidated, Alice helps breaks those intimidating barriers down.

Vilioti Vintage ends with an interview with Natty Adams, an author and clothing designer based in New Orleans. Adams offers detailed and thoughtful answers into how he got started in his line of work and how he taps into a plethora ofhistoric eras for inspiration.

To compliment the subject matter, Vilioti Vintage bookends each interview with a series of high quality photos depicting their interviewees in their most fashionable or glamorous style. With each interview running around ten pages and the book in its entirety clocking in at around one-hundred and eighty pages, Vilioti Vintage aims for both quality and quantity. The end product of Vilioti Vintage looks to carry the torch brought about by the RE/Search publication Swing!: The New Retro Renaissance (1998) (the shout out to RE/Search in Vargas’ acknowledgments lends credibility that this was a desired outcome).

Taking the book as a whole, there is definitely reoccurring themes and observations from each interview which reinforces a complimentary nature. The interviews were conducted during the Covid-19 pandemic, so many subjects address how they operated during the dark times. There’s a philosophy to look to the past in order to deal with modern problems, and Vilioti Vintage, be it by happenstance or by design, reinforces this notion; that there is value to bring forth elements of the past and merge it with the present to create something new that lies in the realm between utility and homage. Vilioti Vintage is an invaluable resource for both appreciating and understanding the neo-vintage subculture.

More info about Vilioti Vintage can be found at its product page at The Lady Medusa & Vilioti Press website.

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Putting the “Boo!” into…: Becca Boo: The Bimbo Ghost Issue One

Late into the night an inebriated Becca wanders into the local cemetery. After flirting with a statue, she falls backwards into an open grave and passes out. Upon waking up the next morning and seeing herself in the grave, Becca arrives at the logical conclusion: she has died and became a ghost. Feeling a sense of purpose to complete some unfinished business, Becca deduces she can put her sexual prowess to use and “sleep her way into heaven.” 

Blonde, beautiful, and sporting a set of bangs that puts many anime characters to shame, Becca recalls the ditzy, airhead trope found in the likes of Three’s Company, Clueless, and Romey and Michele’s High School Reunion. Depicting such characters can be a challenge: are the readers laughing at Becca or laughing with her? Is the comic mean-“spirited” (pun intended) or not? 

On one hand, there is a sequence where Becca is sitting on a bench next to a handsome stranger who, depending on interpretation, takes advantage of Becca’s lack of common sense in order to bed her. While the scene becomes the catalyst for Becca’s plan to use her sexual attributes to get into heaven, the circumstance pushes Becca into one-dimensional territory, marking her as easily manipulated. The story progresses at her expense.

On the other hand, Becca Boo is extremely self-aware with both the titular character and the narrative itself, giving readers winks and nudges in a playful way. Right before Becca makes love to her ex-girlfriend Nadja, Becca seizes an opportunity to re-create the famous pottery scene from the 1990 film Ghost. She even calls out “I’m ‘Ghosting’ you” while embracing a confused former lover. The scene is extremely funny and shows that the comedy comes from Becca, that she is the one directing it, and it is not directed at her. 

Becca Boo: The Bimbo Ghost is created by Sun Khamunaki who is probably best known for her articulate and detailed cheesecake comic covers done for publishers like Zenescope. Though created by Khamunaki, the story proper is written by Garth Matthams (The Living Finger from Darby Pop [a fantastic publisher]) who maintains the lighthearted tone and writes Becca with her heart in the right place. 

Khamunaki’s body of pinup-esque art sets a high bar for quality to be followed in the pages of Becca Boo and artist Kenan Halilovic and colourist Anna Jarmolowska certainly succeed. There are not many characters featured in Becca Boo, and because of this, lots of panels are devoted to really fleshing out how the characters are depicted. The little details of Nadja’s tattoos to Becca’s facial expressions that really sell her mannerisms greatly elevate the comic. Another important detail of Becca Boo are the colours which are both bright and light. White and blue dominates the palette on the pages, which both radiate a warm, sunny feeling yet at the same time gives the comic an ethereal quality, which of course, goes hand-in-hand with showing a ghost/“ghost” character. 

