The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout page, the embedded player above, or via your podcast app of preference.
CoKoCon 2022 Appearance
CoKoCon is a Phoenix speculative fiction conference that is being held over Labour Day weekend.
Michele and I will be in attendance as panelists. Programming is still being solidified, but keep an eye out at the CoKoCon website or Twitter as news comes in.
The New Peplum Citation
The New Peplum appears in the bibliography of the edited collection La Strada: The Cinema and Cinematographers of Italy, edited by Alexander A. Sinitsyn.
I’m not sure which specific essay(s) in the collection cites The New Peplum, or what specifically from The New Peplum has been cited, but you can see the bibliographic entry in the uploaded paper “Antiquity in the Cinema of Italy in the 1910s – 1930s” by Alexandra Solovyeva, which happens to include the bib for the entire book.
Very cool. I’m always humbled and honored to see other academics referencing The New Peplum.
Exotica Moderne Book Review
Turned in a book review to be published in an upcoming issue of Exotica Moderne (hopefully the next one!). In the meantime, check out the publisher, House of Tabu, who has various mugs, pins, and the latest issue, #15 with the Shag cover, still for sale.
General Neo-Peplum News
Blog Entries at DMR Books
Here a listing of genre relevant blog articles at DMR Books this past week, both are author interviews:
Brand new episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time on Hercules Invictus’ Mount Olympus programming is now online.
Personal Copy.
In this episode Michele and I talk about the 80s sword and sorcery film, The Sword and the Sorcerer, which was legit good! The episode can be streamed at BlogTalkRadio.
Next month we will be talking about DragonHeart (1996).
New H.P. Lovecast This Thursday
Our monthly Transmissions program will be published this upcoming Thursday, June 30th. We will be interviewing Lora Senf and Robert Ottone.
General Neo-Peplum News
“Temm the Riven” by Brian Matthews
Dark fiction writer Brian W. Matthews, author of The Conveyance (read my review over at Goodreads), Forever Man (which just got a re-release earlier this month) and its sequels Revelation and Dark Rescue, takes a plunge into the sword and sorcery genre with a new short story titled “Temm the Riven.” The story will be published in an upcoming issue of the recently revived Weird Tales magazine.
Amplifying Antiquity with Heavy Metal Music
Dr. Jeremy Swiss was recently interviewed Brandeis University in their BrandeisNow online news. The interview is called, “Amplifying Antiquity with Heavy Metal Music” and can be read here.
DMR Blog Entries
DMR Books is a publisher of sword and sorcery, pulp, and horror books that are in an old school pulp vein. In addition to their publishing endeavors they maintain a very active blog of contributors doing essays, interviews, and reviews. This past week saw:
Today (June 20th) is my birthday. Happy birthday to me. I turn 40.
This past week was a roller coaster of things happening. Some good. Most not so good. I didn’t have anything released last week (podcast, essay, etc.), so I’ll use this opportunity to paint a picture of things I am working on, and maybe see my 40th solar year be super successful.
H. P. Lovecast Podcast
Michele and I pretty much have the rest of the summer plotted out for the podcast. June’s Transmissions episode has the interviews already recorded, and they are with Robert Ottone and Lora Senf. We simply need to record our script, edit, and upload. That episode will drop on the final day of June as normally scheduled.
We are working on July’s programming as well. Much like August of 2021 when we devoted a month to the King in Yellow with a specific focus on the anthology Under Twin Suns, we will be spending July devoted to the anthology Even in the Grave. The ball is already rolling to coordinate interviews.
Edit: Our analysis of Even in the Grave can be streamed here while our interviews with contributors of the anthology can be read here.
For August we are looking at releases from Weird House Press.
Edit: Our analysis of Something in the Water (published by Weird House) can be streamed here and our interview with Douglas Wynne is here.
Everything with the podcast is going along pretty well and we hope to stay ahead of the game with our programming.
