Check out my book review of Vilioti Vintage by Jimmy Vargas and Lady Medusa, which can be read here. he book contains an interview with Ken Holewczynski, the dude behind Exotica Moderne, a magazine I’ve contributed to many times. So, definitely check out the review and the book proper.
Fan2Fan Podcast Appearance
My first podcast guest appearance for 2024 is over at the Fan2Fan Podcast!
In this episode we talk about the classic Italian gothic horror film, Castle of Blood. This was a lot of fun to revisit as it has been years – I dived deep into this movie over a decade ago when writing my thesis and since then I’ve grown to appreciate it more.
The episode can be streamed at the Fan2Fan Libsyn website, via the embedded player below, or through your favorite podcast app.
And, of course, I’d be remiss without showing our copy of Castle of Blood, autographed to Michele and I from both Barbara Steele and Edoardo Margheriti, son of director Antonio Margheriti:
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.
Miscellaneous Tidbits
New Edge Sword and Sorcery Issues 3 & 4
At the tail end of 2023 issues 1 and 2 of New Edge Sword and Sorcery, which has been previously Kickstarted, was unleashed upon the world. I received my copies:
The Fall 2023 issue has an advert for H. P. Lovecast, how cool is that! Also, a reminder, I did a write up about issue 0, which can be read here.
On February 15th there will be a new crowdfunding campaign to publish issues 3 and 4. You can sign up for when the campaign goes live at this link. There’s details there of what to expect from the new two issues. Check it out!
Recent Pepla Acquisitions
Recently plucked up copies of Gold for the Caesars and The Tartars, both from Warner’s Archive Collection. If it’s a peplum film Warner had a hand in back in the day, they kept decent prints of them over the years and give them decent releases:
The Tartars star pepla starlet Bella Cortez. Michele and I are probably going to do a retrospective of her pepla appearances, talking about different movies of the next few episodes of Scholars from the Edge of Time. I’ll be turning those discussions into articles for my Peplum Ponderings series which has been severely neglected.
Rest in Peplum Jesse Jane
This past week erotic actress Jesse Jane passed away. Jane appeared in many adult movies, including two pirate porno pepla: Pirates 1 and Pirates II: Stagnetti’s Revenge. Had the honor, way back in the late aughts, to meet not only Jesse Jane, but co-stars Stoya and Riley Steele at a meet and greet: won a raffle and received copies of both of the Pirates films in which the actresses autographed. Here is a mini-slideshow (NSFW images):
I have a polaroid somewhere as well documenting the meet and greet, soon as I find it I’ll add that to the gallery.
Autographed Stuff
Here is a summary of some of the autographed stuff from my library over the past two weeks on social media.
Robot Jox
Actor Gary Graham passed away on the 22nd. He didn’t star in anything I’d consider peplum, but he starred in lots of sci-fi movies and shows. Michele and I met him at a Hollywood Collectors show way back in the day. I had him sign my copy of Robot Jox:
As you can see, I’ve had quite a few people autograph Robot Jox over the years: Graham, director Stuart Gordon (RIP), producer Charles Band, and writer Joe Haldeman. It’s a fun mecha film. We see lots of mechs in anime and video games, but live action, not so much (but the ones we get, like Pacific Rim, turn out to be cult hits later on).
The Plain Janes
Here are copies of The Plain Janes and Janes in Love signed by author extraordinaire Cecil Castellucci.
And:
When we lived in Orange we would see Castellucci at many of the local cons and she was always awesome to say hi to. Michele moderated a panel on Star Wars at a Long Beach Comic Con that Castellucci was a panelist on.
It’s been one year since Princess Giaris led a victorious attack on the Argives and won over the Sparta populace as their future queen. In the time since, Giaris, her father King Cleomenes, and warrior Mor all led successful sorties against the enemies of Sparta. While Cleomenes is satisfied with his daughter’s development into a skilled warrior, he sends her off to his advisor Aurelia to continue her training – the arts of suggestion and seduction.
Born of Blood #2 standard retail cover by Ruth Lucas.
Aurelia puts Giaris through a regimen of bedding Spartan warriors to improve her sexual prowess and to make her able to read men’s bodies in order to seduce and then command them. She is taught other arts of intrigue, such as using different perfumes to accomplish near magical effects.
Meanwhile, Cleomenes is visited by the Klepthes who demand land as payment for the information they provided to Giaris to the whereabouts of the Argives (see issue one). Cleomenes furiously rejects their demands. That night the Klepthes kidnap Cleomenes and hold him ransom and murder Mor in the skirmish. Giaris tortures one of the surviving Klepthes to find their camp by ripping his foot off.
Giaris leads a small army of women armed with intoxicating perfumes to the Klepthes’ camp where they proceed to charm and murder its occupants. However, they are too late for Cleomenes had been impaled to a rack, tortured, and killed.
After the King is buried next to his wife during a funeral attended by Leonidas, Aurelia spits on his grave, revealing herself as the orchestrator of his demise.
Born of Blood #2 variant cover (in foil) by Lauren Wright.
While the first issue of Born of Blood was heavy on combat, issue two takes the toga and sandal approach by focusing on the political and intrigue aspects of the neo-peplum genre (with an strong emphasis on the seduction). Issue two borrows heavily from the porno-pepla of the late 70s and early 80s (Caligula, Caligula the Untold Story, and Caligula and Messalina) with wanton nudity and sexual acts. Blood is not the only bodily fluid that flows in abundance in the panels of issue two.
These two panels sum up issue two.
The artwork depicting Aurelia in a rather sinister format foreshadows her treachery at the issue’s end. It’s an obvious cliché. However, the throwback to the first issue’s encounter with the Klepthes, which only occurs in one (seemingly) throwaway panel was an unexpected element of intrigued that strongly ties both issues together.
The emotional angle of issue two is on the idiosyncratic side. Giaris mourns for the loss of her father during a rainy funeral, yet has no reaction (during or immediately afterward) when finding Mor’s body. He is only brought up offhandedly at the issue’s funeral conclusion. Giaris isn’t that cold hearted (yet?), instead it feels like a panel of acknowledgment is missing.
Issue two of Born of Blood is certainly graphic, both in its violence (ripped off limbs) and nudity, but it provides a backdrop of severity and intensity for Princess Giaris in her story to become a fierce Queen of Sparta.
The Kickstarter that funded the production of issue two concluded in June 2022 with issues shipping in the late fall. As with other MERC Publishing crowdfunding endeavors there was lots of swag, add-ons, and alternate covers which also had their own variants (foil, metal, nude/non-nude, etc.).
These included bookmarks.
And Magnets.
Stickers, poker chips, and other loot.
All the Kickstarter loot for my pledge.
The Kickstarter .PDF of issue two stated that issue three would be hitting stores back in November. This didn’t quite happen as it looks like crowdfunding for issue three will begin in early 2023. The Kickstarter waiting page can be found here.
In the meantime, please check my other articles related to this write up.
The Astonishing Adventures of Alicia Carter and Robot is a brand new comic series by Tristan Vick, with Chris Awayan on art and Mirza Wirawan on colours. The debut issue of Alicia Carter and Robot (ACaR) was Kickstarted in February 2022 and released by Vick’s own publishing imprint, Regolith Comics.
SFW cover for ACaR by Karen Darboe (for preview/thumbnail purposes)
ACaR is described on its Kickstarter campaign as an “action-packed sci-fi adventure” in the vein of classic pulps such as “Northwest Smith, Flash Gordon, and John Carter of Mars” with comedy thrown in. The Edgar Rice Burroughs’ character homage is immediately noticed in Alicia Carter’s last name. The comic shares the sci-fi pulp DNA in the same vein as Star Wars does.
Personal copy of ACaR with NSFW Toshio Maeda-inspired cover by Awayan.
Carter is an infamous space thief whose latest escapade has her stealing a crystal from the reptilian criminal Klaven Skullvek and the two bounty hunters in his employ: the cybernetic Armitage and sniper Kira. While being pursued, Carter crash lands on Junk World, an entire planet converted into a garbage dump by Nova Corp. Amnesic from a head wound during her rough landing, Carter is rescued by Garbage Disposal Unit 3 (GDU-3), a bipedal robot that salvages treasures from the refuse. Together, Carter and GDU-3 team up to evade Skullvek and his henchpeople and escape from Junk World.
Alicia Carter.
Carter as a character is a fun, rogueish heroine in the Han Solo/Star-Lord sense. As a sword and planet character, much like John Carter, she appears to be incredibly agile and able to leap large distances – or at least within the gravity on Junk World. If Carter has any fault it is due to the temporary amnesia she only suffers from for a handful of pages. If anything, this selective amnesia robs her of precious character development as it otherwise doesn’t advance or effect the plot at all. On the other hand, Carter is extremely animated and emotive. She pops off the comic’s pages with gestures and facial expressions that make her both endearing and easy to read, which is definitely in part due to the art and colour work of Awayan and Wirawan respectively.
GDU-3 (The Robot).
GDU-3 is quite fleshed out as a robot character. While he has protocols he must follow, he exhibits numerous human-like traits, such as he collects books and other trinkets for his own collection. His relationship to his parent company, Nova Corp, is very like that of Robocop to OCP – he follows his directives, but with the help of others, is able to overcome some of his programming to be more capable and free.
The art of ACaR is excellent. The Awayan and Wirawan team are able to make the muted, drab garbage planet of Junk World look interesting. All the characters look distinctive, at appropriate times stepping into cartoonish territory, but only for added comedic affect.
No expense was spared on issue one of ACaR. The comic clocks in at thirty-six pages of content including a gallery of all the alternative covers. The back cover of the comic has a bit of texture on it as well. In addition, folks who contributed to the ACaR Kickstarter received a plethora of fantastic loot as part of the campaign’s stretch goals.
Trading cards.
Firstly, there was six trading cards, one for each character. The backs of the cards contain stats (strength, speed, charisma, etc.) along with a biography of the pictured character. Hopefully the trading card trend will continue in successor crowdfunding campaigns. They are fun but they also provided paratextual information to supplement the world and character building in the comic.
Stickers and magnet.
Next, two chibi-styled stickers of Carter and GDU-3 along with a magnet of their ship were part of the stretch goals.
Foil art print by Shikarii.
Finally, a holofoil art print of Carter looking bad ass by artist Shikarii is also part of the package.
The Kickstarter campaign was also an avenue to pre-purchase exclusive cover variants of ACaR done by different artists, with most covers also having a NSFW incarnation. Interestingly, most Kickstarter comic book campaigns that have numerous NSFW covers also have corresponding content that is adult in nature (nudity, sex, and violence). Though ACaR has a handful of risque covers (see personal copy above), the comic proper is fairly PG-13. There’s no nudity and barely any profanity (swear words are replaced: “helios” for “hell,” “frack” for “fuck” and so on). The violence is cartoonish, with only one scene showing blood (on a regenerative character at that).
ACaR is off to a great start. Carter is a fun heroine and GDU-3 a shocking fleshed out, unique character. Unknown if future issues of the series will be episodic in nature, with a different adventure in each comic, or one large arc spanning multiple issues, but the intergalactic antics of Carter and GDU-3 look promising and exciting.
More information about Alicia Carter and Robot and the team behind it can be found at the following locations:
I did a review/write up about the neo-peplum Viking comic, Seidr. Since doing my presentation on Vikings sampling and the band Acylum, I wouldn’t mind diving more into Viking scholarship. Maybe.
A new episode of our HP Lovecast Podcast was published this past Sunday.
Thumbnail by Michele Brittany
This episode was supposed to go up in April, but we got his with an onslaught of other things (I started a new job, trying to finalize AnnRadCon stuff, a kitty doctor visit, and so on). Better late than never, here is our dive into David Rose’s novella Lovecraft’s Iraq. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout Podcast website or via your podcast app of preference. Don’t forget our prior episode episode in which we interviewed Rose followed by Jonathan Maberry. That episode can be streamed here.
Citation News
My introduction to The New Peplum has been cited in the essay “Olympos, gladiátorok, krémesség és Britney Spears: Az antikvitás megjelenése a kortárs reklámiparban” by Gábriel Nóra and Marton Máté. The essay can be read at Academia.edu. It is in Hungarian, so if you want to translate where footnote 29 points to and let me know, I’d be appreciative.
Fan2Fan Podcast Appearances
I was invited back onto the Fan2Fan Podcast to talk about Mystery Science Theatre 3000.
I not only got to hang out with the Fan2Fan crew of Peter and Bernie, but also with with Joshua Pruett, who has written and designed the door sequence for the new episode of MST3K (what an honour!). The dialogue got parsed into three episodes – check them all out:
Michele will be interviewed this upcoming week about James Bond (wish her luck!) and her Highlander episode will be dropping soon (keep an eye out!).
AnnRadCon and Raw Dog Screaming Press
The fifth annual Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference (AnnRadCon) is this upcoming weekend! Part of StokerCon, AnnRadCon contains the academic track of programming for the conference. This year there is both an in person and online component.
Anywho, you can still attend StokerCon and see the AnnRadCon presentations. More info can found at Stokercon.com.
A delight though is finding out that Raw Dog Screaming Press will be sponsoring AnnRadCon this year! This is amazing because I love RDSP. Here is the Tweet announcement:
ANNOUNCEMENT: RDSP a Sponsor of @StokerCon We are a proud sponsor of @AnnRadCon1 which is part of StokerCon weekend and features the academic study of horror and its cultural effects. Check out our full announcement and a list of topics and presenters: https://t.co/rtVjTjtDuFpic.twitter.com/Ps7KnWmWbW
But the full announcement can be found at the RDSP website here. We are sincerely grateful to Jennifer and John for all that they do for the writing community.
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
Recent Acquisitions
Shout Factory recently had a sale of their titles going OOP. The Lou Ferrigno Hercules films of the 80s were part of that list, so I plucked them up along with a few other titles. For some odd reason my order got split into two and this Hercules Collection arrived by itself and before the other items.
The DVD contains:
The Loves of Hercules (1960)
The Trojan Horse (1961)
Medusa Against the Son of Hercules (1962)
The Conquest of Mycenae (1963)
The Triumph of Hercules (1964)
Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun (1964)
I am certain I have double, nay, triple dipped these titles and there are so many bargain sword and sandal boxsets full of public domain pepla. My hope is that since this is a Shout Factory release, perhaps the image/sound quality on these versions might be better.
I also got my Kickstarter loot from backing Born of Blood #1. However, stay tuned for later this week for a write up on that. But for now, here is a preview of all the loot:
The following isn’t sword and sandal related but it is Emmanuelle related. Since I am dead serious on doing an anthology of Emmanuelle essays, perhaps I should list Emmanuelle loot/findings here too. Thoughts?
Anyway, Cult Epics did an Indiegogo a few months ago to fund a book about Sylvia Kristel. My copy arrived:
I have not had time to sift through the book proper, but it reminds of a FAB Press book: immaculate quality and every page in color. I got a version with an autographed dust sleeve. This also came with a boxset of some early Sylvia Kristel films too. Excited to dive into this proper and hope I get to use this for future scholarship!
I had the honour to be invited onto the Fan2Fan Podcast to talk about the peplum and sword and sorcery genres. I recorded a few episodes with hosts Bernie Gonzalez and Pete Carbonneau who are terrific hosts and made the interviews seamless and fun.
The first episode is now online on the Fan2Fan Podcast Lybsin page. It can either be streamed there or via your podcast app of preference. They have also been posting snippets, excepts, and mini-videos on the Fan2Fan Twitter account, so be sure to give that a follow.
Sincere gratitude to Gonzalez and Carbonneau for giving me an opportunity and a venue. Stay tuned for subsequent appearances from yours truly!
A Vindication of Monsters
Michele will have a new essay published in an upcoming non-fiction anthology!
The collection is called A Vindication of Monsters: Essays on Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. Michele’s essay is titled “Beauty in the Grotesque: Bernie Wrightson’s Lifelong Obsession with Frankenstein’s Monster.” More information on the other contributors can be found at editor Claire Fitzpatrick’s 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
Scholars from the Edge of Time
This past week Michele and I had our monthly Scholars from the Edge of Time appearance on Hercules Invictus’ program.
Version of The Lion of Thebes in my personal collection.
This month we talked about the Mark Forest toga and sandal film, The Lion of Thebes. A movie that has a lot of potential but was squandered with bad directing and cinematography. There is not much online about this film, with the most detailed plot synopsis being in Barry Atkinson’s Heroes Never Die, and next to nothing on analysis. I think I’ll have to get my thoughts down on a Peplum Ponderings article ASAP. In the meantime, you can hear my and Michele’s thoughts on BlogTalkRadio.
Recent Acquisitions
Another crowdfunded neo-peplum comic arrived in my paws. This one is the first issue of Gilgamesh Eternal.
Autographed issue #1 I received
The comic is written by Cam Kerkau and is new take on the Epic of Gilgamesh. This isn’t covered a topic depicted often in the sword and sandal genre, which makes this title a bit more standout. Also standout is the artwork of Kostas Pantoulas. Definitely excited to give this a read soon. If you’re interested, the comic can be purchased at Kerkau’s Gumroad Website.
For well over a decade, D. J. Kirkbride has been writing some of the most creative and unique comics to have hit the market. From Amelia Cole to The Biggest Bang, from Never Ending to The Once and Future Queen, Kirkbride has a signature light-hearted wit that compliments his fun and engaging speculative-fiction stories. His latest comic book series is Errand Boys – a sci-fi adventure that sees two brothers as interplanetary couriers – and was originally published as a five issue run at Image Comics. This spring season sees a release of a trade paperback version of this comic from Dark Horse Comics.
Trade paperback cover for Errand Boys.
What was the catalyst for Errand Boys? How did the comic come about?
The story started with me working out something personal in the only way I know how: wild and weird comic book adventure tales filled with lots of aliens and absurd technology and shenanigans.
I have a kind of Brady Bunch times two or three family, and the relationship between brothers who share one parent but didn’t really grow up together was definitely something I wanted to explore. Different types of families and what it means to be family. Dealing with loss was a big part of the story, too. The comic is not at all literal or a one-to-one with my experiences, but they’re all present or represented in some way.
The ever-growing gig economy, people working not just weekly paycheck to weekly paycheck, but gig payment to gig payment, with no real infrastructure or insurance or any of the things I grew up thinking was everyone’s goal was another aspect of it. That kind of uncertainty can sometimes lead to a lot of us making hasty decisions with potentially heavy consequences.
D. J. Kirkbride, photo courtesy of Kirkbride.
What is the primary goal you wanted to accomplish with Errand Boys?
Entertainment is always the goal! Wage inequality and the devastating environmental impact of big corporations along with family tragedy and stepping up for those in need is all in this story, but if it’s not a fun ride that keeps readers turning the pages, it belongs scribbled in my diary, not in a beautifully illustrated and designed book from Dark Horse Comics, you know?
Cyberpunk stories, such as Snow Crash, Johnny Mnemonic, and the video game Mirror’s Edge, prominently feature couriers and, despite the super presence high tech, take the low tech, sneaker net approach to delivering goods and information, something echoed in Errand Boys. Do you have any sort of affinity to the cyberpunk genre or has it had an influence on you?
I just started reading Snow Crash a few days ago, oddly enough. I’m digging it so far, but, suffice it to say, it wasn’t an influence on this Errand Boys. Also, and this is strange given what I write and watch and read, but I don’t really play video games, so I don’t know Mirror’s Edge. Johnny Mnemonic I saw in the theater when it came out, but I’ve not read the source material.
Having said all that, so much of this type of work is in the culture, and influences influence other influences to the point that I’m sure echoes of all of these stories made it into my over-caffeinated brain.
No one in Errand Boys is as cool as Keanu Reeves in Johnny Mnemonic (or Keanu in any other movie), though. Jace doesn’t even own a snazzy suit.
What are texts that you feel have their DNA in Errand Boys?
In the original pitch, I put forth the idea it could be looked at like a story about the type of characters in the background of Star Wars movies, the ones who don’t have any Jedi friends and aren’t fighting in giant intergalactic skirmishes. These are the folks just trying to get by and afford the occasional blue milk and all that.
Someone, either a review or a comment, said Errand Boys seemed inspired by Futurama to them, which didn’t occur to me until I read that. I see it now, though.
The best intergalactic settings have unique planets and a variety of memorable non-human characters. How did you and artist Nikos Koutsis work together to accomplish this aspect for Errand Boys?
Originally, I pictured this more as almost a science/speculative fiction world designed like a Wes Anderson movie. The story was a little more static and introspective. Co-creator/artist Nikos Koutsis, genius that he is, took the script for the original pitch pages, and made them into a budget-less blockbuster movie. Suddenly, and happily, where I originally saw mid shots and formal framing, we had action-packed angles and crazy energy.
When I write, I try to figure out how much description to give to each artist. Nikos would take something like, “Bear is Jace’s heavyset, cigar chomping boss who always has a stain on his shirt,” and make him that amazingly designed alien creature that he is. Nikos did that with all the characters and the tech in Errand Boys.
He influenced the writing and pacing, too. Lots of conversations went from taking place in a room or something to happening while being chased or running or jumping off of all sorts of structures way too high for people to jump off of, and it made the book so much more exciting.
He’s a great collaborator and became a friend as we worked on this book. I hope to work with him again.
You’ve written quite a few speculative fiction comics. What would you say is the most distinguishable, uniquely you, aspect about your writing?
That might be for others to say. I’m not the best at intellectualizing what I do or why I do it, if that makes any sense. My hope is that the comics I work on entertain readers and make them feel some emotions. Even the all-ages fun stuff has real stakes that I hope affect readers young and old!
What were some of the new challenges, or perhaps learning something you didn’t know before, that you encountered with Errand Boys?
The background, kind of nuts ‘n bolts of comic book publishing, how much it’s changed since I started working in comics, was, and continues to be really eye opening. Our experience with Errand Boys has been a long and winding road, filled with surprises and challenges that ultimately made me realize that, for the types of stories I like to help tell, the trade format is probably better than single issues. I grew up on single issues, and there are titles I enjoy buying that way, but I don’t know if the market is conducive to that publishing style for my work or level in this zany industry.
What are you most proud of with the comic?
In terms of writing, it was a big breakthrough for me. I always weave in some personal details and whatnot, but this one was the most honest while also being silly and fun, I think. That our characters truly grow and change from the start to finish in ways that feel organic and true was nice, and hopefully readers of the trade will take that journey. Nikos along with color flatter Mike Toris and letterer/logo designer Frank Cvetkovic, all brought the story to life beautifully, and I’m really proud of it.
In one of the scenes of Errand Boys, there’s an alien chilling poolside with a multi-straw libation. This is a perfect segue to ask you how you got into tiki culture and what your favourite tiki cocktail is.
Ah, hmmmmm… my partner introduced me to a nice little place called Ventiki in Ventura, CA. I’m sure I had a tiki cocktail or two before that, but that opened me up to a whole new world of tasty, fancy, fun drinks! It’s become a must visit when we’re near, and we like finding tiki bars in other towns we visit. I enjoy the style and happy vibe of most of those places, but I’m fairly ignorant of the actual culture that inspired this style. It’s something I need to read up on and learn more about, actually.
As for my favorite drink, that’s a tough one! A Mai Tai, in almost all of its variations, is always good to try out when visiting a new place. There’s a drink called the Jet Pilot that I also really like, as I’m a fan of cinnamon.
What are upcoming projects or news you’d like to share?
Nothing set in stone at the moment. One pitch is being pitched, and another is being lettered now, and I have some ideas scribbled in my notebook, so… hopefully more soon!
Finally, and most importantly, (but not related to Errand Boys), why does Amelia Cole eat tacos from the top?
That’s a question for artist/co-creator Nick Brokenshire. Once he drew her eating a taco like that, though, co-writer/co-creator Adam P. Knave and I acknowledged it as perfectly in character and noted it in the script the next time she had a taco for lunch.
Sincere thanks to D. J. Kirkbride for allowing me to interview him. The trade paperback edition of Errand Boys will be published April 13. Errand Boys can be ordered via your favourite brick and mortar comic book store, or check out these purchasing options listed at Dark Horse Comics.
Kirkbride can be found at his website and his other publications can be found at his Amazon author page.
It’s the end of the month, we’ve got not one – but two! – new episodes of the H. P. Lovecast Podcast online.
Thumbnail by Michele Brittany
First, on H. P. Lovecast Present: Fragments, we have a longer form interview with author/editor/podcast Eric Raglin. We discuss his podcast, Cursed Morsels, and his recently released anthology, Antifa Splatterpunk. The episode can be streamed at this listing at our Buzzsprout website.
Thumbnail by Michele Brittany
Next, we have our monthly Transmissions episode. In this episode, as part of our support for Bram Stoker preliminary ballot/final ballot folks, we interview Mathias Clasen, Angela Yuriko Smith, Aric Cushing and Logan Thomas. This episode can be streamed at this listing at our Buzzsprout website. Of course, both episodes can be listened to via your podcast app of preference.
Scholars from the Edge of Time
Michele and I had our monthly Scholars from the Edge of Time appearance on Hercules Invictus’ program. In this episode we talk about Barbarella! Check it out on BlogTalkRadio.
There’s No Such Thing as Vampires Release
Aric Cushing and Logan Thomas (see podcast above) are the creative team behind the retrowave 80s inspired film, There’s No Such Thing as Vampires.
Poster courtesy of Logan Thomas
While Cushing and Thomas appeared on our podcast, years ago we appeared in their film! Michele and I had the opportunity to play dead bodies in There’s No Such Thing as Vampires, and what an awesome experience it was.
Let the bodies hit the floor.
The movie has now been officially released to the home watching markets: it can be rented on Amazon Prime or bought on Blu-Ray (which is full of lots of features, including a “making of” documentary). Thomas’ synthwave soundtrack can even be bought from Amazon Music. Check it all out!
Things in the Well Closing Shop
Small press publisher Things in the Well is in the process of shuttering its operations. This means two anthologies they’ve published that I have stories in will be out of print.
Trickster’s Treats #3: The Seven Deadly Sins, which contains my story “Journey to Agharti,” already has the Kindle version delisted from Amazon. There are only two physical copies left.
Guilty Pleasures and Other Dark Delights, which contains my story “Seamed Stocking Summoning Circle,” still has Kindle and physical copies for sale.
Act fast on these books! I don’t have any upcoming venues to have the story/drabble republished, so it will be a while before they see print again. Editors interested in republishing these pieces in other anthologies, feel free to contact me.
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
Matt Page Podcast Appearance
Matt Page, author of the upcoming 100 Bible Films, had an appearance on The Online Movie Show with Phil Hall podcast, where, of course, Biblical pepla was brought up.
One Will Fall Online Comic
Bernie Gonzalez, one of the co-hosts of the Fan2Fan Podcast, has an online Viking/barbarian/neo-peplum comic hosted at Instagram called One Will Fall.
Our first episode of January on New Maps of Dream will go up later today (instead of yesterday). We got two stories we will be examining. Our Transmissions episode will go up as usual at the end of the month and we are interviewing three folks from the anthology. Tune in to that episode when it drops for even more news.
Things in the Well Closing Shop
Small press publisher Things in the Well looks to be closing shop in a few weeks. This means two of their anthologies that I have short stories published in will be going OOP:
Amazon links to buy both books are in the links above. Thank you all who have been curious about my fiction work and who have bought these books. I’ll find a home for these short stories in the future.
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
Rest in Peplum Mark Forest
Stalwart sword and sandal veteran Mark Forest passed away at the age of 89 (article at Ansa). Along with the likes of Steve Reeves, Alan Steel, Reg Park, and Ed Fury, Forest literally and figuratively carried classic Italian pepla on his back.
He appeared in numerous historic epics:
The Egyptian (1954)
Goliath and the Dragon (1960)
Son of Samson (1960)
Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961)
Colossus of the Arena (1962)
Goliath and the Sins of Babylon (1963)
Hercules Against the Mongols (1963)
Hercules Against the Barbarians (1964)
The Lion of Thebes (1964)
Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun (1964)
The Magnificent Gladiator (1964)
Kindar the Invulnerable (1965)
The Terror of Rome Against the Son of Hercules (1964)
Rest in Peplum Matt Jacobs
I received news that artist and comic book illustrator Matt Jacobs passed away back in December.
Matt holding a drawing he did of Jason Voorhees in Michele’s sketchbook.
I’ve had the honour to know Matt since the early 2010s. He was a staple to the various Los Angeles and surrounding area comic book conventions, typically present at the Fanbase Press booth. He did the illustrations to one of their early comics, The Arcs, which is also his contribution to the neo-peplum genre. He was fun to talk with, especially about gory horror films.
He was a versatile dude, doing projects for Faith No More and Howard Stern. His art can still be seen on his Instagram account. He did this incredible sketch on an Army of Darkness blank cover as a gift to me back in 2014.
Can you spot all the cameos?
I have not seen Matt for a couple years, he kinda feel off the radar and stopped showing up to conventions. I only just found out via Fanbase Press that he passed away. He will be missed.
I’ve aggregated all my 2021 accomplishments on this post while also listing projects I expect to realize in this new year. I thank the folks who have supported me or provided me platforms immensely.
H. P. Lovecast Transmissions Episode
Our last episode of H. P. Lovecast Podcast for 2021 is online!
Thumbnail by Michele Brittany
This is our monthly transmissions episode where we interview a few folks. In this episode we interview Jennifer Barnes, Lee Murray, and Rena Mason about their work with Attack from the ’80s. The episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout website or your podcast app of preference.
AnnRadCon CFP is Closed
The CFP for the 5th Annual Ann Radcliffe Academic Conference at StokerCon 2022 has now closed. Thank you to all who submitted abstracts. Michele and I will be going over them during the first two weeks of January and sending out acceptances.
Highlander CFP
When one CFP closes another one opens!
Adrian Paul has way more charisma than Christopher Lambert.
Michele has a CFP that just opened on the Highlander franchise. She is looking for essays about 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
Recently I scored two Black Emanuelle vinyls from Light in the Attic records and it got me really nostalgic.
Two Black Emanuelle vinyls I procured. I just need a record player!
I grew up with the Sylvia Kristel Emmanuelle films and got into the Laura Gemser Black Emanuelle films when I started studying Italian genre films when I was working on my masters. One of my bucket list items has been to do a book on the Emmanuelle films and their various knock offs, sequels, and so on because no such book exists. I think it’s time to bite the bullet and get the process going for this project.
Sometime in the latter half of 2022 (after I am finished with AnnRadCon 2022) I’ll be publishing an official CFP for essays on Emmanuelle, Emanuelle, and the other Emmanuelles out there. 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!
Things in the Well Closing Shop
Small press publisher Things in the Well looks to be closing shop in a few weeks. This means two of their anthologies that I have short stories published in will be going OOP.
Amazon links to buy both books are in the links above. Thank you all who have been curious about my fiction work and who have bought these books. I’ll find a home for these short stories in the future.
General Neo-Peplum News
Bible Films Blog: Once Upon a Time in Bethlehem
Matt Page has a new review up at his Bible Films Blog.
It’s on the 2019 Italian Biblical neo-peplum film titled Once Upon a Time in Bethlehem. Page’s write up can be read at his blog.
Severin Caligula Releases
Severin Films is releasing two Italian porno-pepla in February.
The first is Joe D’Amato’s 1982 film Caligula: The Untold Story and the second is Bruno Mattei’s 1981 Caligula and Messalina. Severin is offering quote a few options on pre-ordering these films:
Yours truly, of course, has already pre-ordered these. Expect essays later on!
Born of Blood Comic
I only learned about this comic because it appeared in an update email from another peplum comic I contributed to on Kickstarter. Of course, upon discovery, it has 40 hours left of its campaign, so by the time this news post goes up it will have ended. Regardless, a newish publisher called Merc Magazine is putting out a neo-peplum comic called Born of Blood.
Sorah Suhng cover
Mike Krome virgin cover
It looks like Born of Blood was previewed in prior published comics of Merc Magazine, Miss Meow and Deathrage, so I am a bit out of the loop of plot. Looking at the cover art, I see lots of Spartan imagery, so I am definitely intrigued.
As an aside, there has been a great uptick in what I call “pandemic peplum” comics appearing on Kickstarter. I have interviewed many of those creators already at my website:
Not to mention many others I’ve Kickstarted as well that I either have not written about or haven’t received yet: Gilgamesh Eternal #1, Teoatl, and Aztlan.
Anywho, I hope once I get Born of Blood 01, maybe I can do a review or interview the team behind it. But it’s so curious that so many sword and sandal crowdfunded comics have come out since the pandemic began.
I put in monies to get two versions of the first issue: a cover by Sorah Suhng and a virgin cover by Mike Krome. As you can see above, they look really sweet!
It’s no secret that I am a fan of G. A. Lungaro’s Isidora comic series (as my prior interviews with him on my website as well as on the H. P. Lovecast Podcast can attest). The series combines the neo-peplum genre with the Lovecraft Mythos with a badass female protagonist – so it checks off many of the boxes of media I am interested in.
Earlier this year Lungaro ran a Kickstarter campaign to fund production of issue two of Isidora and it was a great success. In October, backer rewards began to ship to pledgers and over the weekend I received my copy. What follows is a picture story of unboxing my pledge because it turned out to be some amazing stuff contained in the box. A confession: when I donate to a Kickstarter, I do not pay attention to the stretch goals as I like to be surprised with what I received. And I was certainly surprised with my loot!
To begin with, my backer award came in a handsome cardboard box, sporting some nice artwork (taken from the Jay Espin variant cover) that depictions a R’lyehthian-style city with a hint of Giger.
Upon opening the box I was greeted with a divider/cover with an envelope embedded in.
The envelope contains a thank you card, packaged and presented in the same fashion as the Kickstarter for issue one (see below).
Under the cover that contained the thank you note was three art prints. From left to right they are by:
Samantha Branch – This is a print of one of the variant covers of issue one and I love the antiquity elements to it.
George P. Gatsis – This is my favourite of the three. I love the colours used in this one and the depiction of Isidora. She looks both pinupy and badass.
Deti – This is the artwork used on the edition that combines issue 1 and 2. This one has a very alluring Isidora with overt Lovecraftian imagery.
Under the art print was some stickers and trading cards. Because I love to keep things in mint condition, I did not open the booster pack of cards. Those will forever remain a mystery.
The envelope contained a cute little charm.
The last item in the box was the comic! In this case, I went for the special edition that combines Isidora one and two into one collected edition with a metallic cover! The presentation on this edition is extravagant.
And in one picture, here is the contents of everything in the Isidora #2 box.
And here is everything from both Kickstarters together. What can I say, everything here is above and beyond and of high quality. As an extra bonus, everything fits perfectly into the Isidora #2 box!
Lungaro hope to get started on issue three very soon, so I am excited for that. If you are interested in Isidora, I suggest you follow Lungaro on his social medial channels to see what happens next with his projects.