Issue one of Becca Boo is a short affair, clocking in at only twenty pages. However there is an extensive gallery of pinup covers that depict Becca in a variety of styles, from cartoonish to superhero-ish. The debut of Becca Boo: The Bimbo Ghost was realized via a Kickstarter campaign in early 2023. As with many Kickstarted comics there was a lot of supplemental loot and stretch goals to be had.

Firstly there is a series of seven trading cards, each one adorned with a different cover art used for issue one. 

There is also a two-sided bookmark and a sticker.

And a thick-paper print of the Khamunaki cover of Becca in white stockings. 

An option of some of the comics was to have Khamunaki and Matthams sign copies and have a corresponding certificate of authenticity accompany them.

Becca Boo is sexy and lighthearted. The premise has lots of wiggle room to take the character in different directions, hopefully developing her even more during her ghostly journey. 

A Kickstarter campaign to fund the second issue of Becca Boo is currently going on. The campaign can be found here.

For more information about Becca Boo, check out these resources:

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Hyper[Sex]Drive: Alicia Carter and Robot Issue 02

Intergalactic thief extraordinaire Alicia Carter and her robot companion GDU-3 have just fled Junk World in a stolen space freighter belonging to reptilian bounty hunter Klaven. Klaven, none-too-happy to be stranded on a world of refuse along with his fellow hunters Kira and Arms, sends an SOS to his brother Vardak for rescue. Vardak is more than interested to help Klaven, for a price of course: a percentage of the bounty on Carter and the value of a crystal she has stolen. Meanwhile the freighter Carter is piloting beings to break down, experiencing issues with both the gravity and the hyperdrive. Carter and GDU-3 set about fixing the ship, with things getting quite personal in the close quarters. 

Shikarii Cover for Issue #2.

Issue two of Alicia Carter and Robot (ACaR) picks up right after issue one with the duo having fled their bounty hunting pursuers. The minor amnesia subplot present in ACaR #1 is thankfully nowhere to be found, allowing issue two to better align its focus on true character development of Carter and GDU-3 as they bond. GDU-3, after encountering robot space leeches, expresses fear, something not really explored with robot characters. Carter’s backstory gets expanded upon as well, revealing she has partaken in sapphic rendezvous, specifically with the main antagonist’s wife. 

The pulp elements hinted at in issue one of ACaR also appear to be dropped. Instead, the story embraces a more Cowboy Bebop approach regarding spacefaring adventuring. However, if there is a word to describe the tone of issue two of ACaRit is “horny.” The first half of the issue sees the narrative push Carter and GDU-3 as close to having sex as possible without actually having sex or showing nudity. The cramped access ducts of the space freighter force the two to straddle each other. GDU-3 sends some of his tendrils to fix various apparati of the ship and in the process rubs/vibrates against Carter’s labia majora that protrudes through her suit.

Is GDU-3 an innocent robot who is merely trying to fix the ship who is accidentally getting Carter all steamed up? The bend in his tendril suggests otherwise. Coinciding with the in-panel suggestive antics are innuendos galore as repairing the ship allows for many out of context verbal opportunities such as “I can barely reach the shaft,” “it’s getting harder,” and “Ah yes! It’s in!”

The sequences do give the scifi-adventure story overtones of 80s sex comedies, but at the same time does challenge the relationship between the two. Will Carter and GDU-3 remain platonic partners on the run from other criminals and assassins? Develop a true friendship? Or perhaps a more intimate relationship? (Some of the alternate covers for issues one and two definitely hint at the latter)

Story-wise, author Tristan Vick devotes issue two to characters, not just Carter and the robot, but introducing new characters and adversaries as well. The stakes are increasing against Carter which sets up the dominos for even more action in subsequent issues while in the process having the characters become even more interconnected as they not only pursue Carter, but some pursue each other (such as Kira and Vardak).

Chris Awayan and Mirza Wirawan both return to issue two on art and colours respectively. The images of space proper, instead of being void and black, are instead popping with colour and activity. The artistic depiction of Carter, though it retains an emphasis on showcasing her bust and bottom, still portrays her in a warm fashion. Carter is a thief, a Han Solo-esque character, yet her facial expressions depict her with a girl next door quality.