Scholars From the Edge of Time
This upcoming Thursday Michele and I will do our monthly Scholars from the Edge of Time program. We will be discussing the 1982 Albert Pyun film, The Sword and the Sorcerer (which ruled).
Other Podcast News
I recorded an episode with Fan2Fan about Saturday morning cartoons. I expect that episode to be published in the near future. It has been fantastic appearing on their shows.
I am slated to be invited back on Scaredy Cats to talk about The Final Girls. That’s all TBD for now, but excited to be back on that show.
Emmanuelle CFP
I still plan on putting an official CFP for the Emmanuelle and Black Emmanuelle films out later this year on places like UPenn. To be honest, the only thing holding me back is all my source material (films, books, etc.) are in a box in storage since we moved and I have not gotten around to locating it yet. Once I get my paws on my stuff and I can craft a real CFP, it’ll go up. I’ll still have an unofficial call open for folks interested to email me, but for now, instead of broadcasting the unofficial CFP every week, I’ll do it every month until a proper go live.
Vikings Sampling Essay
My current big writing project is taking my presentation from the MAPACA conference last year, “Victory Or Valhalla: Violence via Vikings Sampling in Acylum’s Kampf Dem Verderb,” and turning it into a journal article proper. The work is basically done, it just needs to be edited and spruced up to make it publishable quality.
Exotica Moderne
Working on a book review for the next issue of Exotica Moderne. Review is due at the end of June.
Other Publications
I have composed essays slated to appear in a Westward book, a Gladiator book, and a Twilight Zone book. It’s been quiet on all three fronts. As soon as I hear any news on the production of any of these books, I’ll let y’all know here.
Edit: The Many Lives of the Twilight Zone was published in October. It can be bought at McFarland.
I Am a Barbarian Interview
I’m currently doing an email interview with Tom Simmons and Mike Dubish about their recently published graphic novel of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ story, I Am a Barbarian. Expect this to go online at my website in July.
Michele and I are in exchanges with the folks at CoKoCo to possibly appear on some panels at CoKoCon during Labour Day weekend this year. Cross fingers!
Summary
In summary, I have A LOT going on – I just didn’t have anything come out last week. There’s other projects on my to-do list, such as book reviews I’ve wanted to write and some peplum ponderings. I also just started a new job mid-April, which has been awesome, but there’s simply quite a bit to juggle going on right now. I appreciate folks who have been supportive of my (and Michele’s!) endeavors. You all rock.
Brand new episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online!
Thumbnail by Michele Brittany
Last month we had a Twitter poll on what film we should watch and discuss for this month, Cthulhu Mansion or Feed the Light, and Cthulhu Mansion won. So, we subjugated ourselves to it.
The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout site, via the embedded podcast link above, or via your podcast application of preference.
For our Transmissions episode that drops the last day of June, we will be interviewing Lora Senf and Robert Ottone. Stay tuned for that episode.
General Neo-Peplum News
Kino Release of Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World
Kino has been on a roll lately with their classic sword and sandal releases. Recently they put out Son of Samson. They have Sudan coming out in a Maria Montez and Jon Hall collection, and now they’ve announced a release of Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World.
Amazon does not have an order page up yet, but there is a product page for the Blu-ray at the Kino website.
Though not peplum, but of interest to me in my Emmanuelle studies, Kino also announced a release of the Sylvia Kristel film Mata Hari.
That film’s product page can be found here. You better believe I’ll be ordering both!
100 Bible Films Released
Last month, Matt Page’s 100 Bible Films was released by BFI last month.
Our monthly Transmissions program went up last Tuesday.
Thumbnail by Michele Brittany.
This episode concluded our May Music Month. We interviewed Thomas Blakeley and Matt Toronto of the musical A Dream at the End of Time, and Dorian Williamson and Jim Field of the dark ambient band Northumbria.
HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 12 – A Dream at the End of Time and Northumbria –
H. P. Lovecast Podcast
The episode can be streamed via our Buzzsprout website, via the embedded player above, or via our podcast app of preference.
