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The Prehistoric Purge: Vanya 07

Post author By Nicholas Diak
Post date July 30, 2025

The Story So Far

Vanya, Serah, Niya, and Guy are four soldiers from the future trapped in the prehistoric past, surviving against dinosaurs, savage humanoids, and the Torridians, a race of warrior aliens hellbent on conquering humanity. Their adventures have taken them across the jungle primeval, and they are eventually captured by the Bone Tribe, a cult of barbarians that Niya was a part of, who engage in sexual rituals in order to hatch a Torridian Dragon. The Bone Tribe outfit Serah and Guy with cranial implants that link them to a network shared by the cybernetic dinosaurs unleashed by the Torridians. The four eventually make their escape from the Bone Tribe and part different ways: Vanya and Serah trek to one of humanity’s outposts while Niya and Guy attempt to hide the Torridian Dragon Eggs they absconded with.

Cover shows Vanya holding a long spear. There is an erupting volcano and Dino bones at her feet. It is night time with a full moon and silhouettes of pterodactyls flying about. — Vanya #7 cover done by Sean Joyce. Image from the Bad Bug website.

Issue 07 Plot

Looks can the deceiving as it turns out the war being raged by the Torridians is not going well. There is a plague that has decimated the Torridian numbers, pushing General Tora into making a hasty decision to press on the attack, bolstered by their cybernetically outfitted dinosaurs.

At Terran Base Alpha, Serah, still receiving visions from her implant due to it being connected to a network of dinosaurs and savages, recovers in an infirmary. The alien Relo Quarr, a combat strategist, informs Vanya about the Torridian plague and the Torridian Dragons.

The Witch is leading three saber-toothed tigers. She has a skirt but is topless. Her eyes are covered in dark makeup that flows down, like the comic book character Dawn. — The Witch of the Bone Tribe.

Niya and Guy are apprehended by Elah and the Astral Guard who also have an interest in the Torridian Dragon eggs. Their efforts to retrieve the eggs that Niya had hidden are thwarted by the Witch of the Bone Tribe, who seeks to fulfill a prophecy that will allow her to ascend to becoming a powerful queen while an intergalactic war rages about.

Commentary

The transition from issue six to issue seven of Vanya is jarring to say the least as there are multiple jump cuts in the plot.

The first huge leap is the Torridian plague that has, as one of General Tora’s subordinates states, reduced their attacking force to a third of its size. All the prior issues of Vanya have shown the Torridians decimating the humans, and out of the blue, one page into issue seven, it turns out the Torridians are actually the ones being wiped out. It is a War of the Worlds type situation going on. It is not unwelcomed in the narrative at all, it just so suddenly pops up into the narrative.

The second leap involves Vanya and Serah who are at a titanic military base called Terran Base Alpha. In the prior issue, the last panel that featured Vanya and Serah show them walking through the jungle, passing by a giant alligator snapping the neck of a dinosaur, as they make their way to Outpost Nine. Issue seven fast forwards to Serah in an infirmary, with Vanya chatting with the newly introduced Quarr. It feels like there is a bit of retconning going on (Outpost Nine to Terran Base Alpha) and that a chunk of story is missing. Even if the rest of Vanya and Serah’s journey to the outpost was uneventful, there is a transition that feels missing.

Once readers can get their bearings straight on both of those narrative threads, issue seven begins to make the bigger picture of the Vanya comic as a whole much more cohesive. Motivations are made more overt on why characters are doing what they are doing, but also in the process, using the prophecy of the Witch from the Bone Tribe sets it up so that all the major players of the comic (Vanya and company, the Astral Guard, the Torridians, the Bone Tribe members, and so on) can begin to converge. The Vanya series started with a fun, albeit shotgun approach of tossing all these genre ingredients (time travel, space travel, dinosaurs, jungle women, robots, lots of sexploitation, etc.) into the story cauldron. Issue seven is doing the heavy lifting at glueing everything together.

As predicted in issue six, the Astral Guard are just bluster. Elah tries to project an aura of superiority over the captured Niya and Guy, but in her over confidence she is easily fooled. She and her Astral Guard (which are supposed to be the best of the best of the best, the very same elite school of soldiers Vanya was training to be) are led right into an exploding trap while looking for the Torridian Dragon eggs. The explosive trap that Niya placed in the prior issue going off does raise an eyebrow as Niya is also hurt in the process. Did she forget about the trap? Did she try to lead the Astral Guard to the trap so she and Guy could escape, and she underestimated its blast radius? Did the Bone Tribe Witch move the explosive, which is why everyone got hurt by it? Regardless, the high-tech Astral Guard, who are escorting two prisoners who they deem as deserters and probably untrustworthy, who *should* be hyperaware of everything around them in the hostile, primitive world, are easily dispatched by Niya’s (the Witch’s) trap. If it was not for the aforementioned plague, the Torridans could have laid waste to humanity as the Astral Guard have been lackluster at responding to their force.

The Bone Tribe Witch coming back as a major antagonist is a delight. She appears much more formidable, scheming, and that she has it together – composed. She has a trio of sabretooth tigers with her that are under her control, which does introduce an interesting alternative perspective to prior events in the story. Back in issue two there is a sabretooth tiger stalking Vanya and company, who reappears with companions in issue five and attacks the Bone Tribe, providing a deus ex machina for Vanya to escape. This initial take away may not actually have been the case. Instead, it could have been the Bone Tribe Witch from the beginning, using her network of sabretooth tigers to monitor the world (and thus end up keeping tabs on Vanya), and it was not a stalking cat that chose to attack the Bone Tribe in its pursuit of Vanya, but that it was actually at the bidding of the Bone Tribe Witch to usurp the Bone King. If this turns out to be the case, that is a major bravo reveal. And if not, well, The Bone Tribe Witch is still a commanding character, much more so than Elah or General Tora.

Relo Quarr talks to Vanya. Relo has long black hair and grey skin. He looks like an elf with extremely knife-sharp features. — Relo Quarr and Vanya.

Finally, issue seven does introduce a new character, the alien Relo Quarr. Previously the interstellar conflict seemed to be humans vs. the Torridians, but Quarr mentions the Galactic Alliance, which places the Vanya series more in a Star Trek Federation vs. Klingons type setup. Quarr himself looks like a combination of a Lord of the Rings elf and a Turian from the Mass Effect series of games. In other words, he looks pretty cool. But not nearly as cool as the final panel of the issue that finally reveals a Torridian Dragon that looks straight up like a sinister Balrog from LOTR.

Covers and Swag Impressions

The Kickstarter for issue seven of Vanya was concluded in April of 2024, with physical orders shipping in October later that year. Cover-wise, there are eleven different covers, some only obtainable as an add on. The covers all have a mix-mash of non-nude covers, topless-only, all nude, holofoil, and metal variants. All told there are thirty different cover incarnations.

Sean Joyce returns from issue six to do the standard cover for issue seven, bringing his sword and sorcery style with him. There is a gothic quality to Joyce’s cover, as Vanya stands, spear in hand, against the night sky, with a full moon and silhouettes of pterodactyls fly about. Replace the volcano with a castle and the flying reptiles with bats, and this cover oozes gothic sentiments.

Vanya is bathing in a waterfall on a bright blue sky day. There are tropical trees on the horizon along with some flying pterodactyls. — Personal copy of Vanya #7 cover done by Aleriia V.

The best cover of issue seven goes to Aleriia V who depicts the most vibrant Vanya yet. V’s Vanya goes all in on the jungle girl cheesecake style but executes them in a way that gives the cover art an oil painting-like quality. The cover shows Vanya bathing in a waterfall and makes it a great companion piece to the Bruno Sousa / Tommy Shelton cover for issue three which also shows a bathing Vanya.

Two cosplay prints. Both Show Alaina Rose Lee with dark red hair and holding a spear, walking about large boulders. — Cosplay prints of Alaina Rose Lee as Vanya.

Vanya issue seven is the first time the series has branched out and done cosplay covers, with pinup model Alaina Rose Lee gracing a set of four covers available as an add-on set [NOTE: Alaina Rose Lee was featured in the inaugural issue of Bachelor Pad’s “Nylon Nightcap” series. My write up about that issue can be read here]. Other pictures from the Alaina/Vanya photoshoot became prints as part of the issue’s Kickstarter swag.

Tarot Card shows Vanya swinging on a vine, escaping from a T-rex. The card is "The Hanged Man". The Xenoguest advert shows a woman wearing black leather booths, top and jacket, with neon green lights around her, forming bracelets and a sword. It's like green cyberpunk. — Vanya Tarot Card and Xenogeist advert.

The final bit of swag for issue seven (unless one contributed over $50 in which they also received a sticker set) is an advert for Bad Bug’s Xenogeist series and a Vanya tarot card. These tarot cards have been neat to receive, and hopefully Bad Bug makes an actual tarot deck available in the future. The tarot card for this issue is for The Hanged Man. It shows Vanya swinging on a vine, with a blue-scaled tyrannosaur behind here, and an exploding volcano in the distance. The art on this card does match the name of the card, with Vanya hanging from a vine (the Rider-Waite shows a man hanging upside down from a tree).

Conclusion

Despite having to orient oneself with some jarring jump cuts between issue six and this one, issue seven is a quintessential issue in the Vanya story. The introduction of the Torridian plague, the reveal of the Torridian Dragon, and the arrival of a competent villain (the Bone Tribe Witch) and beefer human allies (Quarr), it looks that the Vanya series is trying to rebalance itself. This is going to become critical because future issues are going to have to juggle a huge conflict with lots of moving pieces if the Witch’s prophecy comes to fruition. It is going to be exciting.

For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:

Also, consider checking out the reviews I’ve done of other titles published by Bad Bug:

Tags Comic Book Review, Cosplay, Dinosaur, Erotic, Jungle Girl, Vanya

Comics

All E.T.’s Aren’t Nice: Vanya 06

Post author By Nicholas Diak
Post date July 9, 2025

The Story So Far

Vanya and Serah are two Time Guards trapped in the prehistoric past, surviving against dinosaurs, savage humanoids, and the Torridians, a race of warrior aliens hellbent on conquering humanity. While on a mission to retrieve a supply cache, the duo, along with a soldier named Guy, are captured by Niya, another Time Guard and a member of the Bone Tribe. They are made to partake in a ritual to summon a Torridian Dragon. Elsewhere the Torridians begin their bombardment of human outposts in the jungle primeval.

Vanya stands atop a cliff edge, holding a bow and arrow. Behind her two pterodactyls fly, with a cloudy sky lit but a setting sun. There is also a green dinosaur that kinda looks like a T-rex, but it has two bumps atop its head. — Standard cover of Vanya #6 by Sean Joyce. Image from Bad Bug website.

Issue 06 Plot

Having escaped both the Bone Tribe and the family of saber-tooth tigers, Vanya, Serah, and Guy find themselves in an uneasy truce with Niya. Serah begins to have visions of the Torridian Dragon calling out to her. Serah, Guy, and Niya share a brain-connection due to the implanted chips in their temples (Vanya was not outfitted with one during their encounter with the Bone Tribe). The group decide to split up: Guy and Niya to hide the Torridian Dragon eggs they absconded with while Serah and Vanya follow a river to Outpost Nine that is purported to be heavily fortified.

Panel showing Niya and Vanya confirming their uneasy truce. "We are on the same side" "For now." — Niya and Vanya.

Meanwhile Geneal Tora of the Torridians decide to free the captive humans, which include Captain Jax and Lucas, who are made to leave Base T and cross a field. However, their freedom is a ruse for all the humans are dispatched by a pack of raptors outfitted with saw blade arms, spiked grappling hooks, flamethrowers, and razor-sharp spider-esque legs.

The ill-fated soldiers are not the only ones to encounter cybernetically enhanced dinosaurs as Vanya and Serah are attacked by a Plesiosaur that has a blaster mounted on its tail. While Vanya and Serah are dealing with their unexpected encounter, Niya and Guy cross paths with a new faction making their presence known.

Commentary

Two words: Robo Dinosaurs. Briefly introduced in issue five (when the Bone King throws a robotic raptor head at Vanya’s feet, and the final panel showing General Tora looking at a cybernetic T-Rex), issue six of Vanya is all about capitalizing on the robotic dinosaurs and how they truly ruthless they are. Reed’s death in issue three when he was chomped in half by a T-rex has nothing on a raptor with buzzsaw arms decapitating human soldiers. The scene the modified raptors appear in is an homage to/recreation of the raptor/tall grass scene from The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). It is as if Vanya asked the question “how can we top that scene from the second Jurassic Park movie?” and they went all in for it.

Panel from issue 6. It should a group of soldiers in the middle of tall grass, being circled around by robot raptors. — Robo Raptors in the tall grass in Vanya #6.

Frame from the Lost World Jurassic Park movie. It shows a party of folks, at night, walking through tall grass, while the outlines of Raptors converge on them. — The Lost World: Jurassic Park tall grass/raptor scene.

The robot-dinosaur extravaganza continues when Vanya and Serah encounter a Plesiosaur while they are fishing. Vanya charges at the dinosaur, slicing its gun-tail off, before being dragged underwater due to her embedding her knife in its hide. Vanya does not do the killing blow on the Plesiosaur as a non-robotic Spinosaurus shows up and chomps its head off, showing a trail of blood but also mechanical components. It is an interesting scene in that a natural dinosaur is able to dispatch the cybernetically enhanced dinosaur, and rather easily at that. One of the core themes of Vanya has been the traditional fight of man vs. nature (and now trickling in some man vs. machine), but here is a sequence of nature vs. machine. Giving a long enough time, nature will always win.

The mysterious Astral Guard mark their formal appearance on the final page, possibility catching Guy and Niya in the act of hiding the Torridian Dragon eggs. Emerging from a purple portal, a squadron of armored soldiers pour through, wielding rifles, demanding Niya and Guy’s surrender. It is just bluster? The Astral Guard are supposed to be the best of the best, it is what the Time Guards eventually ascend to after completing their training in the prehistoric past. They are the ones, per the opening crawl back in issue one, who are supposed to lead and safeguard humanity. However, the Torridians dominating the war front against the humans, sending them in a retreat to the past, and Elah’s ineffectual response to the alien threat in issue five convey that the Astral Guard may not be as powerful as they project themselves to be. There’s plenty of Robo Dinosaurs waiting for them to prove their mettle against.

The Astral Guard are not the only ones with a public image crisis to overcome, but General Tora herself is already showing cracks in how she operates. Extremely cruel (as demonstrated by freeing the humans into the raptor field), Tora is also coming across as arrogant but also prideful as she is dismissive of keeping her emperor abreast of her invasion. She’s akin to Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars and her attitude will probably lead to her to underestimate Vanya and the other humans (when they finally cross paths).

Covers and Swag Impressions

From the Kickstarter campaign page for Vanya #06, which concluded August 2023, there looks to be a total of nine different covers for the issue, which each cover being available in non-nude and nude versions, with each of those breaking down in normal, holofoil, and metal editions, for a grand total of fifty-four different covers.

Vanya, standing atop a tree branch that is covered in moss and flowers. She steadies herself by holding a vine. In her right hand is a spear with a stone head covered in blood. — Personal copy of Vanya #6 with nude cover by Alex Monik.

The best cover of the issue six bunch goes to Alex Monik. This is a fantastic cover that depicts and incredible Vanya and an equally incredible jungle scene. The tree branches that Vanya walks across are covered in grass and flowers, with vines hanging underneath. It is this great detail that really sells the fantastique nature of the jungle adventure genre. Vanya proper still looks attractive, but she is covered in tiny scars and smudges of dirt. This iteration of Vanya moves away from the cheesecake approach (but still retains aspects of it) and goes into a more realistic interpretation of a warrior woman who has had to survive in the primeval for months. Her giant, blooded stone-tipped spear brings forth the spear and fang genre trappings. Overall, this cover has a store to tell in one image, and it does it well.

Recognition needs to go to Sean Joyce, the artist behind the standard cover of Vanya #06 (see top of article). Joyce is an old guard artist whose done artwork for classic genre icons such as Conan the Barbarian. Joyce’s cover, with its mutated, painted style, recalls the old days of TTRPG cover art, the poster art for One Million Years B.C. (1966), and even a little of the trading cards/comic series of Dinosaurs Attack!. Joyce is a master of classic fantasy art and their cover art for this issue of Vanya demonstrates this.

The four trading cards have blue borders. They show a raptor, brontosaurus, stegosaur, and spineysaur outfitted in cybernetics. The tarot card, for Temperance, shows Vanya sitting atop a log, witting the top of a Dino skull with a knife. — Four Robosaur trading cards by Vascio Giaochini and a Tarot Card by Gus Mauk.

As far as swag, issue six of Vanya has a set of four Robosaur trading cards and a new Tarot card. The Robosaur art is done by Vasco Gioachini and each card dhows a different dinosaur outfitted with robotic attachments. These dinos would make great enemies in a Turok game. The Tarot card is for Major Arcana Temperance card and is illustrated by Gus Mauk. The card depicts Vanya playing with a dagger atop a dino skull. Theme and action-wise, the art on the Vanya Temperance card is not in the same realm as a traditional Temperance card (a woman pouring liquid from one container into another), so its derived meaning is going to be open to some interesting interpretations.

Conclusion

With issue six, Vanya looks to finally have placed all its playing pieces on the game board: Vanya and company, the Torridians, the Astral Guard, and of course, the Robo Dinosaurs. The comic also seems to have found a better balance of sex scenes, action sequences, and exposition panels. The comic needs to be able to juggle these three pillars, especially as it is trying to tell the story of time travelling jungle women fighting aliens and robot dinosaurs. It is high concept, and perhaps a little over the top, but Vanya has found its footing to sell its setup. Come for the premise, but stay for the actual intrigue as Vanya navigates both intergalactic and temporal adversaries, which just so happens to include kick ass raptors with buzzsaw arms.

For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:

Also, consider checking out the reviews I’ve done of other titles published by Bad Bug:

Tags Comicbook Review, Comics, Erotic, Indie Comic, Jungle Girl, Spear and Fang, Vanya

Comics

Jungle Romps and T-Rex Chomps: Vanya 03

Post author By Nicholas Diak
Post date June 11, 2025

The Story So Far

Vanya is a Time Guard, an elite warrior in training who must spend a year living in the prehistoric past, honing her fighting and survival skills. While Vanya is in the past, humanity is attacked by the alien race called the Torridians. Serah, a soldier and Vanya’s romantic partner, is sent back in time to retrieve Vanya. Vanya, Serah, and another Time Guard name Reed, team up and make way to an armory to retrieve weapons while under the threat of dinosaurs, barbarians from the Bone Tribe, and the Torridians themselves.

Vanya is leaning against a slain T-rex (a small one). She has a smirk and is holding a spear. — Vanya #03 Cover by JC Fanul and Bryan Magnaye.

Issue 03 Plot

After weathering a stormy night, Vanya, Serah, and Reed continue to follow the tracks of another group of warriors who are making their way to a hidden armory. During their trek the trio encounter a giant turtle whose shell was part of the ground, small carnivorous dinosaurs, and a rampaging T-Rex. Elsewhere the Bone Tribe engages in an orgy/ritual, but Niya, a Time Guard herself, is called away from the festivities in order to deal with a flock of Phorusrhacids – giant carnivorous birds – that are attacking the tribe.

Commentary

Three issues and nine pages into Vanya and the comic receives its first George R. R. Martin treatment as Reed is devoured by a T-rex. Just as suddenly as Samuel L. Jackson is delivering a rallying speech in one moment and whisked away the next by a shark in Deep Blue Sea, so is Reed as in one panel he quips that “It’s nice to know that not everything is trying to eat us” immediately followed by the T-Rex chomping down on him. The sudden, abrupt end to Reed is both gruesome, yet darkly comedic, a throwback to the prior issue with a similar gag when one moment it is clear and the next it is raining on the characters. It should be noted that the T-rex’s head is covered in arrows, establishing him as the same one that appeared in issue two, interrupting an amorous moment between Vanya and Serah. No doubt this Tyrannosaur will show up again in a future issue and perhaps get its comeuppance.

Introduced in issue one, Reed seemed like a character that would have longevity. His time was short in the comic, but his presence did accomplish a handful of story-critical tasks. Plot-wise, he is the character that gets Vanya and Serah on course to find the armory by picking up the trail of another band of warriors. For the erotic-element, Reed acted as a male character for readers to project themselves onto. Tonally, up to this point in Vanya all the encounters the characters have had ended in fights they easily overcame, or fleeing to get the advantage later. Vanya’s narration tells the readers the prehistoric world she is in is hostile, but the adventure so far has been easy-peasy. Reed’s death dispels that notion and puts back in the forefront that the world they are in is deadly and needs to be taken seriously.

A character who is not being taken seriously but should be is Niya, the champion of the Bone Tribe. Briefly introduced in issue two, Niya is revealed to be a Time Guard herself and the most capable warrior of the tribe. However, she is not respected by the tribe’s leader, the Bone King, who forces her to leave her place of honor in the orgy/ritual to deal with the marauding Phorusrhacids by herself. Returning back to take her place in the ritual, the Bone King proclaims, “Well done, Niya.” but is chastised the next morning by being told she “should have done better” regarding a scavenging trip. Niya is akin to a worker bee who is really good at her job, but management keeps her demoted because she is just “too good.” The Bone King’s unappreciation of Niya will surely come back to bite him (pun intended if his fate is at the maw of a dinosaur).

The intrigue is still building in Vanya issue three, but if there is a critique to be had it is that the plot is moving a little on the slow side. It feels like the characters should have accomplished a bit more in the adventure at this point. The cliffhanger in the final three panels promises some characters (Established ones? New ones) will cross paths, so that holds promise that something major is about to go down.

Narrative content aside, Vanya’s offerings extend past its pages into the realm of covers and ephemera. There are a plethora of alternate covers, both nude and non-nude, for Vanya #03. One of the best covers for the issue is the Bruno Sousa / Tommy Shelton variant that depicts Vanya bathing at the base of a waterfall. The cover is a call back to a page from Vanya #01 where Vanya narrates her ritual of washing in a specific waterfall for its disinfectant properties. While the other covers are action packed, this cover goes the serene, tranquil route.

Vanya is nude, at the base of a small waterfall. She has two feathers in her dreadlocked hair and a necklace made of teeth. — Vanya #03 cover by Bruno Sousa and Tommy Shelton.

Folks who contributed to the Vanya #3 Kickstarter campaign were rewarded with a trove of additional loot.

A circular coaster with a black border. Vanya is in the center, nude, with flowing red hair. The stick is rectangular and shows Vanya fighting a dinosaur with her knife underwater. The magnet is square and shows Vanya crouched in a defensive position with her knife. — Vanya #03 coaster, sticker, and magnet set.

Firstly, for swag with function, there is a coaster, (that is a bit bigger than a large pog), a small sticker of the cover issue three cover done by Renato Camilo / Sanju Nivangune, and a square magnet of the Renato Camilo / Bryan Magnate cover for issue one.

Vanya is completely submerged underwater, lashing at an aquatic dinosaur with her knife. — Vanya #03 cover by Renato Camilo and Sanju Nivangune.

It is a pity that the sticker for the Camilo/Nivangune is so tiny because their cover is easily the second-best cover for the issue (just barely being beaten out by the Sousa/Shelton cover). The colors are fantastic.

Art print of Vanya. Same art as the coast, but not nude. She is in front a jungle and has flowing red hair. — Vanya #03 art print.

Next there is a lovely art print (artist unknown) depicting Vanya against a dark jungle – the same piece used on the coaster, though not nude.

Four trading cards. Top left is June, a Cyberpunk lady with latex boots and garters with long purple hair. Top right is Vanya, wearing an animal skin bikini top and bottom and holding a dagger. Bottom right is Nell, with blonde hair with 2 bun. She has one striped stocking on and the other is off on the floor. The bottom left is Maggie, with a glowing white eye and holding two pistols with smoke coming out as if they have just been fired. — Trading guards of Bad Bug heroines by Captain Shima.

And finally, there is a set of four trading cards done by Captain Shima depicting the heroines from four of Bad Bug’s flagship titles: (clockwise from the top left) June (HyperGeist), Vanya, Nell (Death Nell), and Maggie (Dead End Moon). Bad Bug is getting into the habit of creating interesting trading cards among all their titles, (for example, some are in Tarot style), so these are always fun to receive. All in all, a mighty haul from the rifts of time.

For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:

Also, consider checking out the reviews I’ve done of other titles published by Bad Bug:

Tags Comic book, Comic Book Review, Dinosaurs, Erotic, Jungle Girl, Scifi, Vanya

Comics

Hunter – Lover – Killer: Vanya 02

Post author By Nicholas Diak
Post date May 21, 2025

The Story So Far

Two hundred plus years in the future, mankind has expanded across space and time. Leading the humans’ expansion are the Astral Guard, elite warriors born out of surviving many months in the prehistoric past.

Standard, non-nude cover of Vanya issue 2. Vanya is sending atop a T-rex head. The T-rex is roaring and Vanya is holding stone knives in both hands. Behind her are trees and cliffs. — Vanya issue two, cover A.

Vanya Tepanov is eight months into her journey as a Time Guard to become an Astral Guard, spending her days surviving dinosaurs and other creatures from the far past. Vanya’s world is turned upside down after she encounters another Time Guard named Reed and her betrothed from her present, Serah.

Issue 02 Plot

Unbeknownst to Vanya, two months after she started her trials, the alien race of the Torridians commenced a surprise attack on humanity. In order to proceed with a counterattack, soldiers were trained and sent back to the past to fetch the Time Guards, with Serah sent to retrieve Vanya.

Despite the looming threat of the Torridians, Vanya and Serah intimately rekindle their romance, with Reed welcomed in. Sexual appetite satiated, the trio decide the best course of action is to proceed to an emergency armory that has a stockpile of weapons. Vanya and company are not the only ones with an interest in the armory as a tribe of savages have also set their eyes on the cache prize.

Commentary

Neo-jungle girl Vanya’s adventures continue in the second issue of the planned twelve issue series with a dramatic increase in narrative stakes, the introduction of new characters and threats, a stronger sense of humor, and, of course, erotic content.

As with issue one, issue two of Vanya goes full speed at rapidly laying out the greater narrative context. The Torridians are introduced (but only their UFOs are shown), along with a tribe of barbarians led by the, pudgy, dino skull wearing Bone King, and more dinosaur encounters. In addition to the Bone King, one of his soldiers, Niya, is introduced. An attractive jungle-girl herself, it can probably be surmised she will become both a nemesis and a paramour of Vanya. With all of this going on the stakes in the Vanya universe must be dire, especially if the humans in the present are sending fresh meat into the past fetch the Time Guards who have not completed their own trainings quite yet.

The world of Vanya takes much inspiration from the works of Paul Verhoven regarding sex and violence: over the top and plentiful. Due to all three major characters having been without sex for many months, their pent-up lust for one another explodes across multiple pages, only interrupted with the arrival of a T-rex. In just a few panels the comic goes from erotic, to suspenseful, to humorous as the trio crack a pop culture joke about Jurassic Park being a documentary.

Two panels from issue two. The left panel shows the heads of Serah and Vanya. They each have 3 band-aids on their faces. Serah says "Don't move. They can't see movement." The right panel is a close up of Reed. He has two band-aids on his face. He replies with "I watched that Documentary once." — Jurassic Park reference.

Even more subtle in these rapid panels are blink-and-you’ll-miss-it details, such as the T-Rex’s head being peppered by lodged arrows, indicating the king of dinosaurs has encountered something humanoid (savages? Cavemen? Other Time Guards?) before. Other humorous moments include Reed making a Jaws reference of “We are going to need a bigger bow” after witnessing a giant anaconda constrict a barbarian and when Reed mentions that “they will be fine” in one panel, followed by a sudden downpour the next. It is great timing and does not impede the overall atmosphere of the comic.

A peppering of pop culture references aside, the second issue of Vanya begins to show even more genre homages. While issue one solidified Vanya as a jungle girl homage, issue two teases additional pulp elements. For example, the spaceships of the Torridians take inspiration from 50s and 60s era circular UFOs from sci-fi comics and movies, yet they act as formidable as the alien crafts in Independence Day. Another genre throwback is with the Bone King and his lair (which looks akin to a volcanic lair high in the mountains) which fully embrace the spear and fang genre.

As is custom with many adult Kickstarter endeavors, Vanya #02 comes with a plethora of alternate covers, in both non-nude and nude varieties. Two standout covers are the Renato Camilo/Boyfiy Miah and the Pow Podrix/Jasen Smith covers. The Camilo/Miah cover is particularly flirty as it is detailed and colorful, giving an “inviting’ sense. The Podrix/Smith cover scales back the colors and goes more ominous in mood. The exploding volcano, approaching T-rex, and Vanya drawing her bow convey strong adventurous, Turok vibes.

Nude version of the Renato Camilo/Boyfiy Miah cover. Vanya is laying on her stomach, propped up her elbows, looking over her shoulder. She had red dreadlocks. She has a knife and fur boots, but no under garments. — Nude version of the Renato Camilo+Boyfiy Miah cover.

In addition, the Vanya #02 crowdfunding campaign met many of its stretch goals, which aside from the additional pages of sexual content (no doubt the extended ménage à trois between Vanya, Serah, and Reed), entails a handful of ephemera and swag.

A magnet depicting a close up of Vanya, with a red feather in her hair and the setting sun and ocean behind her. To the right is a white, circular coast. Vanya is in the middle with the blue feather in her hair. She is wearing a ripped pink top, pink shorts, and pink roller skates. Behind her is a circular emblem that kind of looks like an Aztec calendar. — Vanya Magnet and Coaster.

For utility items, there is a square magnet by an uncredited artist that shows a close up of Vanya with a setting sun behind her. Along with this there is a round coaster that depicts Vanya in pink rollerblade and blowing bubble gum, taken from an alternate issue two cover done by Gregbo Watson and Gwenaelle Daligault.

Two trading cards. Both show the exact same image except one is nude and the other isn't. Vanya is in a swamp fighting a large blue snake with black stripes. There are trees standing on their roots sticking out of the splashing water behind her. — Vanya trading cards.

Next there are two trading cards (one nude, one note) that depict Vanya in a swamp fighting a large blue and black snake. There is no credited artist, but the cards evoke some epic thrash metal.

Bad Bug leading lady stickers.

Next there are four square stickers, also with an uncredited artist, each showing a headshot of a lady character from different Bad Bug Comics: Vanya, Nell (Death Nell), June (HyperGeist), and Maggie (Dead End Moon)

Hypergiest art print. The colors are all blue and purple. June sits on her knees atop a bed. She is wearing latex boots with garters and a black corset. She has 2 LEDs in her purple, beehive hair. On the bed beside her is an empty wine glass and wine bottle — HyperGeist art print.

And finally, there is an art print (uncredited) of June from HyperGeist, sitting on a bed with a wine glass and bottle at her side.

Vanya #02 is a great continuation of what was started in the first issue. Bigger scope and more threats are introduced yet the comic does not feel bogged down. The comic has a laid-back attitude regarding sex and violence, but in its primal setting, it works. The increase in humor in issue two was not expected but it is quite welcome.

For more information on Vanya and the comic’s creative team, check out the links below:

Also, consider checking out the reviews I’ve done of other titles published by Bad Bug:

Tags Caveman, Comics, Dinosaurs, Erotic, Jungle Girl, Prehistoric, Scifi, Spear and Fang, Vanya

News

News Roundup 2025-04-20

Post author By Nicholas Diak
Post date April 21, 2025

Personal / Website News

Comic Book Review: Vanya #01

New comic book review is up at my website!

I’ve got a backlog of indie comics from Kickstarter I want to get caught up on, including the erotic jungle girl comic Vanya.

The standard cover for the first issue of Vanya. Vanya is armed with a bow while a triceratops charges at her. There is a full moon in the sky. — Standard cover of Vanya issue 01.

Vanya is already on issue seven of a twelve issue run, so I’ve got a wee bit of catching up to do. You can read my review of issue one right here. These Vanya reviews will also be published in forthcoming issues of the National Capital Panthans Journal.

As I go through the comic book backlog/tbr pile, expect to see reviews for Vanya, Death Nell, Yor, Sectaurs, Born of Blood, SPQR, and Alicia Carter.

Citation News

It’s been a while, but here is some new citation news!

Book cover. It's tinted blue. It's a still from a film (not sure which), but it shows two ladies, with one shaking the hand of a gentleman in a suit. — Cover of Un Oceano Di Stile: Produzione E Consumo Di Made in Italy Negli Stati Uniti Del Dopoguerra.

My masters thesis, “Danza Macabra: The Reevaluation of Antonio Margheriti Through His Film Castle of Blood” is cited by an essay in the collection Un oceano di stile: Produzione e consumo di Made in Italy negli Stati Uniti del dopoguerra. I’m not sure which one, but if you know, let me know.

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:

The flyer shows desert mountains with three insert images: one of a young Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1896, one of the author Jeffrey J. Mariotte (who is the guest of honour), and one of the Willcox train depot in the 1880s. The flyer reads was follows: Edgar Rice Burroughs ERB Inc.'s Commemoration of ERB's 150th Birthday! 7th Cavalry Historical Monument Celebration Willcox, AZ, September 25-28, 2025. Formal Dedication on September 27th, 2025. Sponsored by the Suplher Springs Valley Historical Society and the Arizona Apache Deveils Chapter of the Burroughs Bibliophiles. — Flyer for the Edgar Rice Burroughs Circle of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering in Willcox, AZ 2025.

I’ll share more information about the event as I find out more on my website updates. 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 external publishing endeavors so far in 2025.

Cover art of the Panthans Journal #332. It depicts a woman and a man with a hawk head, hunkered in a hole, firing laser pistols. The art is by Mark Wheatley. — Panthans Journal #332

Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #2″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #332.

A continuation of the cover of #332. This cover shows the woman and the hawk man, defensively shooting laser pilots out of a hole in the ground, wile savage barbarians with bows and axes descend upon them. The art is by Mark Wheatley. — Panthans Journal #333

Comic Book Review: “The Moon Maid: Catacombs of the Moon #3″ reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #333.

Cover art of Panthans Journal #335, done by Mark Wheatley. It shows Tarzan leaping from a tree branch. All the colors are very dark blue, so it might be night time in the jungle. — Panthans Journal #335

“Tarzan Cocktail: Deconstructed – Reconstructed” reprinted in the National Capital Panthans Journal #335.

Original can be read here.

Cover art for "Merry Creepsmas - The Red Book". It is red with a large X-mas tree that appears to have small, globby bodies as ornaments. The cover reads: Wicked Shadow Press Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book Christmas-Themed Horror Stories Edited by Parth Sarathi Chakraborty — Merry Creepsmas – The Red Book

“There’s Always Room” in Merry Creepsmas: The Red Book. Edited by Parth Sarathi Chakraborty. Wicked Shadow Press, 2025.

Cover art for the Burroughs Bulletin #109 by Dan Parsons. The top says "The Burroughs Bulletin New Series #109 Fall-Winter 2024". The art shows a T-rex chomping on a dude in a striped shirt. Below him are explorers with rifles. Behind him his a prehistoric sky, jungle, and a waterfall. — Burroughs Bulletin #109

“Tagliolini al Tarzan: Interview with Actress Bella Cortez on Taur the Mighty” in The Burroughs Bulletin #109. Edited by Henry Franke III. February, 2025.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Some fun things and shout outs from these past few weeks.

Game On Expo 2025

Game On Expo had its ten year anniversary earlier this month and Michele and I attended it on Sunday. It was our first time going to a fairly big-big pop culture-centric con since before Covid times. We had a lot of fun, and would definitely go again next year, and go for multiple days as we didn’t get to partake in many of the activities or panels. We mostly stuck with checking out the vendors and, of course, meeting some of the cool guests! I wanted to share the loot I took in to get autographed.

Autographed Loot

Note, some of the below images are actually slideshows. So make sure to click on the little arrows to cycle through.

Spy Hunter

First up being autographed is my Game Boy Advance copy of Spy Hunter / Super Sprint.

Brian F. Colin was one of old school video game designers who was a guest at the con. He is perhaps best known for creating the arcade classic Rampage, but also Arch Rivals and General Chaos.

One of the many games he worked on as an artist at Midway was Spy Hunter, another hugely successful arcade game that saw many ports.

GBA version of Spy Hunter and Super Sprint autographed by Brian F. Colin.
SpyHunter for the Gameboy Advance cartridge and instruction booklet.
Rampage stickers.

Back in the bid 2010s I was neck deep in Eurospy and espionage in popular culture (which would lead to my essay on Italian Eurospy films for Michele’s James Bond in Popular Culture book). I wound up finding a never opened, CIB copy of Spy Hunter / Super Sprint (not sure where, another con or maybe even eBay), so this has port of Spy Hunter has been in my collection for quite a while.

Colin was extremely happy to sign the box for the game. He remarked he had never seen this port before. He was super nice, friendly, and energetic to talk to. Scroll through the gallery above to see the contents of the GBA game, along with some Rampage stickers I bought from Colin.

Atari 50

The next old school game designer I met was Howard Scott Warshaw.

Warshaw worked at Atari in the early 80s, his first game being Yar’s Revenge. His last game was the infamous Atari release of E. T., which was the straw the broke the camel’s back, facilitating the great video game crash in the US in the 80s.

Autographed Atari 50 Xbox game next to a copy of Once Upon Atari.
Front matter page of Once Upon Atari signed by Howard Scott Warshaw.

I’m not a real big Atari aficionado, I love the history of the company more than the games. However, a few years ago I plucked up Atari 50, which is basically 50% compilation of Atari games and 50% documentary/museum about the company. Part of its content was a handful of Atari Jaguar games, an extremely rare treat to play!

Warshaw’s Yar’s Revenge is on the compilation, along with interviews with him talking about creating the game and working at Atari. Super insightful.

Warshaw graciously signed my copy of Atari 50 and I bought a copy of his autobiography, Once Upon Atari, which he also signed (see sideshow above). As Reb Brown signs copies of Yor, the Hunter from the Future as “Yor’s Truly”, Warshaw signs his stuff “Yar’s Truly”. Love it.

Earth Defense Force 2025

“EDF! EDF!”

“They killed Tiny!”

Xbox 360 case for Earth Defense Force 2025. The cover depicts 4 soldiers shooting their guns and below them a giant spider, ant, and robot, with an exploding city behind them. In gold marker it is signed "To Nick! Erika Harlacher" surrounded by hearts and a spider. — Xbox version of Earth Defense Force 2025 signed by Erika Harlacher.

I have a lot of memories playing the three Earth Defense Force games on the Xbox: Earth Defense Force 2017, Earth Defense Force 2025, and Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon. These game offered a split screen, couch co-op opportunity for Michele and I to play a video game together, and one that wasn’t too hard either. Pick up a gun and shoot all the giant ants, spiders, robots, and UFOs. Hella fun. So, I have lots of fond memories of these games and playing with Michele.

Voice actress extraordinaire Erika Harlacher was one of the many VO guests in attendance for the Game On Expo. I’m not 100% familiar with her work, she does a lot of anime, which I’ve been out of the loop of for 10-20 years. EDF proper does not have characters per se, just unnamed soldiers that are canon fodder for the insect hordes. Harlacher voices the flying Valkyrie soldiers, which is really cool. Means a lot to me to have this game signed by someone involved with it. And she drew a bug by her signature too!

Note: EDF 2025 originally came out in 2014, and 2025 seemed so far away back then. And now here we are, living in the future, living in 2025. Should I expect to see UFOs fill the skyline, dropping a legion of ants and spiders on the Earth?

Cyberpunk 2077

Awww yiss. Cyberpunk 2077!

I never played the Witcher games, but I knew they were good. I love the cyberpunk genre, though never played the Cyberpunk TTRPG. I was super excited for this game when it was released. When it came out, however, it was a big, buggy mess. So, I sat on getting it for a while. Then CD Projekt fixed the game and expanded on it with the Phantom Liberty DLC, and apparently really redeemed themselves. Now it was a good time to pluck up the game, and it was amazing.

Xbox case for Cyberpunk 2077 with Phantom Liberty DLC. In black marker it is signed "Hey Nick, love form Rogue - Jane Perry, xoxo". — Xbox version of Cyberpunk 2077 signed by Jane Perry.

Jane Perry was another voice actress in attendance at the con. Her work I am much more familiar with, having played the Hitman games and lots of other titles she’s been a part of: Robocop, 007 Legends, and others. In Cyberpunk 2077 she voices Rogue Amendiares, one of the important characters in the last half of the game. She was a love interest of Johnny Silverhand and was part of the assault on Arasaka Tower with him. She rules.

Return of Monkey Island

Finally, my boxset of Return to Monkey Island from Limited Run Games, signed by artist Dev Madan.

Cover of the Return to Monkey Island boxset autographed by Dev Madan.
Contents of the Return to Monkey Island boxset.

I’ve played the Monkey Island games since I was a wee wee wee kid on our old 486. The before times of having proper internet, it was a S T R U G G L E getting through that first game. One of my best friends, Kris, and I would crowd around the computer shouting out all ideas to solve the adventure game’s puzzles.

I wasn’t able to play Monkey Island 2 until around two decades later when it got a digital release on Xbox Live Arcade. I had a Big Box PC version of Curse of Monkey Island (and I still do, I think?), and my PS2 copy of Escape from Monkey Island which I bought and played when I was a broke college student. I grew up playing all the point and click adventure games from LucasArts and Sierra, and still have a soft spot for them.

I was excited when the newest, and it looks like last, Monkey Island game, Return to Monkey Island, got an ornate console release. It was a fun game, with a bittersweet ending. But, when I was looking at the guest list for Game On Expo and saw Dev Madan (an icon of point and click games), listed on it, I just had to have him sign Return to Monkey Island (which he did art for), a series that has been near and dear to me forever.

“I can’t use the skeleton arm with that!”

News from Friends

Cool kids I know have been busy lately! Here are some signal boosts I’d like to give out.

New Ride the Stream Episodes

Michele and Travis have some brand new episodes of their Ride the Stream vidcast online at YouTube. They dive into the next few episodes of Lost.

Here is their discussion of episode 15 from season 1:

And here is their discussion of episode 16:

New episodes drop every Friday on YouTube. Keep an eye on their YouTube channel, or give them a follow on Bluesky.

New Fan2Fan Episodes

Bernie and Pete have some new episodes of their Fan2Fan podcast online.

They have episodes online talking about the ill fated Roger Corman Fantastic Four film. Here is part one of their conversation:

And here is part two:

Older episodes of Fan2Fan can be found at its Libsyn page.

The Chosen Cast Interview

Matt Page (author of 100 Bible Films and the dude behind the Bible Films Blog) recently did an interview with two cast members of the Biblical peplum TV series The Chosen: Shahar Isaac (Simon Peter) and Vanessa Benavente (Mother Mary). Check out the interview on Youtube:

Tags Antonio Margheriti, Atari, Biblical Peplum, Castle of Blood, Comic book, Cyberpunk, Erotic, Fan2Fan, Monkey Island, Spy Hunter, The Chosen, Vanya, Vidcast, Xbox, Yars Revenge

Comics

Feeling Fa-Boo!-lous: Becca Boo Issue Three

Post author By Nicholas Diak
Post date February 19, 2025

Plot Recap of Issues One and Two

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.

Cover art for Becca Boo #3. Becca is dressed in her blue-ish/white 1 piece dress and heels. She is holding a scythe. Her shadow is that of the grim reaper. It's kind of a take on the Star Wars: Phantom Menace poster of Anakin the kid with the Darth Vader shadow. — Standard cover of Becca Boo #3 by Kenan Halilovic. Photo taken from PDF.

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.

Panel from Becca Boo #3 that parodies the Rings films. There is a wall mounted TV that shows an image of a well. Becca is show falling out of the TV, head first onto the floor with a "thud". — Becca fall out of the TV a’la The Ring.

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.

Panel from Becca Boo #3. Becca says "Aren't you the least bit interested in what I've been up to for these past few months?" Death, with a look of resignation says "Nope." — Becca and Death in Becca Boo #3.

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.

Artwork shows Becca Boo wearing a black hood, but white garters and white stockings. Topless and holding a scythe with 2 fuzzy things dangling from it. Kinda like fuzzy dice from a car rear view mirror. There is a spooky forest and a full moon behind her. — Personal copy of Becca Boo #3 with cover art by Luca Strati.

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.

Five Becca Boo trading cards, each one depicting a different cover art. There is also a magnet that looks like the trading cards in size. — Becca Boo #3 trading cards and magnet.

Obscura continues to provide fun swag as stretch goals are met. The numbered trading cards and magnet depict the different issue covers.

Becca Boo #3 bookmark, logo sticker, and postcard.

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:

Tags Becca Boo, Comic book, Comic Book Review, Erotic, Ghost, undead

Maiden Voyage: Hearteater #1

Post author By Nicholas Diak
Post date February 28, 2024

Kimona, better known as the Hearteater, is an adventurous pirate lass, who along with her talking raven companion Zephyr, have had their fair share of encounters with treasures, riches, and near death misses. Their newest adventure brings them to Port Harmony, where a magical voice compels Kimona to rescue Finn, a handsome scoundrel of a thief, sentenced to be hung at the gallows. After getting intimately acquainted with each other during the night at an inn, a mystical bell that Kimona wears around her neck begins to glow, signifying a new adventure for the trio.

PDF Cover.

Hearteater is crowdfunded, erotic pirate comic set during the Golden Age of Piracy. Published by the women-owned Laguna Studios, (an offshoot/successor of Unlikely Heroes Studios), the comic is written by Laurie Foster (The Surgeon, Super!), with Cari Salviejo (Xenogeist, Hypergeist) on line art, Patty Arroyo (cover artist for Bombshell & Atomica,Roseblood Manor) on colours, Saïda Temofonte (Number of the Beast, DCeased) on lettering and Brian J. Lambert (Wingless Comics founder) and Sarah White (The Surgeon) as editors.

Genre waves come in cycles: rising, cresting, and retreating every few years. The pirate genre is no exception. After a period of cooling from the numerous Pirates of the Caribbean films, the last few years have seen pirates remerging in all corners of media: television (Our Flag Means Death), video games (Sea of Thieves, and Ubisoft’s freshly released, though somewhat maligned Skull and Bones), music (Visions of Atlantis), and comic books (The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl). Laguna Studios’ Hearteater definitely contributes to the pirate genre canon while overtly embracing the erotic angle promised by tales of swashbucklery.

Kimona is a fun character, who knows what she wants and is always on the prowl for the next promise of adventure, be it by the sword or between the sheets. She is also a liberated character, both in race and gender, which gives her the agency and mobility to do her pirating deeds. Her raven familiar, Zephyr, acts as her voice of reason, but Kimona is the type of character who does not always give into reason.

Issue one of Hearteater is fairly short, there is no seafaring or sword fighting to be found, but there is an escape attempt and a steamy love scene. Kimona proper gets her character foundtations fleshed out and it is easy for readers to latch on to her.

While the narrative sets up the chess pieces as is traditional in first issues of a new series, the art of Hearteater tells a different story: great characters but forgettable backgrounds.

The expressions and details on characters such as Kimono and Zephyr are great.

The characters, especially Kimona, in Hearteater, look great. Kimona has the best facial expressions that compliment her speech bubbles and make transparent her emotions. Her seductive poses are sultry (with some breast jiggle onomatopoeia thrown in for good measure) while her other depictions show her in command, perhaps with air of mystery as readers are learning more about her.

Opening panel of the comic.

The background art, on the other hand, falters a bit. The opening shot of the comic, designed to lure readers in right from the get go, is an aerial shot of Port Harmony, filled with nondescript, featureless, flat buildings. Hearteater may actually be aware of this limitation because subsequent panels focus on closeups of Kimona and other characters, rather than have backgrounds shown in detail. It’s a shame since in the pirate genre, setting is important as readers want to be whisked away to tropical islands and port cities. The look of the characters nails it, but the world proper needs a bit more love.

Hearteater’s Kickstarter campaign concluded in the autumn of 2023 with backers receiving their rewards in February 2024, a pretty quick turnaround. As with many crowdfunded comics, Hearteater sported a variety of alternative covers – both in normal and risque formats – and came with a handful of extras from meeting stretch goals.

Zheanhmeart risqué cover – personal copy.

Artists who contributed covered are Cari Salviejo, Ian Richardson, KodiArt, Dravacus, Zheanhmeart, and Katy Rewston. All the covers are great, making choosing one a difficult process. Salviejo’s cover though, showing Kimona surrounded by green tentacles, hints at the eldritch elements stated in the Kickstarter campaign but not shown in issue one (something to look forward to in the next issue).

Rewards for the campaign included a metal bookmark and a chibi-esque sticker of Kimona.

Backers also received both digital and physical prints done by Mike Watson and Veronica Smith.

Pirates are awesome and Hearteater is looking to be fantastic as well. The erotic elements are definitely sexy, Kimona and company look to be fun characters to invest in and see their adventure continue, especially if it might venture down into Lovecraftian/Eldritch horror territory while maintaining the pirate atmosphere. A Lovecraftian-Erotic-Pirate story? Yes, please!

Links to know more about Hearteater:

Tags comic books, Erotic, Pirate, Pirate Peplum, Porno Peplum

Comics

[S]extra Curricular Activities: Death Nell Issue One

Post author By Nicholas Diak
Post date February 10, 2023

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 15^th) 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:

Also, consider checking out other reviews I’ve done of titles published by Bad Bug:

Tags Bad Bug, Comic book, Death Nell, Erotic, Gothic, Vanya