As with issue one, issue two of ACaR enjoys a bounty of Kickstarter loot (that is if one contributed to the campaign). The art print done by the Xong Bros. showcases Carter and GDU-3 in a manga style. Carter sitting atop of her robot companion is reminiscent of some of the Masamune Shirow/Ghost in the Shell covers.

The swimsuit print done by Rocha is fun and flirty. 

And there are trading cards, fridge magnets, and stickers of the characters done in a chibi style.

As with many Kickstarted comics, there are numerous alternative covers for issue two, with Shikarii’s version depicting the bounty hunter Kira (shown at the beginning of this review and in the fridge magnet above) being the most standout. Shikarii has an iconic hyper-realistic style that is always a pleasure to see.

ACaR issue two plays more naughty than nice in its narrative, but it scratches the itch to see Carter and GDU-3 taking the next step in their galactic adventure as thieves on the run. It is both playful and fun to see the two characters interact (sexual overtones or not) as they are both extremely likable. The art and colouring are also well done, with an emphasis on vibrant purples and pinks that pop on the page. 

If you’ve enjoyed this review consider backing the Kickstarter campaign for issue three of Alicia Carter. The campaign ends on November 18th. Also, consider checking out my review of issue one of Alicia Carter.

More information about Alicia Carter and Robot and the team behind it can be found at the following locations:

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Claws From the Bulkhead Walls: Deep Space Horror in Ness Brown’s The Scourge Between Stars

Somewhere between the solar system and Proxima b the generation ship Calypso slowly limps back to Earth after failing to colonize an extrasolar planet. Carrying what may be the last of the human race, the Calypso is besieged by mechanical problems and caught in the crossfire between two unseen galactic forces. The ship’s problems are further compounded when a handful of xenomorphic stowaways make their presence known. The only person keeping everyone’s shit together (including their own) is Jacklyn Albright, who steps up to lead the Calypso against all odds when her father, the captain, falters.

And thus the premise of The Scourge Between Stars, the debut space horror novella by Ness Brown and published by Tor’s Nightfire imprint in the spring of 2023. Borrowing the stalking xenomorph from Alien, the decaying ship from Dark Star, and the uniformed humans who occupy a variety of functions a’la Star Trek, The Scourge Between Stars feels familiar, but Brown, whose professional background is astrophysics, keeps the narrative fresh, grounded, and throws in their own unique genre vision.

There’s no FTL in The Scourge Between Stars, which adds to a sense of futility and hopelessness to the story. If the Calypso will not make it back to Earth for hundreds of years, why bother? Main protag Jacklyn keeps the fire of hope burning despite all odds, and oh boy, are the odds against her, the crew, and the ship. Jacklyn is excessively critical of herself, comparing herself negatively to her father who, despite apparently having once been a great captain and leader, has sequestered himself in his quarter, forcing his daughter and crew to face the hardships on their own. 

Yet, Jacklyn is extremely resolute, and this is demonstrated through all her relationships – be them platonic, professional, or romantic. Jacklyn puts everyone before herself, which overtime does take its toll on her. She is carrying a burden and Brown excels at depicting Jacklyn overcoming all the ordeals she is faced with by using her leadership and trusting others to do their roles. 

These are the more action-oriented elements of The Scourge Between Stars. Jacklyn and her crew are also being hunted by xenomorphs that have made themselves hidden in the ship’s supplies, only surfacing now to lay eggs and stalk the Calypso crew. They bang inside the walls, dismember alone crew members, attack from the darkness, and even have a few unexpected tricks up their sleeve. Jacklyn and her crew take a competent approach to handle the alien menace, going ship section by ship section, locking down areas and trying to contain the aliens. Try as they might, things inevitably go awry, and the book has no shortage of alien attacks.

If there is a fault with The Scourge Between Stars is that the ending does feel rushed and resolved in a too tidy of package. Aside from this, The Scourge Between Stars expertly alternates between action and horror, finely maintaining an atmosphere of hopelessness and hope. Jacklyn is an excellent character, sympathetic and admirable, a model of a person acting against all odds. As a story proper, The Scourge Between Stars leverages the tropes that make space horror a fun genre to indulge in, but there is a unique authorial stamp from Ness that distinguishes the story from other space horror texts.