For June, we will be talking about the film Cthulhu Mansion on our primary episode, and interviewing Robert Ottone and Lora Senf on our Transmissions episode. Stay tuned!
The New Peplum Citation
Kevin Wetmore’s essay, “In the Green Zone with the Ninth Legion: The Post-Iraq Roman Film” has been cited in Óscar Lapeña Marchena’s essay “Defendiendo el limes desde Britannia hasta Irak: nuevos enfoques bélicos en el cine de romanos del siglo XXI” in the book Pantallas en guerra.
Cover taken from Google Search
Marchena previously cited Wetmore’s essay in “La recepción de la guerra en la antigua Roma a través del cine: un estado de la cuestión.”
Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP
Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.
Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.
General Neo-Peplum News
Recent Acquisitions
During a trip to Bookman’s last week I happened upon this EC Comics collection:
I already have the EC Comics collection of Valor comics and wasn’t thinking of Two-Fisted Tales since it seemed centered on war narratives. But there were quite a few pre-1900s battles in the comic and there just happened to be a peplum one:
It’s called “Pigs of the Roman Empire” and I am glad I happened upon it. I’ll now have to keep an eye out for other EC collections that just might have more sword and sandal stories in them.
Of course, obligatory seamed stockings panel.
On Sunday Michele and I went off to Zia’s Records looking for treasure. The metal section is always a treasure trove of pepla-music. I happened upon Visions of Atlantis’ Pirates album.
Believe I’ve said on a prior news post, to some pirates are pepla to others they are not. I like to toss in news about pirate-pepla when I can. I’d never heard of Visions of Atlantis (Greek mythology name there!) and the cover of their Pirates album seemed to promise pirate metal in the vein of Alestorm. But I was wrong! It’s symphonic power metal and it’s damn good! So good I plucked up the vinyl and the CD.
For dirt cheap I also happened upon this Blu-ray boxset of Ben-Hur. I actually do not have a copy of Ben-Hur in the sword and sandal collection, so that’s been rectified. The boxset is big, but unlike the Troy boxset I did an article on, there isn’t much in here. I think I’ll still do a quick unboxing article later this week. Content is content, ya know.
The Kickstarter for issue 2 is also in the interview, so consider supporting.
Cthulhu Mansion Voted for HP Lovecast Episode
It’s unanimous: 92.9% of voters on our Twitter poll selected Cthulhu Mansion as the film Michele and I will watch and discuss on the June episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast.
Blu-ray from my personal collection.
We have not seen it before, and though it is Spanish, it looks like it has all the right qualities of a fantastic 80s Italian horror film. We’re excited to watch it and talk about it.
For fans of Feed the Light, worry not! We will visit that movie down the road.
Thank you all who partook in our poll. We will do another in the future.
H. P. Lovecast Podcast Transmissions – May
The May episode of HP Lovecast Transmissions will be published Tuesday, May 31st. In this episode we interview writer Thomas Blakeley and director Matthew Toronto about their upcoming musical, A Dream at the End of Time, and Dorian Williamson and Jim Field of the dark ambient band Northumbria. Subscribe to our podcast via your app of preference to be notified when it goes live!
Scholars from the Edge of Time – Moon Knight
New episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time is online. This one is on YouTube (was done via Zoom) and has special guest Travis Lakata. We all talk about the Disney+ series, Moon Knight. I, unfortunately, had to take off mid-vidcast for unexpected phone call.
Highlander Call for Papers
Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.
If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of.
Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP
Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.
Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.
General Neo-Peplum News
Witcher Short Story Review at Fanbase Press
In sword and sorcery news, Michele has a write up over at Fanbase Press on The Witcher: A Grain of Truth.
I’ve been playing a lot of State of Decay 2 on the ol’ Xbox lately, having a blast… blasting zombies.
Screenshot I nabbed. Might have to zoom in, it’s kinda dark.
Over the weekend I was looting a house and was kinda checking out some of the background elements in the game and I found a faux-boardgame sitting on someone’s table. It’s called The Aquaductor, and it looks to be a neo-peplum board game of sorts – probably like Carcasonne but with Roman aqueducts. I’d play it if it existed!
Born of Blood is a neo-peplum comic published by MERC Publishing, written by Dolan, edited by Murphey, lettered by Joel Rodriguez, with art by Carlos Beccaria and colours by Sebastian Gonzalez. The first issue of the comic was successfully crowdfunded at the very end of 2021 with happy fans receiving their fulfillment orders this Spring (my write up of issue one and the associated Kickstarter look can be read here, check it out!).
On Friday, May 27th, MERC publishing continues the tale of Giaris, future queen of Sparta, by launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund Born of Blood issue 2. What follows is an interview with Born of Blood writer Dolan interspersed with images from issue two provided by Murphey who also coordinated this interview. Sincere gratitude to them both.
Cover arts provided courtesy of Murphey.
What was the genesis of Born of Blood?
April of 2021, Murphey had the idea to do a story about a Queen of Sparta. I did some research and found that king Leonidas’ wife, (who had a relatively untold backstory), would be a great choice. It made sense that the greatest warrior would have an equal in a wife.
That same day, I started doing research into the history of Sparta as well as the king’s daughter who in reality was named Gorgo. I told Shawn [Hudachko] and he said, “No that sucks, change it.” So, I researched the Mediterranean for a sexy name and discovered an island called Giara and said, “How about Giaris?” Shawn replied, “Perfect.”
So, I spent about two weeks nailing down a pitch for one comic and then I was asked to extend it to two issues, and three, then four, then five… And finally six. We were effectively done with the first issue by, I would say June, so it took me about a month with edits from Murphey and Shawn.
An immediate thought when reading Born of Blood is that it looks to take inspiration from 300 and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. What sources would you say Born of Blood are inspired by?
There is some inspiration from 300 but a lot from the region and nation’s history itself. I did a lot of research into the timeline, historical figures, nations, battles, and events. There are a lot of historical elements but we did have some veering from history. I don’t know what Assassin’s Creed exactly is, is that a movie?
Cover arts provided courtesy of Murphey.
What are the challenges you’ve encountered, or conversely, something learned, when creating a comic set in antiquity compared to a contemporary setting?
The challenges were trying to nail down exact dates, familial lineages, and deaths. There’s a lot we know but at the same time, there’s a lot that’s left to speculation and guessing. At the same time, another challenge was telling someone’s life story over six issues and making them exciting. I hadn’t done that before so that was challenging in itself.
Cover arts provided courtesy of Murphey.
There’s quite a few sword and sandal comics out there, especially from crowdfunded endeavors. What do you feel is unique about Born of Blood that distinguishes it from others of a similar ilk?
What makes this unique is that we’re taking historical figures and events, but setting them in the Merc Publishing world. We’re going to see how this was the foundation for everything to come with Deathrage, Miss Meow, and Katfight. On top of that, we’re not pulling our punches with the violence and gore. The bang will be worth the buck on every issue.
Lastly, this is a female character who won’t be perfect in every way like in modern Marvel and DC Comics. She will be hurt, she will fall, she will fail, she will need help, but she will grow and eventually become Queen. I recently read a new Marvel comic off the stands where the female character knocked out a 250 pound man with one punch. It is completely disingenuous. When Giaris fights, it’ll be grounded in reality.
Sample pages provided courtesy of Murphey.
What are your favourite sword and sandal texts and how have they left an impression on you?
The Odyssey, to me, is the greatest sword and sandal story ever told. I remember reading it in middle school and was just blown away by it. The Iliad is a close second. Others would be Spartacus, 300, The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, and Jason and the Argonauts.
The larger than life aspect of these stories truly blew me away when I was younger, especially The Odyssey. A virtual life long journey to different islands with colorful villains with our hero’s hope of eventually making it home to his wife. You never forget stories like that when you’re young.
Sample pages provided courtesy of Murphey.
What was the soundtrack/music you listened to while creating Born of Blood? And what is the recommended music for fans to crank it to while reading?
The PERFECT soundtrack would be the soundtrack from the film Conan the Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
A new episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast is online! This is the 50th episode of our flagship program (though we have more if one includes our Transmissions and Fragments programs).
Thumbnail by Michele Brittany.
For this episode we take a dive into James Wade’s short story “The Silence of Erika Zann” from the 1970s anthology The Disciples of Cthulhu. The episode can be streamed at Buzzsprout or via your podcast app of preference.
H. P. Lovecast Film Poll for June Episode
For our June episode of our H. P. Lovecast Podcast we are going to dive into a Lovecraftian movie (sorta like what we did previously with Underwater and The Void).
Blu-rays of Feed the Light and Cthulhu Mansion from my personal collection.
We’ve narrowed what movie to cover down to two possibilities: Feed the Light released by Severin Films or Cthulhu Mansion released by Vinegar Syndrome. But, we don’t know which to pick!
What movie should we cover in one of our June podcast episodes?
To remedy this, we put the fate of what movie we will be watching and doing a podcast on in your hands! We’ve created a poll on the H. P. Lovecast Podcast Twitter account. Head on over there (or use the embedded tweet above) and cast your vote no later than May 24th.
Between now through May 31, use coupon code MEDIEVAL25 to receive 25% off all medieval studies books on the McFarland website.
Michele Appears on Fan2Fan Podcast
Michele makes her first appearance on the Fan2Fan Podcast!
Promoting her CFP (see below), she talks all things about the first Highlander film. Have a listen at the Fan2Fan Podcast Page.
AnnRadCon Mk 1 2017-2022
Michele and I have voluntarily stepped down from chairing the Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference. For more information on future endeavors from the Horror Writers Association, please visit Horror.org.
Highlander Call for Papers
Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.
If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of.
Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP
Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.
Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.
General Neo-Peplum News
Son of Samson Review at DVD Beaver
Essential Blu-ray/DVD compare and review site, DVD Beaver, has a write up about the newly released Son of Samson Blu-ray from Kino.
Son of Samson Blu-ray from my personal collection.
MERC Publishing just released issue one of their neo-peplum comic series, Born of Blood.
Two versions of issue 1 from my personal collection.
I did a write up of all the Kickstarter loot I received along with a few observations in the first issue. Check out my article here.
AnnRadCon Presentation Online
This past weekend was StokerCon and with it was the fifth year of Michele’s and my Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference. Still decompressing from the event. Our scholars rocked it out the park with their presentations.
I am making my presentation, “Correlating the Contents: Mimetic Desire in The Call of the Cthulhu,” publicly available. It is a short, 17 minute presentation applying Rene Girard’s Mimetic Theory of Desire to H. P. Lovecraft’s renown story. Check it out in the embed above.
Raw Dog Screaming Press/AnnRadCon News Articles
Michele and I are deeply grateful for Raw Dog Screaming Press for sponsoring AnnRadCon this year. RDSP sent out a press release about their sponsorship and other endeavors, “Black Authors and Academics Shape Horror Business,” and it was picked up by a few venues:
Between now through May 31, use coupon code MEDIEVAL25 to receive 25% off all medieval studies books on the McFarland website.
Highlander Call for Papers
Michele has an active CFP on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays on the Highlander movies, the television show, comics, everything.
If you’re interested, check out the CFP at her website and please share with others. With a possible reboot on the horizon, this is definitely a book you want to be a part of.
Unofficial Emmanuelle / Black Emanuelle CFP
Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I plan on publishing an official CFP calling for essays on Emmanuelle and its sequels and spinoffs, Black Emanuelle and its sequels, and all other Emmanuelle knockoffs. I already have an interested publisher, but I want to present to them a fully laid out TOC for an ambitious collection as this.
Though my CFP will not go live until later 2022, if you have any interest in being a part of this collection, let me know! Send me an email or social media message (see my about me page for contact info) to let me know your interest. If you have an abstract already, even better.
General Neo-Peplum News
I am a Barbarian Preorders
A luxurious version of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ peplum story, I am a Barbarian, is being released by Cedar Run Publications.
Limited to 600 copies, the graphic novel will come in two versions, the difference being a presence of a bookplate signed by Thomas Simmons, Mike Dubisch and L. Jamal Walton. The book will be posted the week of June 15th. More information can be found at the Cedar Run Publications website.
Jesus the Christ (1923) at Bible Films Blog
Matt Page has updated his Bible Films Blog with a write up of the silent film Jesus the Christ from 1923.
Picture from Page’s Bible Films Blog
As a reminder, Page’s book, 100 Bible Films, comes out this week! Don’t forget to preorder at Amazon and Bloomsbury.
Recent Acquisitions
Lots of sword and sandal loot arrived in the mail last week!
Shout! Factory had a sale on their going out of print titles, so I used the opportunity to pluck up Blu-Rays of Hercules and Hercules 2 starring Lou Ferrigno. I also picked up a Lethal Ladies 2 Collection that contains the original version of The Arena.
Kino did a nice release of Son of Samson which I’ve had pre-ordered for a while now. That pre-order just arrived. Side note: Kino, if you need someone to do a commentary track or essay on a future sword and sandal release, hit me up!
MERC Publishing is an Indiana-based comic book publisher that came onto the scene in 2020. Taking an approach similar to CrossGen in the late 90s, MERC’s ambitious goal is a shared universe of comic titles with aesthetics of a magazine (complete with faux adverts and story line titles on the cover) and a heavy emphasis on powerful women, such as mercenaries and Spartans. The three MERC product lines so far are Miss Meow, Deathrage, and the neo-peplum comic, Born of Blood, all funded via crowdfunding campaigns.
Born of Blood issue one completed its Kickstarter on the last day of December 2021 with backer awards being shipped in early May 2022. With numerous stretch goals realized, backers were treated with a treasure trove of Born of Blood and MERC-brand ephemera. The following is a showcasing of all the swag (in no particular order) packaged with the release of the first issue of Born of Blood followed by a few observations about the comic proper.
All pictures taken of the loot from my collection from backing the campaign.
First, for the non-Born of Blood MERChandise, is a sew-on badge for one’s battle vest and an enamel pin and poker chip that has the MERC mercenary logo adorned on them: a skull with wings giving the people’s eyebrow atop a rank insignia.
There is a trading card for Princess Giaris, the protagonist of Born of Blood. The front of the card displayis the cover art by Jay Ferguson (which is featured prominently on many of the stretch goal items) that gives Giaris a modern-gothic, vampiric look. The back of the card gives a brief bio along with her stats (she’s super strong, fast, and stealthy).
There is a Born of Blood lanyard, with blood-red lettering in a stylized typeface evoking antiquity.
In addition to the MERC pin, there are also two Born of Blood pins/badges (all which would look snazzy on the aforementioned lanyard). One pin has the Ferguson cover art while the other has the Leirix cover art.
There are four magnets included in the loot. Three display cover arts by (left to right) Sorah Suhng, Shikarii, and John Royal. The fourth magnet is a 2022 calendar with the Ferguson art.
There are three paper bookmarks as well.
And a paper coaster, though it looks a bit too small to be practical. It could function as a giant pog though.
There is also a Kickstarter sticker which adds an element of exclusivity. Most of the swag at this point is probably destined to be used as promotional items and giveaways by MERC at future comic cons and bonuses in website purchases, but the sticker is nice and distinct for campaign backers.
What is a welcome item in the Born of Blood package is the separate gallery booklet that contains all the Born of Bloodcover variants, both clothed and nude versions. Many comics have a cover gallery in their appendix, but Born of Blood goes the extra mile by putting all variations (and variations of the variations) into its own physical booklet which adds an appreciation factor. The Born of Bloodcovers are all works of art done by some fairly talented illustrators, and having them all consolidated into a booklet creates an experience akin to when one looks at art books from publishers like Taschen. Each page in the cover gallery booklet also displays a QR code to its respective artist’s online presence, adding functionality to help promote the Born of Blood’s artists even more.
That’s me!
And finally, no crowdfunding endeavor wouldn’t be complete without a perk to have one’s name immortalized in the final product. This is always a fun thing to do: seeing one’s name in a comic is a highlight and adds a personal touch between buyer, creator, and end result.
Two variants were plucked up during the Born of Blood campaign: the standard Sorah Suhng variant and the nude virgin (no letters/logos) Mike Krome variant. Of all the covers, the Suhng cover conveys the most sword and sandal iconography with its army of Spartan soldiers standing behind Princess Giaris – it’s quite evocative of Frank Miller’s 300.
Image from 300 found via Google Images.
The Krome variant is the most alluring and seductive of all the covers. The clothed version has Giaris looking akin to sword and planet heroine Deja Thoris from the John Carter universe.
Deja Thoris status from my personal collection.
All in all, the Born of Blood issue one Kickstarter contained a treasury of fun trinkets, beautiful art, and a transgressive neo-peplum comic.
Born of Blood issue one is the origin story of Princess Giaris who will form one of the pillars of the MERC shared universe. The first panel of the comic grabs a reader’s attention immediately as it depicts a blood covered Giaris (in a very Kill Bill Vol 1 fashion) having dealt a mortal blow to an Argive warrior, right to his exposed genitalia.
The sword and sandal genre is perhaps the most body-centric narrative genre out there and Born of Blood leans into this facet with wanton abandon. The men channel the traditional Hercules strong man portrayal that has been a genre staple since the original Italian run of films in the early 1960s. Princess Giaris goes through a body transformation herself, somewhat parodied by one of the issue’s faux advertisements, from lithe and slender to muscular yet very much feminine.
An interesting aspect of Giaris is that within the story proper, she only appears nude once, in a bathing scene as she is recuperating from her injuries while undergoing forced combat training against Spartan warrior Mor. Her body is very much on display, usually in a gown or a Red Sonja-esque bikini armour, but she isn’t overly sexualized in the comic’s pages. It is the issue’s various cover arts that depict Giaris in different states of undress and poses, be it seductive, commanding, or both. The plethora of variant covers adds a new aspect to pepla’s relation to the body: for a consumer of sword and sandal media, one not only can gaze at the body, they can also control/select the desired body to be gazed at, in this case via the covers. (Note: a similar concept can be found in video games that has a character creation process).
Body portrayal aside, Born of Blood borrows quite a bit from Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, specifically from the character of Kassandra. Both characters have similar noble Spartan backstories and combat abilities, juggling stealthy kills to more brute force, mercenary tactics. Kassandra has more autonomy than Giaris who is thrown into a dungeon by her father, Spartan King Cleomenes, to endure months of combat training with the hopes she endures and becomes a hardened Spartan Warrior (she does). Kassandra has choices (though dictated by the player), while future Queen of Sparta Giaris has the illusion of choice of what she wants to become. If she had not been thrown into the dungeon, should would’ve have been content to live a simpler, royal life.
In the final panel of the comic, after putting her strength and wits to the test by defeating a regiment from Argos, Giaris is depicted as completely transformed in attitude and body as she waves to her subjects, the people of Sparta, from the center of a coliseum in an excellently executed panel. Since the rest of the MERC universe takes place in modern times, it will be fascinating to see Princess Giaris’ journey to be incorporated into fold while at the same time contributing to the greater neo-peplum canon.
Excellent, commanding portrayal in the ending page.
More information about Born of Blood and MERC Publishing can be found at the below websites and social medias:
