Michele and I interviewed cosplay couple Steven and Tiffany Carmel Lake on the Scholars from the Edge of Time program where we talked about the art of cosplay.
Earlier in the week I had a quick appearance on the Voice of Olympus program to talk about Antonio Margheriti’s film Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules. Both podcast appearances have been added to the podcast appearance index.
I did a write up of the neo-peplum comic Elysian Fields #0 and an interview with the comic’s creator Michael Oden.
This upcoming weekend we will be recording our newt episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast where we discuss stories form the book Swords Against Cthulhu.
Michele and I will also be appearing on the program Chatting with Sherri.
General Neo-Peplum News
Michael Oden’s neo-peplum comic, Elysian Fields: The Pyramid Gambit, launches on Indiegogo.
General Maximus was an amalgam of many historic peoples, with Mel Gibson, Antonio Banderas, and Hugh Jackman all considered for the role.
There was lots of re-writes and ad-libbing
The coliseum was 1/3 built and 2/3 CGI
Opening battle scene in Germania took 3 weeks to film
Oliver Reed died and his remaining scenes were accomplished with rewrites, body doubles, and CGI.
Maximus was going to fight a rhino instead of a tiger.
Film shot with different cameras and different frame rates.
The blurry sequences during a big fight scene were accidentally caused during post-production, but they went with it.
Joaquin Phoenix was super nervous to play his part, so to help out, Russell Crowe got him drunk.
Crowe got lots of injuries making the film.
The upcoming Hindi fantasy film Brahmāstra (trailer) looks to contain many India-style sword and sandal elements.
Just learned of the Byzantine Empire neo-peplum comic Theophano: A Byzantine Tale. The folks at Fanbase Press have an interview with the comic’s illustrator, Chrysa Sakel. The graphic novel is readily available on Amazon, I’ll be checking this out!
Taking its cues from mythological pepla, Elysian Fields follows somewhat in the footsteps of Marvel’s attempts at historic epic adaptations that appeared in the late 2000s on the short lived Marvel Illustrated imprint. These releases include comic book (and collected editions) adaptations of The Iliad (2008), The Odyssey (2009), and The Trojan War (2009). Elysian Fields is a continuation of The Iliad, albeit in a slightly unexpected fashion. The comic begins during the siege of Troy with Achilles locked in battle with King Memnon. While Achilles bests the warrior king (as per the Aethiopis), he himself is slain by an arrow shot by Paris (the prince of Troy) though his heel. From here Elysian Fields splits from the epics and follows Achilles into the afterlife where Charon (ferryman on the river Styx) takes the legendary warrior to Hades’ arena where he is to do battle with other iconic warriors of history and mythology. Elysian Fields #0 concludes on a cliffhanger with Achilles teaming up with King Theseus (founder of Athens) to battle Enkidu (bull-man from the Epic of Gilgamesh) and Gilgamesh proper (hero of ancient Sumer), setting up the events that will transpire in Elysian Fields: The Pyramid Gambit.
The underlying premise of Elysian Fields seems to be setting up a series that will see Achilles and other heroes through the ages, from various other civilizations and time periods, duking it out in Hades’ arena. This Mortal Kombat approach to the sword and sandal genre has promise, and in fact, perhaps echoes an earlier attempt at the same concept: the collectable card game Anachronism. A short lived affair in the mid-2000s, well past the collectable card game boom of the 90s, Anachronism was The History Channel’s attempt at a CCG, which involved players pitting mythological and historical figures (such as Genghis Khan, Vlad Tepes, Achilles, Spartacus, and so on) against each other. The second issue of Elysian Fields, called The Pyramid Gambit, hints that Achilles (and others) will be in combat with figures of Egyptian antiquity.
Elysian Fields’ approach to this old school subject matter is equally old school. While the plot is a love letter to mythology, the cover and artwork looks to homage 90s comic book aesthetics and practices. There is a definite post-McFarlane/Spawn vibe in the artwork, with a color pallet and action sequences that evoke the likes of Witchblade, Blood Hunter, Gen 13, and other titles of the decade. The foil cover of issue #0 also recalls the various experimentations and gimmicks done to comics during that period. The nostalgia factor in strong in Elysian Fields #0, but it is competently executed (the foil cover is pretty slick), and if anything, underscores the efforts of the comic to take readers back into the past; not just in subject matter, but in the reading experience as well.