For more information about Ness Brown’s The Scourge Between Stars, check out our H. P. Lovecast Podcast interview with them:

HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 25 – Ness Brown – Scourge Between Stars – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

For more information check out the following links:

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Traveling First Class: The Sensual World of Black Emanuelle Boxset

Roughly fifteen years ago Severin Films gave rejuvenated life to a handful of Black Emanuelle titles, Italian derivatives of the French Emmanuelle films. Staring Laura Gemser, the Black Emanuelle films took on a distinct identity of their own while at the same time flirting with other popular Italo-genres of the period: mondo, cannibal, women in prison, etc.

Severin only scratched the Black Emanuelle surface back in the latter august, with other DVD companies such as Blue Underground, Full Moon, Mya, and Shriek Show, published Black Emanuelle titles they had rights to. It was a scattered canon of releases with some titles and alternate versions remaining unreleased in digital format.

Fast forward to 2023 and Severin Films returns to the erotic world of Black Emanuelle with an epic fifteen disc boxset of Black Emanuelle Blu-rays and soundtracks. As in typical Severin fashion, the Black Emanuelle boxset came in a variety of bundles. This article is an unboxing of The Around the World bundle along with a comparison and remembrance of prior Black Emanuelle releases from other publishers.

Like the Severin release of All Haunts Be Ours, Black Emanuelle came in a large box, only cube-shaped instead of pizza box-shaped.

Bonus Spunky cat checking things out.

Packed with lots of popcorn, obscuring the contents within. 

First up is the Severin Airlines bag. The type face and red-orange-yellow colours evoke the 70s for sure. The sun has a bit of a broken sun vibe typically found in synthwave artwork. The bag is the perfect size to fit all the Black Emanuelle swag within.

It even has zippers of the iconic Severin Films logo.

A reproduction necklace from Black Emanuelle.

The insert shows a picture of Laura Gemser in one of her poses from the photoshoot scene in the film.

A reproduction Polaroid.

A passport that look quite convincing that had a Severin Films logo sticker and a sticker that references Violence in a Women’s Prison. 

A comparison of the Emanuelle passport to a real, present day one.

The passport reproduction gets even more detailed with identifying information.

To compliment the passport, there are three sheets of stickers that can be put inside the passport as visas.

Each sticker set is grouped by film. 

Gemser was truly a globetrotting reporter with all these sticker-visas!

The next big ticket item is the board game, Around the World with Black Emanuelle. This will be opened at a later date.

A recreation pen from the Hotel Siam in Bangkok. It looks like a white Mont Blanc.

And finally, the treasure itself, the boxset proper. The outer boxset is sturdy cardboard and has, on the side, a scroll wheel that changes the photo displayed inside Gemser’s camera when turned.

Before going further, the two original Black Emanuelle boxsets Severin published back in the 2000s need to be highlighted. These boxes were locked with velcro and when opened showed a nude Gemser. Each boxset had three films. 

Inside the Black Emanuelle boxset is a small, but thick book titled The Black Emanuelle Bible, edited by Kier-La Janisse who has done wonder work on other Severin releases.

The blu-rays and CDs are packed in a folding booklet, with inserts for each disc.

Disc one contains the Black Emanuelle and Black Emanuelle 2. Paired here is the original Severin DVD release of Black Emanuelle 2 which did not feature Gemser. 

Disc two contains Emanuelle in Bangkok and Emanuelle in America. Here the boxset is paired with the original Severin edition of Emanuelle in Bangkok and the Blue Underground version of Emanuelle in America.

Disc three contains two extremely controversial Black Emanuelle films. Firstly there is Emanuelle and the Last Cannibalspaired with the Severin Blu-ray edition and the Shriek Show DVD version.

The other half of the disc has Emanuelle Around the World. Severin originally published this in two different DVD editions: a normal edition and a European XXX edition.

Skipping to disc five there is Emanuelle and the White Slave Trade pictured with the original Severin DVD and the Full Moon Blu-ray.

The other film on disc five is Sister Emmanuelle. The original Severin edition came in a boxset that contained postcards of the films’ posters.

Disc six has the sleazy Violence in a Women’s Prison, compared to the Severin Blu-ray edition.

Disc seven demonstrates the fluid naming conventions Italian genre films adhered to. This disc contains Emanuelle Black Velvet, paired with its Full Moon edition. Severin previously published this film under the Black Emanuelle White Emmanuelle moniker (two Ms!).

Disc nine has Divine Emanuelle, this one paired with its Shriek Show counterpart Divine Emanuelle: Love Cult.

And finally, as far as release comparisons go, disc element contains Laura Gesmer’s first film appearance, Amore Libero – Free Love. The defunct boutique label Mya originally published this film on DVD under The Real Emanuelle title.

Slated to be included in this boxset was an item called “Emanuelle’s Studio Magnetic Fashion Playset.” However that item seems to be held up by the manufacturer and will ship at a later date.

All in all this is a comprehensive boxset on all things Black Emanuelle. The ephemera really contextualizes the era these movies came out in and underscores the traveling and cosmopolitanism aspect aspects of them. A glorious and glamorous boxset that solidifies the Black Emanuelle legacy.

If you enjoyed this unboxing check out these related articles. Also, I still have a soft open on the Emmanuelle/Black Emanuelle CFP. If you have an essay idea, send it over! Details can be found here.

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In His Image: Supplemental Material to “Strange Realities”

In the final quarter of 2022, the edited collection The Many Lives of The Twilight Zone: Essays on the Television and Film Franchise, was published by McFarland. Edited by Kevin J. Wetmore Jr. and Ron Riekki, the book contains nineteen essays that take a variety of academic approaches to different Twilight Zone texts. One of those essays is mine, “Strange Realities: Twilight Zone-sploitation in Encounter with the Unknown.” 

In my essay, I compare and contrast the original run of The Twilight Zone with the 1972 anthology-horror film, Encounter with the Unknown, which uses Rod Serling’s narration and Twilight Zone visual cues to, more-or-less, rip off the legendary series. While I consider the essay exhaustive and complete, I feel it could benefit from an addendum. The final section of my essay, ‘Voices and Images,’ I bring up examples of how VHS releases of Encounter of the Unknown mimic iconic visual elements of The Twilight Zone. While these descriptions are as detailed as possible, I figured readers of the essay would benefit from supplemental material that contains pictures of these VHS releases. 

  • Blu-ray that uses the Encounter with the Unknown Poster.
  • Cover of the Interglobal release of Encounter.
  • Back of the Interglobal release.
  • Front of the VCI release.
  • Back of the VCI release.

If you haven’t read my essay and are curious, (or the entire book sounds intriguing), The Many Lives of The Twilight Zone can be purchased at McFarland and Amazon.

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[S]extra Curricular Activities: Death Nell Issue One

Death Nell is an erotic horror comedy (in the Beetlejuice vein) comic published by Bad Bug Media in early 2023 after a successful Kickstarter campaign of their first issue in the summer of 2022. Issue one is written by Bill Stoddard with Cammry Lapka (Cat Tails, Black Market Heroine) doing art, Bruna Costa on colours, and Erek Foster (The Surgeon)providing lettering. 

Nell, her undead cat, and April.

The titular Nell is a twenty-two year old student at the Deus Mortem school for necromancers where she spends her time sleeping during class and fantasizing about her teacher, Professor Reinhart, instead of paying attention. At the suggestion of her best friend, April (who is a half troll), Nell visits the buxom school nurse (curse lifter?) Madame Flowers. It turns out that Nell’s sleeping issue is from exhaustion due to her insatiable desires despite a regime of self pleasuring. An alchemy spell later and the root cause is discovered: Nell is part Succubus and she needs to om nom nom on the sexual energies of others. Thankfully there happens to be a party coming up that promises lots of action…

Grave digging attire.

As a playful, lighter fare, Death Nell can be placed in a similar camp of monster-school stories such as Nicholas Doan and Gwendolyn Dreyer’s Monster Elementary, the Monster High media franchise, and even the prequel film of Monsters Inc., Monster University. Death Nell’s art reflects its comedic tone, as the colours are vibrant (the fun gothic colours of purple and black) and the characters realized in an anime/manga-inspired fashion (drool, bonks on heads, pursed lips, etc.). The women of Death Nell do adhere to a specific type of depiction: eye liner as big as bats and hips as thicc as gravestones. It’s a fun style that juggles sexy and cartoonish – Hot Topic patrons will definitely approve (and mimic!).

Madame Flowers.

Death Nell’s comedy falls in line with school sex comedies of the 80s and the 2000s. This can be both a blessing and a curse depending on perspective. Because she’s an attractive succubus, the faculty of Nell’s school begin to lust after her (the aforementioned Madame Flowers, the graveyard undertaker Edgar) with only professor Reinhart seemingly immune to her passive powers. In reality, this, of course, is a big no-no in classroom power dynamics, yet it is also an extremely common plot device in pornographic stories (“teacher, there has to be something I can do to pass this class!”). The tone of Death Nell is much too lighthearted to even approach levels like David Mamet’s Oleanna, but might find itself in “Penny Pax spends times in detention” territory. The nudity and sexual acts are presented in wanton abandon. 

NSFW version of the issue one cover with art by Lapka and Costa.

As is SOP with mature comic books made possible via crowdfunding, the first issue of Death Nell comes in a variety of alternative covers, with nude variants of each. The campaign to fund issue two of Death Nell (which ends February 15th) follows suit.

There was also additional, fun swag that came with copies of Death Nell issue one:

Art prints

Art Prints that have a crossover with Bag Bug’s other erotic series, Vanya.

And cards.

The first issue of Death Nell is fun-n-flirty, school sex comedy. Nell has to deal with typical college problems of being socially awkward and get good grades, while also finding out who she is as a person. Er, succubus. 

We’ve all been there. 

For more information on Death Nell, check out these links:

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Invasive Species: Cryptid Horror in Robert P. Ottone’s Nocturnal Creatures

It’s the summer of ‘92 and you’re off for a long break. You and your family live in the woods outside a small, rural town. Life consists of exploring the forest by day and staying up late playing Sega Genesis by night. It is the perfect time to be a kid before Eternal September. One night you catch an episode of Unsolved Mysteries, one where they are recreating encounters with Bigfoot. The iconic ominous music and real-world reenactments give you the heebie jeebies. You go to bed, turn off the lights, and look out your window to the dark, starlit forest outside. Eyelids heavy, you almost fall asleep –crash! What was that? You peer out the window. Was that movement just at the treeline? You think back to the show earlier that night. Could it be – a Bigfoot right outside your house?

Nocturnal Creatures cover.

If the above scenario ushers in a sense of nostalgia, then Robert P. Ottone’s short novel, Nocturnal Creatures, is a perfect flashback story for you. Set during the tail end of the Gulf War in rural New York, Nocturnal Species is a cryptid story with elements of the siege genre.

The story is told through the perspective of Cassie Albero, a middle schooler whose family owns an orchard. Hard times have fallen on the Albero family as an unseasonably cold late spring/early summer threatens their apple harvest. Their problems are compounded when their home is besieged by a family of Sasquatch-like monsters, who have been driven from their home in the nearby caves and woodlands. 

Nocturnal Creatures is similar to the animals run amok narratives of the 70s: as civilization pushes into nature, nature fights back to survive. This puts Cassie and her family and the cryptids in the same moral boat as both groups are trying to survive each other, thrust into a situation that is neither’s fault. The Albero family, coming from a generation of immigrants, contrasted to the mysterious cryptids adds another level of complexity – strangers in strange lands trying to eek by in a rapidly globalizing world. Readers will certainly identify with the humans, and yet, while the cryptids are portrayed as menacing and near unstoppable, there’s a sympathy for them as well. 

Taking place in the early 90s, Nocturnal Creatures has many callbacks to the era: a ChatBoy (a stand in for the TalkBoy from Home Alone 2), discontinued soda, listening to grunge bands on cassette, the Gulf War in the background, and no internet. These sentiments cater to the Oregon Trail generation, a refreshing break from the 80s nostalgia that has been enjoying a wave of popularity for the past decade. 

The characters of Nocturnal Creatures are incredibly fleshed out with backstories, motivations, and worries. If anything, the Albero family embodies the idyllic nuclear family found in 80s and early 90s sitcoms. This is contrasted to Azura and her son, Darwin, immigrants from El Salvador, also chasing the American dream. Azura is a total James Cameron character, a cross between Sarah Connor from Terminator 2 and Vasquez from Aliens. She acts as a mentor to the Albero family, teaching them how to use firearms and survive the cryptid siege, but also as a role model to Darwin and Cassie. Everyone looks up to her. 

The stars of a Bigfoot-style story are, of course, the cryptids themselves. In terms of placement on the Sasquatch spectrum, they are a little folky like the Fouke Monster from The Legend of Boggy, but much more cunning and violent like the Sasquatch in the 2006 film Abominable. They are completely believable humanoids that are also frighteningly strong, able to tactically plan their attacks, and near invulnerable due to their super thick skin. They are also presented as a family, functioning no different than the Alberos.

This is the heart of Nocturnal Creatures: different types of families, all looking to survive and make their way in the world, wrapped up in a cryptid horror story with a dollop of early 90s nostalgia and coming of age. The formula works, no doubt to its relatable and fleshed out characters along with menacing, multifaceted monsters. 

Nocturnal Creatures can be purchased at:

Robert P. Ottone can be found at:

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A Good, Fair Deal: Lora Senf’s The Clackity

The Clackity is the debut, middle-grade novel from Lora Senf, released in the summer of 2022. The book evokes shades of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Labyrinth, Edward Gorey, and 90s-era Nickelodeon. 

Personal copy of The Clackity.

The story of The Clackity is centered on preteen Evie who lives with her aunt Desdemona in the town of Blight Harbor. When Desdemona goes missing in the town’s old and abandoned abattoir, Evie investigates with the hopes of rescuing her. She meets the titular Clackity, a nefarious shadowy being that is part Cheshire cat, part Oogie Boogie, and 100% can not be trusted. The Clackity tells Evie where Desdemona has been taken to, but in return she must venture into another world, with a black sun and purple sky, to visit seven houses, and bring back John Jeffrey Pope, a serial killer from Blight Harbor’s past. Within each house is a test that challenges Evie’s wits and bravery. Aside from negotiating the houses, Evie must keep pace ahead of the pursuing Pope while also completing all her tasks before black sun down.

The Clackity is overflowing with vivid imagination, an amalgamation of child-like nightmares. Each house Evie visit has its own personality. One has a maze of repeating doors that must be entered in a certain order (think of those forest mazes in the original Zelda on the NES), another a gingerbread house, and one is even a house made from a witch who turns into a tree. There is a bag of holding, magical boats, distorted forests, enchanted flowers, birds that become shadow tattoos, infinity pits, and so on. If a child’s imagination can dream it, Senf grabs it, reworks it, and turns it into a wondrous component of The Clackity. 

In addition to how varied and versatile The Clackity is, the prose is beautifully executed. Narrated in first-person perspective, Evie (by way of Senf) describes the world (both real and unreal) around her in a creative ways. Interspersed in the text of the book are black and white illustrations by Alfredo Cáceres that are a cross between Charles Addams, Edward Gorey, and Tony Di’Terlizzi. The illustrations capture Senf’s set pieces and underscore the novel’s atmosphere.

If there is a theme for The Clackity it is about bravery combined with a “fake it till you make it” ethos. Evie puts on the bravest face she can, and even changes her looks (hair cut, mascara, etc.) to give the impression that she is a warrior, even if she doesn’t feel it it. As she adventures through the seven houses, her bravery is put to the test, and often times she freezes with fear. The Clackity normalizes that it is ok to be afraid of big things, and that bravery isn’t sudden: it’s something to strive toward, mimic, and eventually you become it. It also underscores that even in moments that we lose our brave face, there is a safety net of others (shadow birds, witches, etc. in the case of The Clackity, but in real life, friends, family, etc.) to be there to be supportive. A person is never alone, there is always someone.

Even though The Clackity (book and monster) can be scary, the story is incredibly fun. Readers root for Evie in her highs and lows in her quest to rescue her aunt, feel and empathize with her emotions, but also have their imagination sparked by Senf’s descriptions of the unreal world. A creative and spooky endeavor, The Clackity is a fantastic dark, adventurous story. 

Lore Senf can be found at:

Lora Senf was also a guest on The H. P. Lovecast Podcast. That episode can be streamed here or in the embedded player below.

HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 13 – Lora Senf and Robert P. Ottone – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

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Essays

Cinema of Lust: Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol

SK:FETC with Dust Jacket

When released in 1974, the erotic French film Emmanuelle became a worldwide sensation that topped box offices and garnered controversy. The movie would catapult its starlet, Sylvia Kristel, into the limelight, but at the same time it would overshadow her. Kristel became synonymous with the Emmanuelle character whose specter she could never escape despite efforts appearing in a variety of other films ranging from auteur-made art house movies to lifeless commercial fare. During her lifetime, few critics and scholars took Kristel seriously as an actress. Jeremy Richey’s book, Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol (SK:FETC) aims to rectify this oversight and help usher in a reassessment and a rediscovery of Kristel and her body of work.

Published in 2022 by Cult Epics after a successful crowdfunding campaign, SK:FETC focuses on Kristel’s career from 1973 to 1981, her beginnings to when she was at her height of popularity. The book is divided into seven sections covering twenty-three movies, with the final section devoted to unrealized projects. Richey sticks to a disciplined structure when discussing each film: background contextualization, production and musings, and performance assessment with contemporary reception. This structure makes SK:FETC easy to navigate, search, and enjoy.

Standard cover.

Starting each film’s chapter is a background to how the movie came to being, diving into literary sources, filmmaker and crew backgrounds, and even general societal hegemony. For example, before discussing Kristel’s first film, Frank and Eva, time is spent describing the general landscape of Dutch cinema of the era so readers will have the contextualization that Kristel’s movies operated in. Regarding filmmakers and the crew, SK:FETC takes an interconnected approach by highlighting who was in Kristel’s orbit and describing how they contributed to the film and her career. 

Next, Richey focuses on the film’s production while adding his own musings, such as what scenes and sequences stand out, or detailing difficulties Kristel dealt with, such as egotistical directors and actors (see the entry on The Concorde … Airport ’79). There are some insightful observations within these film entries, such as when Richey points out that Naked Over the Fence captures a specific snapshot of early 70s Netherlands analog pinball arcades and the burgeoning European martial arts culture. 

Finally, each chapter concludes with an assessment of the film and performances. For Richey, Kristel is the gold standard for performance and other players are held to this bar. Richey does counterbalance this inherent favoritism by including a plethora of quotations from contemporary film critics from all over the globe, both positive and negative reception. In addition to film critical quotations, Richey incorporates a great deal of other citations as well: texts from scholars such as femist academic Camille Paglia and cult film scholar Marcus Stiglegger; excerpts from Kristel’s autobiography, and interviews from cast and crew, some of them rare (such as the interview with Laura Gemser about Emmanuelle 2) and others conducted by Richey exclusively for SK:FETC. 

If there is a fault with SK:FETC, it is a built in one that mirrors Kristel’s career. In her attempt to shake the Emmanuelle image, Kristel began appearing in films that would hinder rather than advance her career. These films are otherwise unremarkable, giving Richey less to work with in his writings. The chapters become shorter and contain less insight when compared to the first 2/3s of SK:FETC. 

Example of interior with lobby card images.

Clocking in at over 330 pages, SK:FETC is a tome of insight, observations, and rare material about Kristel and her career. Care was not only put into the text but into the physical book proper as SK:FETC is a luxurious hardcover release. Aside from the standard edition of the book, there are versions with a collector’s box and others with dust jackets autographed by Richey. The book is presented in full colour and filled with numerous photographs and promotional materials, such as lobby cards and posters. Such inclusions greatly add to the reading experience while acting as a visual catalogue to Kristel’s career. The end product is a gorgeous edition matching – even surpassing – comparable efforts by similar publishers such as FAB Press or PulseVideo.

SK:FETC accomplishes its goal in reassessing Kristel and her films. The book acts as an authority on Kristel’s early career, and provides much needed contextualization along with performance observations and incorporation of a variety of rare, unique, and otherwise inaccessible sources. Kristel is portrayed in a positive and interesting light. Emmanuelle still remains the film Kristel is the most synonymous with, but SK:FETC demonstrates that there is much more to the legendary Dutch actress.

Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol book can be purchased at the following venues: