Becca, a well-meaning but slightly dim woman with a high libido, is hit by a van and dies. When the Grim Reaper comes to take her away, he becomes distracted, allowing Becca to glance at his papers and see her fate. In an attempt to reverse course, she uses her sexual prowess (for good!) to bed men, women, and other ghosts, including Bloody Mary who becomes a friend to Becca in the afterlife.
Standard cover by Kenan Halilovic.
Becca Boo Issue Three
The Grim Reaper arrives at Bloody Mary’s apartment to finally escort Becca away. Once again using her charms and sex appeal, Becca is able to buy more time in the afterlife by having kinky sex with Death at his bachelor pad. Becca tells the Grim Reaper that she is using her time as a ghost to do good deeds, and recounts her activities the past two months, which include bedding the new tenant in her apartment (sparing him from a fate worse than death: karaoke!). However, the Grim Reaper falls asleep during Becca’s flashback. Seeing her chance to escape again, Becca makes haste, taking Death’s robe and scythe with her. With the help of Bloody Mary, Becca glams up the outfit with white stockings, exposed midriff, and lots of ribbons, and is now ready for more undead action.
As with issues one and two, Becca Boo #3 was a crowdfunded endeavor, which completed its campaign in September 2024 and fulfilled in January 2025 (during a time that the Canadian post was on strike). The third issue continues Becca’s exploration being a ghost, with the story trying out new comedy angles. If Becca Boo #1 was leaning in on ditzy blonde comedy and Becca Boo #2 added in some teen boner comedy, Becca Boo #3 transitions to all out parody. The centerpiece gag in #3 is a spoof of the Ring/Ringu films, where Becca crawls out of a wells à la Sadako, and then trips coming out of the wall-mounted television set. It is a sequence that was parodied over twenty years ago in Scary Movie 3, so it may not be the most current pop culture reference. However, the gag still works and it transitions extremely well to the sequential art format and fits in with the in-universe comedy of Becca Boo as issue one continued a callback to the early 90s movie Ghost.
Another spoof can be seen at the end of the comic when Becca dons the attire of the Grim Reaper. Recollections of The Simpsons 2003 Halloween episode “Treehouse of Horror XIV” which contains a segment called “Reaper Madness” where Homer becomes the Grim Reaper (itself a parody of the Tim Allen Santa Claus films) comes to mind. Becca’s sexy death outfit gives off a gothic Lolita vibe.
On the subject of the Grim Reaper, this character becomes much more fleshed out in issue three. Issue one introduced Death as a character who may not be the best as his job as he is easily swayed by the promises of sex, and issue three ramps this facet about him up to eleven. The Grim Reaper gives off the impression he is smarter than Becca, the reality is that he is easily manipulated by her sexual powers. The Grim Reaper adds tremendously to the comedy of Becca Boo with his facial – er – skull expressions. It sounds fairly hard to have a skull be so emotive, but Death brings all the squees, furrowed brows, and exasperations, so kudos to interior artist Kenan Halilovic for really bringing Death to life (pun 100% intended) and having him so animated.
Bloody Mary is not as prominent in this issue as she is in issue two, but the narrative seems to be pushing her to be the straight character in the comedic escapades.
Becca, as oblivious as she is, displays a surprisingly amount of cleverness and guile (probably accidental on the character’s part) as she is able to escape the clutches of death (again!) and, during flashback, seduce the chaste man who has moved into her apartment. Becca is truly singularly focused to redeem herself as a ghost and escape eternity from hell, so it will be interesting what her next move will be as she assumes the guise of Death.
As with prior Becca Boo Kickstarter campaigns from publisher Obscura Comics, Becca Boo #3 sports a wide array of alternate covers which in turns have various incarnations of not nude/nude artwork. All of them portray Becca in with different sex appeal styles.
Obscura continues to provide fun swag as stretch goals are met. The numbered trading cards and magnet depict the different issue covers.
There is also a bookmark, postcard, and sticker, all fun and collectible swag that all adds to the reading experience of Becca Boo.
More info on Becca Boo can be found at the following websites:
This is a little outside my comfort zone as I’m no expert on crime fiction, but I took a dive into Andrew Nette’s novel Orphan Road and enjoyed it. Check out the review proper here.
Artus Films have just released Antonio Margheriti’s Castle of Blood, under the Danse Macabre title, in a luxurious UHD Blu-ray boxset.
The boxset has 3 discs, postcards, pins and buttons, and a near 100 page booklet. The final page of the booklet contains a snippet from my master’s thesis on Castle of Blood!
Super chuffed to have some of my scholarship appear as part of a physical release of a movie I adore. The boxset can be purchased at the Danse Macabre product page at the Artus Films website.
H. P. Lovecast Podcast
Brand new episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast is now online!
In this episode we take a look at issue 1 of the comic book Flesh Eaters by Philippe Gerber, Orville Thurstan, with art by Okiko. The episode can be streamed at the HP Lovecast Buzzsprout, via the embedded player below, or through your podcast app of preference.
We have one more podcast for 2024 that we are planning to do. Nothing says X-mas time like angels, so we will be watching and talking about the 1995 film The Prophecy. Stay tuned!
The Best Horror of the Year Vol 16
Every year Ellen Datlow puts out a recap book called The Best Horror of the Year where she recounts notable releases and reprints some of the best stories and poetry.
Volume 16 just dropped and I’m chuffed to find out I’m mentioned in the book regarding my essay in the cosmic horror issue of Weird Tales. I’m super flattered!
This is actually the second time I’ve been mentioned in one of these books. A few years ago both Michele and I were mentioned in The Best Horror of the Year: Volume 13 regarding the collection we edited, Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays.
Here is the text from that edition:
Both volumes can be ordered from Amazon – here is the link to #13 and here is the link to #16.
Panthans Journal #331
The newest issue of the The National Panthans Journal has been published. This issue contains a re-print of my review of The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #1.
Paraphrased from the zine: The National Capital Panthans Journalis a monthly publication issued as a .PDF file on the Saturday before the first Sunday of each month. Contribution of articles, artwork, photos and letters are welcome. Send submissions to the editor: Laurence G. Dunn at laurencegdunn@gmail.com in a Word document for consideration.
McFarland Holiday Sale
My publisher, McFarland, is having a Holiday sale on all of their tiles! From November 15th to December 2nd, if you use code “HOLIDAY24” during checkout, you’ll get a 35% discount.
If you want to support me, consider buying a copy of The New Peplum or Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern:
Normal Price: 19.99 35% = 6.99 Price after coupon: 12.99
A Hero Will Endure Paperback Relese + Discount
Vernon Press, the publisher of A Hero Will Endure: Essays at the Twentieth Anniversary of Gladiator, has just released a cheaper, paperback version of the book, just in time for Gladiator 2!
The paperback is at the much more friendly price of $57 compared to $96 for the hardcover and $107 for an electronic version. All editions of the book can be found at the Vernon Press product page.
In addition, the publisher is offering a coupon on purchases of the collection! From now until the end of January 2025, if you use code SLZM30 at check out, you’ll get 30% off the title. So, the $57 book now becomes $39.99. Nice!
ECOF 2025
In September of 2025 there will be an Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) event down in Willcox, AZ. This event is to celebrate the 150th birthday of Burroughs while also honoring him with a plaque in the town due to his stationing with there the 7th U.S. Calvary in the 1890s. (Note: another ERB convention was held in Willcox back in 2019 and an event recap of that can be read at ERBZine #7059).
Here is a flyer for the 2025 event:
I’ll share more information about the event as I find out more on my website updates. There currently is a fundraiser going on to raise funds for the ERB plaque, and details for that can be found in the QR code in the above graphic, or by checking out the donation page at the Sulphur Springs Valley Valley Historical Society. 3.8K of 5K has been raised already.
Michele and I will be in attendance for this convention, so I’ve added it to the appearances section of my website as well.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2024.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #326.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #327.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond#3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #328.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venus / Warlord of Mars #1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #329.
“Wondercon 2019 Coverage: Tarzan, John Carter, and Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.: What’s New?” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #330.
Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #331.
Calls for Papers/Proposals
Here are some new pop culture CFPs that have crossed my path. Links to these will also be in the CFP page on the navigation bar.
Play and the Gothic
[Note: I = Simon Bacon]
I have a speculative CFP on “Play and the Gothic” to encompass any kind of gaming, boardgames, role-playing games, toys, construction games (Lego etc), dolls, collective or individual games across mediums, history and cultures that can be read in terms of play, playful, interactive, immersive, virtual, problem solving, psychological, well-being, materiality.
Their role in fictional fictional and non-fictive spaces, as the focus and instigators of narrative, their relation to the ludicrous gothic, their ability to gothicise spaces, or how they become gothicised via their use or environment.
This can equally involve the relationship between gaming/games/toys to certain kinds of gothic; happy gothic; regional gothic; ecogothic; folk gothic; children’s gothic; female gothic; religious gothic; gothic monsters (vampires/werewolves/ghosts/etc); the weird; cosmic gothic.
If interested send abstracts/ideas to me by Jan 31, 2025 at: baconetti@gmail.com
(Final essays of 6-7,000 words would potentially be needed mid 2026)
Monstrous Consumption: The Diets of Monsters and Monstrous Diets in the Popular Imagination
Another Simon Bacon CFP:
If we are what we eat, what things do we eat to make us monsters And what things do monsters eat to make them so monstrous?
This can be read as broad as you like, and across history and cultures and in any media (games, comics, music, performance, literature, film, TV).
Possible areas could be, but in no way limited to:
magic foods that transform people into monsters
diets/foods that make other cultures/peoples monstrous
additives/secret ingredients with monstrous effects
diets/foods specific to monsters
the role of cannibalism and/or forbidden foods
toxins/poisons/drugs
shrooms/mezcal and hallucinogenic foods
allergies and intolerances
transgressive foods/diets
supernatural and/or magical foods
foods that are alive
food/diets in rituals/religious practices and the transgression of those
role of vegetarianism and veganism
The call is going really well, but don’t let that put you off if you have an idea.
Consuming Identity: Cannibalism and the Beyond Human Subject
Connectedly….there has been a lot of interest within this around Cannibalism with the possibility of a separate collection solely on this. So if you have any left field ideas to do with cannibalism in regards to:
Historical cases
Philosophy
Theology and religion
fantasy and science fiction (alien cannibals)
indigenous and cross-cultural examples
cannibalism and eco-criticism/environmentalism
cannibalism and decolonisation
Deadline for receiving abstracts is 31st December 2024, with final essays due early to mid-2026. If you have thoughts, abstracts, or relevant essays looking for a home…drop me a message at: baconetti@gmail.com
Panel: Airborne Gothic
ASLE 2025 Panel Organized by the Society for the Study of American Gothic
July 8-11, 2025
University of Maryland, College Park
This panel sets out to consider how gothic is carried and transmitted through air. Airborne gothic takes many forms: stories told around campfires; plague and Covid narratives; texts featuring ominous flying creatures (birds, bats, and bugs!); radiation/nuclear gothic; propagandistic talk about windmills as killing machines; airplanes or spacecraft as gothic sites; the winds and wutherings that course through so many gothic stories; and more. How do gothic texts evoke unrest, turbulence, undeadness, and/or trauma by way of airborne vectors? How does airborne gothic both thwart and encourage collective atmospheres?
Please send one-paragraph abstracts and short bios to Jennifer Schell (jschell5@alaska.edu) and Eric Anderson (eandersd@gmu.edu) by December 20, 2024.
TV Matters (Intellect Books)
Editor: Sabrina Mittermeier
TV Matters is a new series of short monographs (40,000 to 50,000 words) on television series, analysing their production history, cultural context, main themes, as well as fandom and audience reception. The focus is on shows that both have critical acclaim (as reflected by awards, media reviews), but more importantly, are genuinely ‘popular’. That means they have had a robust viewership and ideally an active fandom (watercooler discussions on- and offline, as well as fan production such as fic, art, vids etc.) and/or an unusual reception history (cases of bans, censorship or similar). As the intended audience for this book series extends beyond academia, we expect an engaging/accessible writing style. This however does not mean less academic ‘rigour’ – authors should thoroughly research production history (incl. where possible through interviews with creators or archival research), include a solid textual analysis of main themes and should show familiarity with concepts and theories of fan and audience studies.
The aim of this book series is to engage with TV shows that were and are truly popular rather than just part of a canon of ‘quality TV’ or ‘cult TV’. The scope includes scripted/fictional programming, both live action as well as animation, but also reality TV, casting shows and documentary formats, if they fill the criteria. If it mattered to people, it qualifies!
This crucially also means shows outside of a Eurocentric lens of media production – K-Drama, Telenovelas, any popular TV in its respective cultural contexts, but also productions that crossed border lines and were adapted transnationally. In case of particularly long-running shows such as soaps or procedurals, or non-scripted content, ongoing series are also open to consideration. To illustrate examples, series that tentative authors have already been approached about include Bridgerton(2020–), Game of Thrones (2011–2019), Ted Lasso (2020–2023), Ducktales (1987–1990), Star Trek: Voyager(1995–2001) and the Eurovision Song Contest.
At this point, we are open to any proposals on series meeting the criteria, but are especially looking for someone interested in writing on Supernatural (2005–2020), Friends (1994–2004), Buffy the Vampire Slayer(1997–2003), Grey’s Anatomy (2005–), Doctor Who (1963–), the CSI, NCIS, Law & Order franchises or long-running reality TV and transnational competition formats such as Survivor, Big Brother or Strictly Come Dancing. If this sounds like you please approach us!
As a first step, just send a short (!) pitch (500 words max), including what series you’d want to write on and why you think it matters, to the series editor Sabrina Mittermeier (Sabrina.Mittermeier@uni-kassel.de). If deemed a good fit, we move on to a more formal proposal. We expect the series to launch in 2026.
Gothic Crossroads
A conference exploring and celebrating the multi and interdisciplinary crossings of Gothic and Horror Studies.
Manchester Centre for Gothic Studies, Manchester Metropolitan University, 25th-27th June, 2025
Plenary Speakers: Prof Rosario Arias (University of Malaga, Spain), Dr. Maisha Wester (Global Professor, University of Sheffield, UK)
Physical crossroads have long been sites where the human, divine and demonic were felt to converge and potent sites for magical, religious encounters, rituals of transformation, binding of undesirable spirits, siting of gallows and links to ancient cosmology. This conference also considers the crossroads as a space where the boundaries between differing spheres are negotiable, asking what it means to walk in the interdisciplinary pathways and cross currents of the Gothic.
The crossroad is a geographical location and ancient symbol closely associated with folklore where two or more realms touch. It is historically and imaginatively connected with travellers and travelling, strange encounters, omens, choice and indecision, danger, suicide, criminality, apocalypse and renewal, guilt and judgement, punishment, ritual and ceremony, lovers’ meetings, hanging, summoning, access to Gods, devil dealing, casting out and death. The choice between paths can also lead to repercussions and consequences of “the wrong path”, “the path not taken” and “straying from the path”.
This conference invites creative and scholarly consideration of any aspect of these areas or any other creative/critical spin on themes of crossing/crossover/cross currents, travelling, intersection, interception, (con)junction, incursion, deviation and transitioning in any/all aspects of cultural production as it relates to Gothic and horror.
It also proposes the crossing as a metaphor for presenting and thinking on the interdisciplinary work of the Gothic and the intersectional/transnational spaces where the gothic is engaged and approached. Thus, we are particularly interested in “paths less travelled” and contributions from scholars and ECRs working in the intersections where the cultural work of Gothic and horror studies crosses boundaries and spheres, engaging with fields and disciplines beyond the traditional, and where new “crossings” can be discovered. This includes, but is not limited to: Gothic and horror in gaming, architecture and heritage, creative writing and practice, comics and graphic novels, scriptwriting, theatre, music, geography, plant studies and environmentalism, anthropology, libraries and archives, sociology and social studies, broadcasting, publishing, media and graphic design. We are sure there are more, so feel free to surprise us with your wanders, crossings, and encounters!
Please submit a 250-word abstract for 15-minute presentations by 28th February 2025 to Dr Emma Liggins and Dr Eleanor Beal at gothic@mmu.ac.uk
For all submissions, be sure to include your name, a short (50-word) biographical sketch, institutional affiliation (if any), and contact details. Please send your submission as an attachment (as opposed to a link to a server such as Googledocs).
Submissions for panels should be sent as a single submission with three to four 250-word abstracts, a brief statement of the theme of the panel and the information above about each of the presenters.
Submissions for workshops should indicate the length of the workshop (max. 45 minutes).
If accepted to deliver a paper or workshop, a number of travel bursaries up to £100 are available for selected international and UK postgraduates on application.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
Some fun things and shout outs from these past few weeks.
Becca Boo, the ditzy bombshell who awoke one morning in a grave and deduced that she was a ghost, finds herself as an actual ghost when she is hit by a truck. Though Death comes for Becca, he becomes distracted at the prospect of hooking up with a talented lady, and takes off. Becca looks through Death’s book and reads that she is bound for Hell, and uses the opportunity to flee.
Over the next few months Becca finds herself haunting mirrors, where adolescent men summon her by repeating her name. However, urban legend icon Bloody Mary takes umbrage at Becca infringing on her turf. Bloody Mary’s anger is short lived as Becca Boo is able to charm and bed her. As the two undead ladies become acquainted with each other, a knock as the door announces someone sinister has arrived for Becca.
The ending of issue one put Becca Boo in a narrative crossroad. The story of Becca Boo could have continued with the idea of Becca not actually being dead, but maintaining her insistence that she is a ghost, and interacting with the world accordingly. The second option is to have Becca become a ghost and influencing the living world in comedic ways, going the route of movies such as Beetlejuice (1988), Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991), and Frighteners (1996). The former would have been much more challenging to write but it would have kept the comic exploring an iteration of ghost-comedy that is not often done. The latter is the safer and easier option, so it is understandable that the writers of Becca Boo decided to go the route of making Becca a ghost.
Issue two of Becca Boo maintains the comedic tone of issue one with some fun delighters. Becca Boo dips into parody territory by having a Ringu-esque Bloody Mary, covered in blood and tattered clothing, becoming an erotic apparition. Becco purrs to Mary “You know what happens when you change a few ingredients in a Bloody Mary? You get a cosmopolitan.” She is technically not wrong, (take out everything but the vodka and replace with cranberry juice, Cointreau, and lime juice), she just has a different grasp on what “few” means. But in a strange, Becca Boo sort of way, there is some insight to be had in her proverb.
The cast of characters in the second issue is broadened with the introduction of Bloody Mary and Death, providing Becca more opportunities to interact with others, be them living, dead, or undead, providing more venues for comedic dialogue and situations.
The art maintains the same consistency as with issue one, with all the characters looking fleshed out and detailed. The majority of issue two takes place indoors, but attention has been paid to make sure the rooms, walls, et al. look interesting and not generic. Where a time-pressed artist would simply have an empty wall to save time, Bloody Mary’s flat is adorned with weird-circular art pieces (gold records?) and plants. Unlike issue one, issue two of Becca Boo only contains one scene of sexual intercourse, but it is stretched longer over more panels, adding an underscored element of intimacy between Becca and Bloody Mary.
As with issue one, issue two of Becca Boo was a crowdfunded endeavor. The campaign met almost all the stretch goals of cards, magnets, etc., but the publisher, Obscura, failed to include the bonus items with my pledge, so I unfortunately cannot comment on them as I typically do with these indie comic reviews. Fun comic, but terrible fulfillment, which is waved away under the risks of pledging to a Kickstarter, and that these items are simply “extras.”
Disappointing fulfillment aside, the product proper of Becca Boo is what matters.
Becca Boo continues to be fun and sexually playful. Despite Death’s notes indicating she has lived a “vapid..drunk..driven by libido” life, Becca’s heart is in the right place, giving readers a worthwhile character to latch onto and worry about what will happen to her as she negotiates the afterlife looking for redemption.
Edit 2025-02-18 – Publisher Obscura did rectify the missing stretch goals and sent over the missing swag shortly after this review went online, so extreme kudos to them for making that right.
As with issue one, issue two of Becca Boo came with trading cards that sports an alternate cover on each one.
And there is a book and magnet as well, all fun, high quality extras that make these crowdfunding endeavors extra fun.
More information on Becca Boo can be found at the following websites:
The cool kids over at the Fan2Fan Podcast are continuing their marathon of episodes devoted to iconic horror director John Carpenter. They just published an episode on the Lovecraftian In The Mouth of Madness, with myself and Joshua Pruett as guests.
The episode can be streamed at the Fan2Fan Libsyn page, in the embedded player below, or in your podcast app of preference.
Sincere appreciation to Bernie and Pete for having me on. In case you missed it, Michele and/or I were on a few other Fan2Fan John Carpenter episodes, (Christine, The Fog, Prince of Darkness), so please check those episodes out as well.
Panthans Journal #326
The National Panthans Journal is a monthly PDF zine of Edgar Rice Burroughs-related reviews, essays, articles, artwork, news, etc.
Laurence G. Dunn, the editor/compiler of the Panthans Journal, has been gracious to give the many Edgar Rice Burroughs comic book reviews I penned in the late 2010s a second life. Issue #326 (pictured here, with artwork by Jim Burns) contains an updated version of my review of Carson of Venus: The Flames Beyond #1. Sincere appreciation to Laurence!
If you’re interested in contributing to Panthans or receiving copies of the publication, contact Laurence at laurencegdunn @ gmail dot com (sans spaces).
Scholars from the Edge of Time
June’s episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time is now online! In this episode we conclude our retrospective of the pepla career of Bella Cortez by discussing the final sword and sandal film she made, Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens.
Poster for Ali Baba and the Seven Saracens from Wikipedia.
The vidcast can be watched on YouTube here. Check it out!
Michele and I have also planned out the next two episodes of Scholars from the Edge of Time. For July’s episode we will be discussing She Is Conan (2023) and in August we will be talking about Pilgrimage (2017). Stay tuned!
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2024.
Comic Book Review: “Carson of Venue: The Flames Beyond #1″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #326.
From the Archives
This following podcasts episodes and articles were published from 6/24 to 7/7:
Hercules, Ursus, Maciste, Goliath, Samson, et al. – all strongman characters and archetypes founds in peplum cinema, both classic and new. They are singular in their exploits, be it mythical, folklore, or cinematic only, but also interchangeable for the same reasons. The strongman is a malleable character, who can be juxtaposed against a variety of ages and settings, leading to fun and interesting scenarios. These could be tales of a Hercules-style character in space, superhero adventures, time traveling adventures that can feature a fish-out-of-water element, and others.
Ben Lacy’s comic book series Samson is one such text that takes an iconic peplum protagonist and Hebrew Biblical hero, and applies a different spin to the character. Lacy’s incarnation of Samson leans heavily into the superhero genre (which has always has a strong link to mythology, see Marvel’s Hercules and Thor characters for examples) by having his character, a concentration camp prisoner, become the subject of Nazi experiments that leads to superhuman strength – a Jewish equivalent to Captain America.
Variant cover by David Gallart.
Samson, written by Lacy, with Jhonesbas Craneo (Tomb of Horror) on pencils, Anton Polkhovskyi (The Cthulhu Man) as the colorist, and Nikki Powers (Burn, Wayward Kindred) providing lettering, is currently going through a crowdfunding campaign to realize the debut issue. Lacy has generously provided his time to be interviewed about his strongman comic.
From classic 1960s sword and sandal films, Hollywood Golden Age Biblical pepla, and even Gladiator and neo-peplum, is this a genre you’re into? If so, how did you get into these types of films?
One of the first movies I saw in a theater was The Ten Commandments back in the early 1970s. I’ll always watch it if it’s on. The same with the last half of Ben-Hur and the few good parts of Cleopatra. I’ve also always liked the Steve Reeves Hercules movies. Not only did they have a lot of cool action, I’d never seen anyone like Reeves (this was pre-Arnold times) and I always wanted a build like that (which I never achieved). For the same reason, I liked the ridiculous Three Stooges Meet Hercules movie where a nerdy professor turns into a strong man.
What are your favourite sword and sandal films, comics, books, and so on?
In addition to the movies mentioned, I’ve liked a lot of the Busiek run on Conan. I used to read a series of books by John Jakes about Brak the Barbarian that were a lot of fun.
Various Samson pepla.
Have you watched any of the classic Italian Samson peplum films (such as Samson and His Mighty Challenge,Samson and the Sea Beast, Samson Against the Back Pirate, etc.), and if so, your thoughts on them? Did you draw any inspiration or ideas from these films?
No, I’m afraid I haven’t seen any of these. I did see Samson and Delilah as a kid.
What is the general synopsis of Samson?
Samson is an epic tale that takes place over the course of fifty years from WW2 to just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. During WW2 we see how the Nazis took two young boys and experimented on them, giving one of them great strength, speed, and invulnerability. He takes on the name Samson as a way of inspiring people.
Years later, after the reunification of Germany, Interpol has discovered that the Uberfuhrer, a Nazi supervillain, may still be alive and living in America. They urge Samson to come out of retirement to take him down. The first story arc follows both the younger and older SAMSON as we learn what’s happened to him and his world over those many years.
What was the genesis of this comic?
I’d always wanted to do a superhero comic (my other books are more sci-fi and adventure oriented). As a Jew, the idea of creating a Jewish superhero whose origin is very much related to his being Jewish was something I thought would be both exciting and unique.
How does your iteration of Samson compare to the Biblical incarnation?
Samson takes his name from the Biblical version both to be a sort of Captain America figure for Jews and because his real name is conveniently Samuel.
There are a lot of stories out there about Nazis doing weird science experiments and creating super soldiers, monsters, etc. How does Samson stand out from these types of stories?
This is inspired by actual events. The Nazis did experiment on Jewish twins. The two scientists in this book are based on two of the real men who conducted these experiments. Of course the experiments they actually conducted were quack science, but in a superhero universe, they succeed, but may wind up regretting it.
What was something important you learned or a surprise you encountered while writing and Kickstarting this comic?
I’ve done ten successful Kickstarters. The first time I tried to Kickstart Samson, it failed to fund. I learned that I had to expand my audience to people who were interested in superheroes. I printed off a large number of B&W Samson mini comics and gave those away to the backers of my other books and to people at comic cons.
What is the biggest goal you want to accomplish with Samson?
At this point, I want to get it funded and get issue one out there. Hopefully, when people see it, there will be more demand for issue two because I think this story will excite a lot of people.
What can fans of the sword and sandal genre look forward to in Samson? Any homages to the classic character or to the genre?
Probably more in variant covers than in the story itself though when Samson ends up in Israel and gets his first costume, he will have the more traditional longer hair and beard.
And finally any other news and projects you’d like to share?
I have two other ongoing series, Shark of War and The Vicious Vixens of Dakuwanga. People can read the first issues of both at BitingComics.com. And of course Samson still has a six days left at Samson.BitingComics.com.
Sincere appreciation to Ben Lacy for his time to talk about his Samson comic. More information on the comic, including a link to the Kickstarter campaign, can be found in the below list:
The April episode of Scholars from the Edge of Time is online.
In this vidcast Michele and I take a small break from talking about the films of Bella Cortez and talk about the 1985 Spanish sci-fi/fantasy film, Star Knight. The episode can be watched on YouTube.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
New Sword and Sandal Book Acquisitions
Two new tomes have been added to the sword and sandal/pop culture library.
The first is Helen of Troy in Hollywood by Ruby Blondell. This book cites The New Peplum, which is wicked cool (I always gush when my work gets cited). I don’t know too much about Helen of Troy mythology and I have not seen too many films based on her, so this book will definitely fill that knowledge gap. A few years ago Michele and I watched/did a Scholars from the Edge of Time episode on the film The Lion of Thebes (1964) [listen to it here]. Looking at the index of this book, The Lion of Thebes doesn’t appear to be mentioned. So, perhaps a future essay idea to apply Blondell’s work to that film?
Second up is the Cult Epics book The Films of Tinto Brass. I’ve been a huge Tinto Brass fan for years, probably due to his emphasis on stockings – he’s like an Elmer Batters, but for Italian erotica. Aside from all the hosiery-focused films, Brass did the most infamous porno peplum ever, Caligula (1979), which there is an entire chapter dedicated to in this book.
This book was funded from a crowdfunding campaign, so I have my name listed in the back, which is always fun. Cult Epics also published the Sylvia Kristel book a few years back, which you can read my review here. As soon as I can clear my review plate off I’ll try and do a write up of this book.
Though The Films of Tinto Brass was a crowdfunded endeavor, the book is readily purchasable from Cult Epics which comes with some exclusives such as a disc of trailers, a poster, and an autograph from Nico B.
New Sword and Sandal DVDs Acquisitions
An opportunity to pluck of Princess Warrior (1989) presented itself, so I had to go for it.
I had never heard of this film until I saw a RedLetterMedia review on it, and it looked bad (and by bad I mean awesome). It’s an 80s sword and sorcery film, with maybe a little sword and planet element thrown in. It mostly has the heroine traveling to Earth where the plot is akin to The Terminator combined with an extended a wet t-shirt contest.
Autograph Treasures
Karen McDougal, 1998 Playboy Playmate of the year, is in the news related to the trial of Trump falsifying business records in violation of campaign finance law (among other things). So, I’ll take advantage of the news to show off my autographed copy of The Arena (2001) in which she starred in.
The Arena is remake of the Pam Grier 1974 version of the same name. The 2001 version is directed by Russian director Timur Bekmambetov, who did the amazing film Night Watch (2004). Bekmambetov would revisit the neo-pelum genre in 2016 with another remake, this time of Ben-Hur.
I had the honour to meet McDougal at Glamourcon in Long Beach, November of 2011, where she signed my DVD of The Arena. It’s been over a decade since I last watched the film, but I remember enjoying it, so time to revisit it!
CFPs
Simon Bacon has a new CFP on Folk Horror and UFO/Alien Narratives:
I’m putting something together on a prospective project on the intersection of Folk Horror and UFO/Alien narratives. This could include, but not limited to:
The intersection of Folk Horror and Cosmic Horror
Lovecraft, Hope Hodgeson, and Folk Horror
Texts (films/games/lit/comics/etc) that use historical alien visitations as the basis of folklore/cults
Summonings that turn out to be alien entities
Alien encounters/visitation texts that use Folk Horror tropes
Examples of alien planets that feature their own versions of Folk Horror
Human/Alien futures that see past versions of humanity as sources of Folk Horror
Folk Horror and series such as Star Trek, Dr. Who, Star Wars, Dune, etc.
At this stage it’s just ideas/abstracts I’m needing (final essays wouldn’t be before end 2025). If interested contact me at: baconetti@gmail.com
I Am a Barbarian
Stock of Thomas Simmons and Mike Dubisch’s graphic novel, I Am a Barbarian is getting low, so if you want a copy – especially a limited edition one with an autographed book plate, scoot over to the Edgar Rice Burroughs website.
I had the honor to interview Simmons and Dubisch about their work, so check that out here, and then consider checking out their work proper.
New Publication: The Journal of Stoogeological Studies Vol 1
The debut issue of The Journal of Stoogeological Studies is out now!
I received a draft PDF of the first issue and its 88 pages of essays, reviews, and other musings all about the Three Stooges (and, as of 12/27, there’s supposed to be a bit more content added this week, so it’s getting even bigger!). I’m honored to have a short piece in this journal called “An Imperial Decree? Soitenly! Matri-Phony as Proto-Toga and Sandal Comedy.” I am no expert on The Three Stooges or a super fan or anything, but I love writing about sword n’ sandal stuff so this was a unique venue to talk about the genre in an eccentric way.
For information on procuring a copy of the zine contact editor Will Sloan (website is https://www.willsloan.ca).
New review up at my website! I take a gander at the first issue of the sex-comedy comic book Becca Boo the Bimbo Ghost.
The review can be read here. I enjoyed the comic and chipped in the for Kickstarter for issue 2, so expect a review of that when it is published. The issue 2 Kickstarter can be found here.
H. P. Lovecast Podcast
Brand new episode of H.P. Lovecast Podcast is now online!
Episode 59 Thumbnail by Michele Brittany.
Michele and I finally conclude our annual Mimic series discussion by talking about Mimic 3: Sentinel. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website, via the embedded player below, or via your podcast app of preference.
My publisher, McFarland, is doing a holiday sale on ALL their titles. Use code “HOLIDAY23” at checkout to receive 25% off your order. The sale appears to go on for the entire month of December, but McFarland suggests placing orders before the 16th in order to receive them in time for Yuletide.
This is a perfect opportunity to scoop up books I’ve participated in. For editing:
I’ve also started annotating Emmanuelle scholarship and posting it here at my website so other scholars have a nice bibliographic resource. The bibliography and annotations can be found here and it’s a major WIP.
Publishing Recap
Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2023.
Published in February, this collection contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling.”
Published in late March, the first issue of the zine Footage Fiends, contains my essay “Analisi Della Cosa: Found Footage in Caltiki and Italian Theater Going Practices.”
Published in early August, Dark Dead Things #2 contains my essay “Correlating the Contents: Mimetic Desire in H. P. Lovecraft’s ‘The Call of Cthulhu’.”
Published late November/early December of 2023, my essay “An Imperial Decree? Soitenly! Matri-Phony as Proto-Toga and Sandal Comedy” appears in the debut issue of The Journal of Stoogeological Studies.
John 3:16, the composer of the HP Lovecast podcast theme song, “Azathoth,” has released the track on Bandcamp!
Here is the link to check it out, stream it, or purchase it via name your own price. Sincere thank you to John 3:16 for being a super supporter of our podcast, sharing our content, and of course, creating this awesome tune.
CFP: The Mummy Edited Collection
Michele is teaming up with Sean Woodard to do an edited collection on The Mummy series. They have a CFP listed at UPENN, but I am also sharing a copy below.
Essays sought for an edited collection focused on Universal Pictures’ The Mummy franchise.
The 1999 Universal reboot of The Mummy, starring the indelible duo of Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, remains a tentpole of ’90s popular culture and cinema. Not only did The Mummy launch two sequels, a spin-off series, and a reboot, but it has lived on as a cult film, loved by fans for its mixture of horror, action/adventure, and humor. The film has also developed a strong meme culture on social media — one of the most viral examples contains a photo of a car bumper sticker proclaiming: “Honk if you’d rather be watching the 1999 cinematic masterpiece ‘The Mummy’ starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.”
While academic research has been focused on various releases of The Mummy (1932, 1959, 1999, and 2017), there has not been a singular scholarly text devoted to the film franchise. The recent “Brenaissance” in Fraser’s film career and the film’s anticipated 25th anniversary in 2024 make it an appropriate time to celebrate and re-evaluate the film.
The purpose of this edited collection is to place The Mummy into a cultural and theoretical context, as well as critically analyze the franchise, its connections to other genre films, and its continued influence.
We seek proposals for chapters that approach the subject matter with theoretical concepts that will appropriately meet the rigorous expectations of an academic work, but through a prose style that shall be accessible for both an academic audience and a general readership.
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
Resurgent interest in Brendan Fraser/“Brenaissance”
Stephen Sommers as an auteur
Representation of Egypt in popular culture and early filmic representation
Eastern mythology/culture/religion
Exoticism of non-western cultures
Post/De-colonialism
Heroic representation
Body horror
Eco-horror/Ecocriticism
Gender representation
Toxic depictions in film
Queer/LGBTQ+ representation
Meme/GIF culture
Psychoanalysis
Generational nostalgia
Element of music/film scoring
Genre hybridity
Film cycles/reboots/retcons (such as The Scorpion King, The Mummy animated series, Universal Classic Monsters, Hammer Studios, Dark Universe, etc.) and related adventure/archaeological-driven films (such as Ark of the Sun God, The Sphinx, The Librarian franchise, etc.)
Please send abstracts of 300 – 500 words with a working title and five (5) keywords, accompanied by a short third-person author bio (100 words max), to mummybookproject@gmail.com as a Word document. Final essays should be 6,000 – 8,000 words in length, including endnotes and bibliography, and be formatted according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition. The collection is being considered by a leading academic press.
Proposed Timeline
October 1, 2023 thru December 15, 2023 — Call for Papers
January 15, 2024 — Notification of abstract acceptances sent to authors
January 15, 2024 thru June 15, 2024 — Book chapters drafting period
June 15, 2024 thru July 15, 2024 — Initial editorial review of submitted chapter drafts
August 1, 2024 thru October 1, 2024 — Double-blind Peer Review Period
October 1, 2024 thru November 15, 2024 — Contributor revision period
December 1, 2024 — Final editorial acceptance decisions
December 1, 2024 thru January 15, 2025 — Layout design, indexing, and proofing stage
January 15, 2025 thru February 15, 2025 — Copies of chapter proofs sent to contributors for copyediting review
March 1, 2025 — Final manuscript submitted in hard copy and digital formats to publisher
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.
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:
I Am a Barbarian™ is a sword and sandal novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs that was published posthumously in 1967. Due to its historic antiquity subject matter, the novel is an outlier when compared to Burroughs’ speculative fiction bibliography of Tarzan®, Barsoom® (John Carter of Mars), and Pellucidar® novels for which he is most famous. In the 2010s, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. began posting a webcomic adaptation of I Am a Barbarian at their website, written by Tom Simmons with art by Mike Dubisch and lettering by L. Jamal Walton. In early summer of 2022, the entirety of I Am a Barbarian was published in an ornate, hardback collection. Simmons and Dubisch have graciously allowed an interview about the I Am a Barbarian project.
How do you get into Edgar Rice Burroughs? Do you have a particular fondness for I Am a Barbarian?
Mike Dubisch: I loved Tarzan and John Carter of Mars as a kid, and of course his works were a favorite subject among the classic fantasy illustrators who shaped me. Anything about hidden fantastic worlds and strange adventures fascinated me. While I knew and loved the original cover painting, I’m not sure I ever read I Am a Barbarian before the project.
Personal copy of I Am a Barbarian with slip case.
What were some of those illustrators that shaped you?
MD: Oh, it’s the usual pantheon: Frank Frazetta, Richard Corben, Hal Foster, Michael Whelan, Burne Hogarth, Wally Wood, Alex Nino, Nestor Redondo, John Buscema, in terms of artists who worked on ERB or ERB-like products. Otherwise, fairy tale and book illustrators like Arthur Rackham, H. J. Ford, Edmund Dulac, and the Brothers Hildebrandt. Pulp illustrators like Hans Bok and Virgil Finlay. I love studying the wood engravings of Doré illustrations, and the engravings of Albrecht Durer. Other comic book artists, particularly Europeans like Moebius, Jordi Bernet, Jose Ortiz, Tanino Liberator, as well as Charles Burns, Robert Crumb, Dave Stevens, Jack Kirby, Bernie Wrightson, and Basil Woolverton.
What was the genesis of the original I Am a Barbarian webcomic?
Tom Simmons: I wrote an email to Jim Sullos, President of ERB, Inc., in 2012 offering to write a gratis screenplay (I’m a self-taught screenwriter); the script I wanted to adapt was the original Tarzan at the Earth’s Core. Jim replied that the character was “taken” by a licensing agreement at the time, but he must have been impressed by my offer to do work for free because when the online strips launched in 2013-14 he suggested I toss my proverbial writing quill into the ring and put together a collaborative team to do one of them; he even provided the name of an artist who had contacted him about getting involved with the online strips project. I Am a Barbarian is actually the third online strip with which I’ve been involved, and still am in the case of one of the three: The Outlaw of Torn. I chose Barbarian because it was available to adapt as a strip; I thought it would be a challenge to adapt (it was), and I’ve always had an interest in ancient history (I have a Bachelor’s degree as well as Master’s work in history).
How was the creative team formed?
TS: Regarding how our creative team was formed, the artist I originally worked with on The Monster Men™ strip (which was among the first ERB, Inc. placed online in 2014) referred me to letterist/graphic designer/artist Jamal Walton of Durham, NC (full name: Larry Jamal Walton but he goes by “L. Jamal” or simply “Jamal”). As it transpired, Jamal has been involved in all three of the ERB, Inc. strips I’ve adapted, and was also the letterist for my 2015 e-book Crispus Caesar, which, indeed, is yet another “Swords and Sandals” story, adapted by me from my 2010 screenplay of the same name. My collaboration with Mike Dubisch came about when Mike contacted another ERB online strip artist and asked how he could become involved with the online strips; that artist referred Mike to me and the rest, as the cliche goes, is history.
MD: After a period of trying to focus only on my own work in the comic industry, I decided it was time to seek out professional commissions again to advance my career. ERB was one of the markets I approached right away and fortunately Tom was manning the lines of communication and snatched me right up for his project. I knew instantly that I Am a Barbarian was the right fit because it would be a comic with the word “barbarian” in the title!
What were some of the challenges encountered when adapting the original novel into a webcomic format?
TS: The writing challenge for any adaptation to strip format (or any other, for that matter) is about scale/scope: we didn’t want the strip to continue indefinitely, set an end goal of roughly 225-245 weekly episodes (about five years of the strip being presented online), and worked toward that end. The second phase of the project after the online adaptation was complete was always to produce a printed graphic novel encompassing the entire online strip, and we achieved that goal. Apart from considerations of scale/scope, I did a thorough re-examination of Caligula, aided by a recent biography by Anthony Barrett. While there is little doubt Caligula was very likely a mentally unbalanced individual prone to cruelty and outright bloodthirstiness, the sources ERB used (historians Suetonius and Dio) also had a vested interest in painting an “over the top” picture of the assassinated ruler; I’d compare their accounts (and neither was an actual eyewitness to events) to Shakespeare’s lambasting of the Yorkists. Lastly, for me Barbarian is a love story wrapped around a tragedy; to dwell on Caligula’s misdeeds would not only have been a gratuitous waste of time but it would have obscured Brit and Attica’s character arcs. That said, I still included plenty of outrageous and bloodthirsty Caligulan behavior!
MD: For me the adaptation is from Tom’s script into the art for the strip, and so the re-imagining the scene from the book as comic pages has already been established when I start in. My biggest challenge is remembering to refer back to my historical architectural and costume references.
What would you say you each brought that is distinctively “you” to the comic?
TS: Mike and I formed a natural collaborative team, in my opinion. I did most of the historical research and (of course) writing the actual adaptation, but largely relied on Mike to place his own unique artistic stamping on the panels themselves. I know Mike will be speaking to his many projects currently underway, but for me he stepped up and out of his mostly Lovecraftian/horror mold to draw the history-based I Am a Barbarian, although those influences can be seen in many panels, in particular the scenes involving dungeons, prophecies and strange people.
Mike Dubisch. Photo courtesy of Dubisch.
MD: I have a bad habit of only looking at reference when I don’t know how to draw something, and I know how to draw just about everything, and if I don’t, well then I usually know how to draw something after referencing it only once or twice. So, what you see with my work is devised almost entirely from my imagination, and that is why everything I do has a distinct style. Additionally, I tend to use a lot of black on the pages, using bold core shadows on figures and props, creating a feeling of dynamic lighting and adding volume, and bringing weight to the page.
Setting aside (since it is not a John Carter or Tarzan story), what do you feel is unique about I Am a Barbarianwhen compared to Burroughs’ other work?
TS: As far as I’m aware, Barbarian is the only ERB story in which the female protagonist dies. Overall, it’s a “darker” story than most of ERB’s work, and is likely a reflection of the dark period the writer was experiencing in his own life when he wrote the story in the spring/summer of 1941: his second marriage was on the rocks, he was drinking too much, and he was in and out of the hospital with health issues that year.
MD: For me it’s the danger and trauma of Brit’s life; he loses everything and lives under the threat of torture and death his whole life. This seems a far cry from ERB’s superhuman heroes who rule their secret worlds.
TS: Good observation about Brit’s travails, Mike. If you want to test (and grow) your protagonist’s character arc, toss said protagonist under as many proverbial buses as possible.
Signed bookplate. I’m lucky number 7!
I Am a Barbarian has just been released in a luxurious, oversized, hardback edition in a slipcase. This is a stark contrast to how comics are normally collected in a trade paperback release. What were the reasons for going the “Roman Decadent” route for the comic?
TS: I wanted the IAAB graphic novel to be an instantly recognizable, collectible classic and used this approach when we designed and produced the book over a 10-month period starting in June, 2021. For me, we achieved that goal. It’s a “pandemic book,” however, and as such it ended up costing considerably more to produce. I had no choice but to increase the price commensurately, and it turns out we’re working with little or no margin. As often is the case with these projects, IAAB is a true labor of love, not money.
ERB stories have seen many comic adaptations across many decades by a plethora of publishers: Marvel, Dynamite, Gold Key, American Mythology, and so on. Is there any particular run of a Burroughs comic that you hold in high regard?
TS: I’m so old school re: comics I’m probably not relevant; the first actual comic books I read (other than the newspaper version) were Classics Illustrated. That said, for me old school illustrators and writers like Hal Foster, Alex Raymond and Russ Manning were always my favorites.
MD: I recall OBSESSING on a big treasury edition sized Tarzan comic adaptation that I read to shreds as a kid – I no longer have it and can’t identify what edition it was. I do love Joe Kubert’s work on the character. I never really read the John Carter comics, but I love what I’ve seen in issues drawn by Gil Kane. I haven’t kept up with anything modern – I’ve enjoyed seeing Joseph Michael Linsners Dejah Thoris® cover art.
TS: If we’re talking about Dejah Thoris, for me Jay Anacleto and Michael C. Hayes are tops.
Deja Thoris by Jay Anacleto. Image provided by Simmons.
Deja Thoris by Michael C. Hayes. Image provided by Simmons.
I Am a Barbarian can be considered a sword and sandal story. Is this a genre you have appreciation for? If so, any particular texts over the years that have left an impression on you?
TS: The film Gladiator is a recent standout for me. I also very much liked Spartacus and Ben-Hur.
MD: Oh man, Old Testament Biblical epics were one of my favorite things to watch as a kid, and Biblical comic adaptations were always a favorite as well. I loved Conan and Kull too, especially the comic books, but also the Robert E. Howard stories. While I was drawing I Am a Barbarian I streamed the Spartacus TV series, which was also very entertaining.
TS: Also, thinking of further S&S influences for me, I loved Colleen McCullough’s First Man in Rome series of novels as well as the 2005 Rome TV series.
Tom Simmons. Photo courtesy of Simmons.
What projects do you have on the horizon that you’d like to share?
TS: I’m continuing doing the online strip adaptation of ERB’s other historical novel, The Outlaw of Torn. I’m currently working with Benito Gallego, who does the art, colors and letters for the strip. The plan is to do a printed version of this story as well when it’s completed in 2024. The book will form a “companion volume” to the printed I Am a Barbarian graphic novel, and I envision a matte red board slipcase with silver foil lettering for the book which will have two parts, one containing the art of Jake Bilbao and the other that of Benito Gallego. I also have ongoing screenplay projects; this summer I’ll finally complete the pilot for an 8-part miniseries entitled The Nessus Shirt, a WWII story told from the German point of view through the eyes of an ordinary soldier who becomes involved in the pre-Valkyrie plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
MD: My primary focus has been Forbidden Futures Magazine and the Forbidden Futures Book Club, where I am the illustrator of an entire line of books and magazines working with premiere science fiction and horror writers, that goes out as a quarterly package to our subscribers through Oddness Books.
We are currently printing Forbidden Futures issue #10 which is a double issue with new fiction by David Gerrold, creator of both Star Trek’s Tribbles, and the Sleestacks from the Land of the Lost TV series. The issue also presents the first fully illustrated publication of Philip K. Dick’s “Tony and The Beetles,” a new sci-fi comic story I wrote and illustrated, and contributions from John Shirley and Cody Goodfellow. Forbidden Futures will be reissuing several of my out-of-print comics and graphic novels, including my Cthulhu Mythos SF graphic novel Weirdling, body horror underground comix Mystery Meat, and a collection of short graphic stories “The Wet Nurse and Other Tales of Conception and Re-Birth.” We have been publishing illustrated novels and novellas under the “Forbidden Futures Presents” banner, and I have my own illustrated prose projects planned for that line, including a soon to be announced SF novella. Finally, we are also debuting a bi-yearly chapbook “In Human Skin: The Mike Dubisch Journal of Illustrated Verse,” which pairs my series of surreal drawings on black paper with my own written verse.
Additionally, I continue to contribute to Diabolik Books Adventures of Professor Dario Bava comics, with the epic graphic novel tribute to Italian horror films and mod culture, “Murder Vibes from the Monster Dimension” still available and the new “Orgy Of The Blood Freaks” out now with new issues on the way.
Sincere thanks to Simmons and Dubisch for this interview. Their release of I Am a Barbarian can be found in two editions – with and without a signed bookplate – at Cedar Run Publications. Consider checking it out!