Writer and creator of Elysian Fields, Michael Oden, provides some additional insight into his comic in the following interview.
Tell us something about yourself, a bit of your personal background.
Well, I have done a lot of things in my life. I served six years as an Infantryman in the Army National Guard, and I have done freelance journalism for the creative industry for years now. I have written my own industry blogs as well as have worked for sites like Moviepilot, Heroic Hollywood, and currently Up Your Geek.
I have always been a big history fan. My dad used to read me the Iliad as a bedtime story which started my love for history and mythology from an early age. This love has persisted my entire life and so getting a chance to use it in this way, to create a story like this [Elysian Fields comic] has been super surreal and cathartic in no small way.
What was the genesis of the Elysian Fields comic, how did this come about?
Honestly, it started as a game growing up. As I said, I grew up loving mythology and history, and so, big shock, I surrounded myself with friends with similar interests and it was always one of those big debates. Normal nerdy kids were arguing between Superman and Batman, Kirk or Picard, and for sure we had those discussions too, but I remember really chatting up my friends about which of our mythic heroes was better and who would win in a fight. This concept never left me and while it has continued to evolve, even as a write it now, it’s something that had always stirred in the back of my mind, knowing the potential it could have.
What is the primary goal you want to accomplish with the Elysian Fields series?
I mean the primary thing I want to accomplish is honestly to make a great book. There is also a measure of financial success I would like to have as well, anyone who dismisses the financial aspect is either lying or stupid. Doing books is expensive, it’s not just some hobby to bankroll, especially for me as a single father. However, the chief thing is of course to make a book that people really enjoy and that establishes myself, and additionally get people interested in these characters and their stories. No matter how well Elysian Fields has been received, the stories where these characters drew their routes have stood the test of time for a reason.
What would you say distinguishes Elysian Fields from other mythological comics out there?
Honestly, I would like to think the big distinguishing factor is trying to be as authentic as possible. That’s not to say that the other mythological books I have read don’t do that in their own way, but I feel like a lot of books I see in relation to mythology take inspiration from the myth, but that’s where the line stops. They want to make the characters theirs. And while I am sure that there are some that will see my versions of characters and it won’t be how they see them, my goal has been to look at the characters I choose and create as authentic a picture as I can from what I have read.
What was the biggest hurdle or challenge you faced while creating issue 0?
Oof… that’s a tough one, I don’t know if I’d be able to narrow it down to just one. Creating a book is a multi-pronged process, so I feel there is a challenge that I had that was equal with each phase. However, with the actual writing aspect of it, it was writing a script. I remember being very frustrated because all the script writing classes I found were effectively an introduction to creative writing class, and that’s not what I needed. I needed to learn about structuring and format, but instead I was being lectured about “what is a protagonist.” This was beyond frustrating. I then ended up picking up the deluxe edition of Marv Wolfman’s Man and Superman and was pleasantly surprised to find that what made it so deluxe was that the comic legend included a copy of the first draft of his script for the first issues of the book. I was ecstatic, if it works for Marv Wolfman then it has to be good. I used that script as a template for how to write my own and taught myself how to write a comic script as I was writing: teaching myself panel set up and perspective, familiarizing myself with the terminology, you name it.
Where did you draw some of your influence from, be it for this comic or other projects? Films like Gladiator, comics like 300, television like Spartacus, actual mythology, something else?
[A]ctual mythology played a massive role in how I wrote this book. However, there was a series that played an instrumental role in how I came about the overarching idea of what is now called The Abyssal Tournament of Champions. The series I am speaking of is none other than the Fate anime series, specifically Fate/Zero and Fate/ Apocrypha.
What has been the feedback so far on your comic?
Very positive. We have had constructive criticisms for sure, but the overall consensus is that our book is a book worth having and to me that means the world. However, all the criticisms we have had have played a massive role as well. No comic is perfect, no story is either. So I have used this feedback to grow the book and really make it the best it can be, and that’s what I aim to do moving forward.
What is 9 Realms Publishing and what do you hope to accomplish with this endeavor?
9 Realms Publishing is my own publishing imprint and it is continuing to grow. We have two other projects outside of Elysian Fields attached to that imprint written by myself, however, I don’t want people to think that this is a vanity project. It is an equal hope that, at some point, we are able to bring on and sign other creators and help build their IPs and promote them. It is my genuine belief that one of the greatest problems with the mainline industry is that they have cut themselves off from outside ideas. 9 Realms’ mission is to bring aspiring creators to the forefront and give them the chance to make books. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s a shot and frankly, that’s more than a lot of people get.
Can you give a preview of what folks can expect with the second Elysian Fields comic, The Pyramid Gambit?
The second comic is all about bringing Team Hades together. Honestly it’s a bumpy ride for these guys. Theseus and Herakles have been fighting in this tournament for a long time, and as an added bonus, they knew each other in life. However, enter this arrogant kid Achilles who is running his mouth off at everyone, god included. So there are growing pains for all of these characters, and you add on the stress of going against Imhotep, a champion who has never been directly beaten in the arena, there are a lot of mixed emotions we see from our champions.
Elysian Fields: The Pyramid Gambit
What is your general thoughts or impressions on the depiction of mythology and antiquity in pop culture today? Where do you think it is headed?
The answer to that is simple: it’s headed nowhere. Sadly there hasn’t been a solid sword and sandals movie since Gladiator, and there hasn’t been a solid sword and sandals show since Spartacus, and while I love both of those projects, they are the farthest thing from portraying the period with any sort of authenticity. That’s not to say they are bad, just that Hollywood has no faith in the classical time period. I think it is a damn shame because with the success of superhero films as a genre, you’d think they’d realize “hey, why don’t we push movies that accurately depict the ORIGINAL superheroes.” Heroes of myth are the archetypes that inspired the modern superhero, they are the blueprint. But I haven’t seen Hollywood show reverence to that in a long time. Hopefully the success of things like Elysian Fields can inspire other people to bring myth to the forefront in the entertainment industry.
Addendums / Connections
2020-11-29 – Michele and I conducted an interview with Michael Oden on the Scholars from the Edge of Time podcast where we talked in detail about Elysian Fields. That episode can be streamed/downloaded here.
Here is a news round up for weekending September 20th, 2020. On these weekly posts, I’ll list not only personal and project news, but I’ll be rounding up neo-peplum news that has occurred in an attempt to aggregate and promote the genre.
This upcoming week I’ll be on a sword and sandal cinema segment on Hercules Invictus’ Voice of Olympus program on Tuesday the 22nd followed by Michele’s and my monthly Scholars from the Edge of Time segment Thursday the 24th. For that episode we will be interviewing cosplayers Tiffany Carmel Lake and Steven Lake. Links will be added to the podcast page when they are live.
The next episode of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast will be on stories from the Swords Against Cthulhu anthology.
General Neo-Peplum News
Ubisoft, publishers of the historic epic/neo-peplum video game series, Assassin’s Creed, announced two titles later this year that are in the sword and sandal genre: Immortals Fenyx Rising (trailer) and a remastered version of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (trailer). This is in addition to the prior announced next entry in the Assassin’s Creed series, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (trailer). I’m saddened that Kassandra’s storyline from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is officially at an end, but happy to see Ubisoft continuing to pump out neo-peplum video games. I look forward to writing about these titles after they are released.
Late last week I received my copy of issue 0 of Elysian Fields by Michael Oden and published by 9 Realms Publishing. I’ll be interviewing Oden and doing a write up about this comic in the very near future. More info about the comic can be found at the 9 Realms Publishing Facebook page or at the Indiegogo campaign page for the comic.
Issue one of the neo-peplum/Lovecraft comic Isidora and the Immortal Chains by G. A. Lungaro just concluded their Kickstarter campaign.
I’ve also backed a neo-peplum comic on Kickstarter that takes place in the Mesoamerican period that is called Aztlan. I’m always excited for sword and sandal that is outside traditional antiquity.
In 2020, boutique publisher Apollo Publishers released the small-sized hardback How to Drink Like a Writer: Recipes for the Cocktails and Libations that Inspired 100 Literary Greats. Within its pages is a chronological listing of famous writers, (such as Edgar Allan Poe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Agatha Christie, Maya Angelou, and others) coupled with a cocktail recipe and a paragraph or two that contextualizes the drink to that particular author.
Edgar Rice Burroughs, father of the sword and planet genre and creator of the transmedia icon Tarzan, is counted as one of the many luminaries represented in the tiny tome. Burroughs’ entry is for a cocktail appropriately named the Tarzan Cocktail. The recipe for this libation from How to Drink Like a Writer is as follows:
1 oz rum 1 tsp Cointreau .5 oz lime juice .5 oz simple syrup
The directions are to shake all ingredients with ice, strain into a chilled coup glass and garnish with a lime wheel.1
Unlike other entries in the book, the contextualizing paragraphs for Burroughs’ cocktail are scant: it simply reads that Burroughs “designed this cocktail with the tropics in mind.”2 There is a foot note that indicates that the Tarzan Cocktail was lifted from an earlier publication, the long out of print 1935 book So Red the Nose or Breath in the Afternoon, which is similar to How to Drink like a Writer in that it also pairs cocktails with famous writers. The incarnation of the Tarzan Cocktail in this older book is slightly different:
1 oz Bacardi
1 tsp Cointreau
Juice of a half of a lime
1/3 tsp of Sugar
As with How to Drink Like a Writer, there are a few flavor text paragraphs for the cocktail, mostly focusing on anecdotes from Johnny Weismuller who portrayed Tarzan in around a dozen films and not much detail about the genesis of the drink proper from Burroughs.3
The question becomes, was this a cocktail that Burroughs created? Scott Tracy Griffin, a Burroughs expert and author of Tarzan on Film (2016) deduces that the legendary writer probably did: “As far as anyone knows, ERB created the cocktail. It’s possible someone else did it under his name (fully approved), but he loved his libations, so I would imagine that he did provide it.”4
Authorship of the Tarzan Cocktail established, the next question would be, in the same vein as to folks attempting to re-create James Bond’s iconic Vesper Martini, can one re-create the Tarzan Cocktail as Burroughs would have enjoyed it? The answer, sadly, is no. However, one can come fairly close.
Conceptually, the Tarzan Cocktail itself looks to be a mix of a traditional daiquiri (rum/lime/sugar) and the Cuban Sidecar (rum/lime/Cointreau). Comparing and contrasting the 1935 and the 2020 versions of the cocktail, the drink can be deconstructed and then reconstructed into a modern drink that would be in the same ballpark as Burroughs’ original, maybe even perhaps improved upon.
Lime: The alteration of using the juice of a half of a lime to half of an ounce of lime is a suitable change. A normal, whole lime can hold anywhere from .75 oz to over an ounce of a lime. The newer version standardizes the quantity and makes for a consistent beverage.
Simple Syrup: As with the lime, the updating of adding sugar directly to using simple syrup is an appropriate change. The practice of adding sugars to a drink has long been superseded by using simple syrups which is a mixture of sugar dissolved in water. Different ratios of water to sugar control how sweet the simply syrup is. The modern version calls for 1 part sugar dissolved in 1 part water which is standard. Different sugars can also be used in simple syrups, such as Demerara sugar. However, as will be shown below, since the end result of this cocktail is going to be on a clear side, one will want to use a white granulated sugar to create a colorless simple syrup to use.
Cointreau: No change here for this orange liqueur.
Rum: This is where the recipe hits a stumbling block: what rum to use? The modern version of the recipe simply calls for “rum” which of course can mean any rum. In the world of rums, this is a huge net to cast as rums differ from the country they are produced in (Jamaican compared to a Puerto Rican), if they are aged or not, what they are aged in, any spices added, and so on and so forth.
The original 1935 version from So Red the Nose narrows the rum selection down considerably to simply “Bacardi.” However, during the 1920s/1930s there were actually a plethora of different Bacardi rums in production:
Bacardi Carta Blanca Bacardi Carta de Oro Bacardi Añejo Bacardi Elixir Bacardi Anis5
Of these five rums which one was Burroughs most likely to use? A reasonable, educated guess can be surmised by looking at another cocktail book of the era, The Savoy Cocktail Book from 1930. This foundational cocktail book lists two recipes that overtly call for “Bacardi”: the Bacardi Cocktail (Bacardi rum/grenadine/lime) and the Bacardi Special Cocktail (Bacardi rum/gin/grenadine/lime).6 In an article for the Wall Street Journal called “Grenadine, True and False” Eric Felten writes about both the Bacardi Cocktail and the Bacardi Special Cocktail. He describes the Bacardi Cocktail as such: “In the years just after Prohibition, the Bacardi Cocktail — white rum, fresh lime juice and grenadine — threatened to unseat the king of cocktails.”7 This additional description clarifies (literally and figuratively) that the Bacardi rum used in these cocktails was white (clear), and therefore it rules out the Bacardi Carta de Oro and Bacardi Añejo which were gold, darker rums. The Bacardi Elixir was a plum-based spirit while the Bacardi Anis was licorice-flavored rum,8 so those can be ruled out as those flavors would not compliment these drinks. That leaves the Bacardi Carta Blanca being the Bacardi rum used in these drinks, and thus it can be reasonably deduced from The Savoy Cocktail Book that if a drink called for Bacardi, it was calling for Bacardi Carta Blanca. Thus, the Tarzan Cocktail would have called for the Bacardi Carta Blanca as well.
A clarified version of the Tarzan cocktail would read as follows:
1 oz Bacardi Carta Blanca
1 tsp Cointreau
.5 oz lime juice
.5 oz simple syrup
This is where a second and more critical snag is encountered: Bacardi Carta Blanca does not exist anymore as it was superseded by the Bacardi Superior. The original proof of Bacardi Carta Blanca was 89 proof while the modern day Bacardi Superior is 80 proof and thus a lower alcohol by volume. This problem is also further compounded by the fact that the original Bacardi rums were made in Cuba, but because of the Cuba Embargo, they are now produced in Puerto Rico. This means that the Bacardi Superior of today not only has less alcohol than the original, but it has a slightly different flavor profile due to the shift in country of production.
There’s a few options to go from here.
The first is to use a Cuban-style rum. For non-Americans this should be easy by simply procuring a bottle of Havana Club 3 years. This is probably the best solution as it will provide the closest taste to Burroughs’ original cocktail, though at 80 proof, it will have a lower alcohol content.
In the late 2000s, Bacardi released their Bacardi Heritage rum as a throwback to their original Bacardi Carta Blanc. Produced at 89 proof, the Bacardi Heritage has both the branding and the alcohol content of Burroughs’ original, though not quite the same flavor. However, the Bacardi Heritage has been out of production for a few years now and much more difficult to procure.
The third alternative is to use Bacardi Superior. This rum is readily available and contains the same branding as Burroughs’ original cocktail, though the taste and the alcohol content will be off. However, this is as close to being in the same ballpark as possible. Using Bacardi Superior makes an excellent drink however, though a little on the sharp side.
The final alternative, especially for Americans, is to suss out a non-Bacardi, non-Cuban rum that would work well as a successor, and perhaps even elevate the cocktail from its original incarnation. A rum that fits this bill perfectly is the Hamilton 87 White ‘Stache. A clear rum with an 87 proof, this rum ups the alcohol content to the level Burroughs preferred while offering a smoother, richer taste as compared to the Bacardi Superior.
Photo by Michele Brittany
If one wanted to be bold and go past the 89 proof, other quality white rums that could be used would be the Diplomatico Planas and Probitas both at 94 proof.9 Burroughs would be quite impressed with the Hamilton.
Photo by Michele Brittany
Revised Tarzan Cocktail
1 oz Hamilton 87 White ‘Stache
1 tsp Cointreau
.5 oz lime juice
.5 oz simple syrup
End Notes
1. Margaret Kaplan, How to Drink Like a Writer: Recipes for the Cocktails and Libations that Inspired 100 Literary Greats (New York City, NY: Apollo Publishers, 2020), 64-65.
2. Ibid., 64.
3. Sterling North and Carl Kroch, So Red the Nose or Breath in the Afternoon (New York City, NY: Farrar & Rinehart, Inc., 1935), 27. https://euvs-vintage-cocktail-books.cld.bz/1935-So-Red-the-Nose-or-Breath-in-the-Afternoon/VI/.
4. Scott Tracy Griffin, email message to author, September 7, 2020.
5. Michelle Sugrue (Bacardi help desk), email message to author, September 9, 2020.
6. Harry Craddock, The Savoy Cocktail Book (Mansfield Centre, CT: Martino Publishing, 2015), 25.
Kaplan, Margaret. How to Drink Like a Writer: Recipes for the Cocktails and Libations that Inspired 100 Literary Greats. New York City, NY. Apollo Publishers, 2020.
