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Interview

Thunder in God’s Country: Interview with Jeffrey Mariotte

With a writing and editing career that spans decades, Jeffrey J. Mariotte has done everything. From working in the comics industry (at major publishers IDW, DC, and Wildstorm), penning novels and comic books of popular IPs (such as CSI, 30 Days of Night, Buffy/Angel, Conan the Barbarian, Star Trek, and many others), to his own fiction work that encompasses a variety of genres (especially the western), Mariotte’s canon is impressive and prolific.

By his own admission, one thing Mariotte has not yet done is be a guest of honour at a pop culture convention. That career milestone is about to be crossed off his list as Mariotte will be the guest of honour at the upcoming Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering that will be held in Willcox, AZ the 25th to the 28th of September. Mariotte, who wrote the Tarzan novel Tarzan and the Forest of Stone, is the perfect guest for this event being held in the town that is central to the mythology of the American west as it is the birthplace of Rex Allen and the burial spot of the youngest of the Earp brothers, Warren Earp. 

Jeffrey Mariotte is wearing a black had, sunglasses, and a blue denim shirt. There is a blue, cloudless sky behind him.
Jeffrey Mariotte author photo (provided courtesy by Mariotte).

In anticipation for this upcoming event, Mariotte has graciously allowed me to interview him about his writing, westerns, working with IPs, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Tarzan.

As scholar of sword and sandal films, my obligatory first question has to be peplum related. Growing up, did you watch any old school sword and sandal films? Was it a genre you liked or had interest in?

I definitely did. The animated skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts both fascinated me and scared the crap out of me. Around the same time, I found Ben-Hur and Spartacus riveting (except I found the leper colony scenes in Ben-Hur disturbing, but the chariot race more than made up for it). My parents also took me to see Whatever Happened to Baby Jane in the theater in 1962, I don’t think they were intentionally trying to mold a horror writer, but it didn’t hurt.

From those roots, I graduated to swashbucklers on film and TV. I loved Disney’s Zorro, Errol Flynn’s The Adventures of Robin Hood and Captain Blood, and their ilk. Also, Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan, it should go without saying, and later the Ron Ely TV version. I spent four years, from the ages of 5 to 9, in France, where my father worked for the US Department of Defense and where old buildings, bridges, etc. were really old. Every antique store had swords and other forms of ancient weaponry galore, and I was enthralled by all that. I also fell in love with comic books there, which will become important later in this interview. In the summer between junior high and high school, I went back to France on a student trip, and I came home with a WWI-era Austrian light cavalry saber (in 1969, you could strap that to your suitcase and still get onto an ocean liner). In high school I took up fencing and archery, and I continued fencing in college. 

Sword and sandal, of course, leads to sword and sorcery. You worked on a few Conan novels in the Age of Conan line: Ghost of the Wall (2006), Winds of the Wild Sea (2006), and Dawn of the Ice Bear (2006). How did you get involved with writing Conan, and was Robert E. Howard an author who had an influence on you?

My discovery of Conan came with the Lancer paperback series, particularly Conan the Barbarian, with Frank Frazetta’s Conan wrestling a huge ape with a red cape. Once I read one – and they tied directly in with my fencing interests and growing sword collection – I had to read them all. And the comics. And then Leiber and Moorcock and everybody else. The early 1970s were the golden age for sword and sorcery fans.

Paperback book. Shows Conan fighting a gorilla with a flowing red cape.
Lancer paperback of Conan photo provided courtesy of Oliver Brackenbury of New Edge Sword and Sorcery.

When the Age of Conan MMORPG came out, I had a friend who worked for Ed Pressman, who was somehow involved with the Conan rights and an executive producer on the first two movies (uncredited on Destroyer). That friend was dealing with Ace books on the tie-in novels, and he came to me and asked if I wanted to write them. The remit was to write books set in Conan’s Hyborian Age, but without Conan as a main character, fleshing out the rest of the world. I mostly did that, but I did slip in a Conan cameo appearance, and they let me keep it, so I became the first writer in the 21stcentury to write Conan into a novel.

I don’t know that Howard was an influence on me stylistically, but in terms of inspiration, he absolutely was. I admire his work tremendously and his imagination even more. As an adult, I was lucky enough to meet Mike Moorcock and Fritz Leiber and L. Sprague de Camp and many of the other writers who toiled in those fields during my early days of discovery. Later I also met Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway and Barry Windsor-Smith and Neal Adams, and a bunch of the folks who made the early Marvel run so great.

The Age of Conan is still going, albeit far from as popular as its heyday, but it is one of those few post-World of Warcraft MMORPGs that still survives. Did you ever play the game perchance? Or perhaps dive into any other MMOs out there? 

I have the game box with its cool physical elements, but I gave my free code to play to a friend, because I don’t play MMOs at all. I was actually involved with two – I also wrote and edited a comic book that tied into the 2009 MMORPG Freaky Creatures, which apparently never really caught on with its target audience.

What was your introduction to the work of Edgar Rice Burroughs (ERB)?

I wish that I could remember the exact progression of that process. It started with Johnny Weissmuller’s movies, as mentioned earlier. They were seemingly on TV every week in my childhood and watching them created a fascination with jungle adventure movies that has never waned. At some point, I became aware that there were books behind them. I was also aware of the book All in Color for a Dime, by Richard A. Lupoff and Dick Thompson, because of my growing comics hobby. I read some of Lupoff’s novels, and I ran across his Burroughs book Master of Adventure. That was my entrée into the world of Burroughs scholarship. While I was attending San Jose State University, I met Dick, who just lived up the bay in Berkeley with his wife Pat, and that started a friendship that lasted the rest of his life.

Somewhere in between those things, I think after my discovery of Conan, but it might have been before, and getting to know the Lupoffs, I had read at least a few of the Tarzan books, some John Carters, some David Inneses, some Carson Napiers, and maybe a few others. Sadly, I didn’t keep reading journals or have the encyclopedic memory that a lot of Burroughs fans and scholars seem to.

Burroughs had written a handful of Westerns: The Bandit of Hell’s Bend (1924), The War Chief (1927), Apache Devil (1933), and The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County (1940). Have you read some of his Westerns and if so, any impressions you have about them?

I love ERB’s westerns, especially the two Shoz-dijiji books. After thirty-one years living in California, I moved to a 40-acre chunk of land in southeastern Arizona’s Cochise County. I was near the south end of the Sulfur Springs Valley, just north of Douglas. When he was at Fort Grant, ERB was at the north end of the same valley. So those books, which take place in my old stomping grounds and involve Apache people and customs that I’ve also studied and written about, were wonderful discoveries. Of course, John Carter spent time there as well. I’d still love to do something fictional based around Ed’s period at Fort Grant.

What are some of your books that showcase your scholarship and writing about Apache peoples and their traditions that you’d like to spotlight?

I wouldn’t go so far as to say “scholarship,” but Apache characters and culture have played roles in many of my books, including the Desperadoes comics series, Deadlands: Thunder Moon Rising, and my Cody Cavanaugh traditional Western novel series (currently out of print but due to be reissued sometime soonish). 

Regarding Western literature, what would you say have been the biggest changes and shifts in the genre between Burroughs’ time to now?

The most substantive change, I think, is that today’s Westerns can be more realistic. Note that I didn’t say they “are,” because some definitely are not. But the option exists, in today’s Western fiction, to explore the rampant racism and sexism of the era, and on the flip side, to acknowledge that minorities and women were integral to the “settling” of the American West. In Burroughs’s day, if a character in a Western lived in poverty, it was probably a humorous minor character who was made fun of because he was poor. The truth is that a lot of people spent everything they had to go west, in search of their fortunes, but those fortunes never materialized. Diseases were romanticized, and generally easily cured through the accumulation of wealth, the wisdom of a kindly old doctor, or the love of a good woman. And of course, the single most significant fact of westward expansion was the genocidal effect on the Indigenous population—which, in some ways, continues today. Now, Western writers are able to address all of these situations in a more genuine fashion, pointing out the difficulties and terrors of the westward movement without relying on the stereotypes.

Going back to your adoration of Jason and the Argonauts, one cannot help but think of Harryhausen’s Weird Western The Valley of Gwangi (1969). Do you have any affinity to other Western subgenres, such as the Weird Western, Acid Westerns, neo-Westerns, etc.? Are these subgenres ones you like to write in?

I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen The Valley of Gwangi, though of course I’m aware of it. I should really track it down one of these days. I love Weird Westerns and actually began my career in Western literature with those, specifically with my 1997 comic book series, Desperadoes, which was very definitely Western horror. I tried to use real places and some real people and situations in the book, but all overlaid with supernatural horror. The series ran from 1977 to 2007, and I’ve recently written a short story involving those characters (in my collection Byrd’s Luck & Other Western Stories). I have an artist ready to go on what will be the last Desperadoes story, bringing the adventures of those characters to some kind of satisfactory conclusion. What we don’t have yet is a publisher willing to take it on.

I’ve also written several Weird Western shorts – the short-fiction collection mentioned above is split, with half of the stories being traditional Westerns and half Weird Westerns. And I wrote one of three novels based on the Deadlands RPG for Tor Books. Finally, I’m the unofficial “official” reviewer of Weird Western books for both True West and Roundup magazines (Roundup being the official magazine of the Western Writers of America, of which I’m a proud member).

As one last example, most of my original novels are set in the west and sometimes include aspects commonly seen in traditional Westerns. In my horror novel Missing White Girl, for example, the sheriff’s deputy who is the primary protagonist also owns a ranch and holds some ideals more closely related to the Old West than to the new one.

Cover shows Tarzan holding a knight and wearing a loincloth. Behind him is a black horse, kicking around. They are in a desert canyon, with a rock wall behind them and small cactus trees and logs.
Hardcover of Tarzan and the Forest of Stone

Your contribution to the Burroughs canon is with your novel Tarzan and the Forest of Stone (2022). What was the genesis of this project? How did it come about?

Speaking of the Sulfur Springs Valley, in 2019 my friend Bob Boze Bell of True West Magazine fame was the guest of honor at the Dum-Dum that Frank Puncer put on in Willcox. I accompanied Bob, and we had a grand old time getting to meet Burroughs fans and listening to scholarly talks and so on. Some of the folks from ERB, Inc., including Jim Sullos and Christopher Paul Carey, were also there. I got talking to them, and by the end of the event, Chris and I had pretty much agreed to do something together. Then he pitched me on writing a Tarzan novella, and I jumped at the opportunity. It was a true gift.

Bookplate is a faded version of the covers, sans the horse and Tarzan. It is signed by Jeffrey Mariotte, Douglas Klauba, Chris Gardner, and has a repro signature from Burroughs.
Bookplate for Tarzan and the Forest of Stone.

What obstacles did you encounter combining Tarzan with the Western? What was something neat you learned in the process of doing so?

I don’t remember any particular obstacles. I was putting Tarzan in a setting that was largely unfamiliar to him, the desert landscape of northern Arizona is as different from the deserts of northern Africa as the moon is to the Earth, but with the understanding that Tarzan is at home in nature, and not a guy who needs a lot of time to get acclimated to new things. I had a lot of fun with the opening section, involving Tarzan’s visit with a writer we all know and love, and I tried to get that part right, which meant learning about the house and grounds, the views from there. I also learned a lot about the Atcheson, Topeka, and Santa Fe’s The Chief, which at the time was the fastest way to travel from coast to coast. I love trains, so really enjoyed discovering the details of that journey (and finding out that its real schedule fit my story just right).

You have a tremendous history of dealing with other IPs and media tie ins, be it from the publishing side such as working for IDW, DC, and WildStorm, to also an author of numerous novels set in the Buffyverse, Star Trek, CSI, and so on. Working with the Tarzan IP, when compared to other IPs, what was that like? What was similar and what was different?

I’ve written a ton of licensed fiction, as you say. Tarzan was different in several ways. First, as a character, he’s one of the very few who’s known to almost everybody around the world. Tarzan, Sherlock Holmes, Mickey Mouse, maybe Superman and Spider-Man, and that’s about it. So, I knew there would be a lot of fans, some of them hardcore Burroughs enthusiasts who don’t want other people messing with their guy, some of them fans of the existing stories and willing, even anxious, to read new ones. He’s also appeared in virtually every form of mass media, from the books to movies and TV, radio, newspaper strips, comics, and more. Basically, nobody was going to pick up the book not knowing who Tarzan is and a bit about his background. That’s part of why he’s fun to write, but also part of why it’s scary, everyone’s already got an opinion, got their version of him in their head. I wanted to try to stay true to how I see him while not negating how somebody else sees him.

Hardcover of Andromeda: The Attitude of Silence, sitting atop two copy books, issue 1 and 2 of Star Trek: Divided we Fall.
Scifi IPs that Mariotte has worked on.

Most of the other IPs I’ve written are well-known, but not that well-known. I’ve written Superman, Spider-Man, and Zorro, and those probably come closest. But Buffy and Angel, CSI, NCIS, etc., are considerably more modern. There are at most a few decades of stories in existence about them, and most people’s impressions of them were formed from the same source: television. Other novels exist, but I was writing mine at the same time that those novels were coming out, so there’s a basic continuity that everyone sort of agrees on. And in some of those cases, if I have a question, as a writer I can basically go to the source for an answer. I knew people in the CSI production office when I was writing CSI. I’d spent time with Joss Whedon and Anthony Zuiker, so when I wrote Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, CSI, The Shield, and Las Vegas, I’d actually spoken with Whedon and Zuiker and Shawn Ryan and Gary Scott Thompson, the creators of those properties. That doesn’t mean I can’t make mistakes in continuity, but it means they’re less likely to happen. I’d have to have H.G. Wells build me a time machine to talk to Edgar Rice Burroughs, and sadly, I don’t think that’s likely to happen.

Having written across a variety of mediums (books, comics, etc.), your own work and other IPs, what project have you been a part of that was unique to you and put you out of your comfort zone or was incredibly off beat? Perhaps the most unexpected outlier in your bibliography? 

I’d have to say that’s my one solo nonfiction book. I cowrote behind-the-scenes episode guides for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, but those were not entirely my work, and they involved properties that I’d also written novels about. The one I wrote by myself is Criminal Minds: Sociopaths, Serial Killers & Other Deviants (which was not my title, because I would at least have used the Oxford comma). It’s not too far out of my zone because it’s true crime, but “true” isn’t typically used in connection with my book output. This one was licensed nonfiction that described all the criminals mentioned by name in the first five seasons of the Criminal Minds TV series, along with crimes that inspired episodes but weren’t specifically mentioned.

That obviously required tons of research. The ones named on the show were no problem, but many episodes use elements of real crimes and criminals, and I had to be familiar enough with both the show and the real-life counterpart to identify them. I did most of the writing during the months of November and December, so while other people were watching Thanksgiving Parades and Christmas specials, I was digging deep into the likes of Jeffrey Dahmer, Edmund Kemper, and the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run. The research phase was a real immersion into the darkest depths of human behavior, and very unpleasant. But it also led to the writing of my crime novel Empty Rooms, which I believe is one of my best books.

You are the Guest of Honour for the upcoming Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) gathering that is being held in Willcox, AZ, at the end of September. Congratulations! While the programming is certainly still being finalized, is there anything you can share that you’re doing at the event?

Thank you! I’m very much looking forward to it. My professional connection to the Edgar Rice Burroughs community came about entirely as a result of having attended the Apache Devils Dum-Dum in 2019. Frank Puncer, who put on that Dum-Dum, is also the driving force behind this one, and I’m looking forward to seeing him and everyone else. And I’m now an official member of the Apache Devils chapter of the Burroughs Bibliophiles.

As for my duties at the ECOF, I know I’m supposed to give a keynote speech, which I should probably start working on one of these days. I’ll have a table where some of my books will be available for sale. And I will, of course, be available to talk ERB with anyone who is so inclined.

A final question, aside from the ECOF appearance, what else do folks have to look forward to coming from you? Any new publications or projects you’d like to mention that readers can keep an eye out for?

Funny you should mention that, because this past Saturday, as I’m writing this [7/26], Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. announced my next project at the San Diego Comic-Con (an event I attended every year from 1983–2013 but haven’t been back to since). I’m in the midst of writing Beyond Thirty: A World Reborn, an authorized sequel to ERB’s short novel Beyond Thirty, which was originally published in a 1916 issue of All-Around Magazine. In it, naval officer Jefferson Turck and Victory return to Grabritin, and…stuff happens. I don’t know what else I’m allowed to say about it now, so I’ll leave it there.

Thumbnail says: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. SCC 2025 Special Announcement. Brand-New sequel by the award-winning author of Tarzan and the Forest of Stone. Coming soon from ERB Inc. Edgar Rice Burroughs Universe - Beyond Thirty: A World Reborn - A Tale of the Lost Continent by Jeffrey J. Mariotte.
ERB SDCC announcement graphic for Beyond Thirty: A World Reborn.

I’ve also become a publisher of Western fiction, as a partner in Silverado Press. So far, we have four books out, two books in the Galloway’s Gamble series by my partner Howard Weinstein, Byrd’s Luck & Other Western Stories by me, and Silverado Press Presents: Western Stories by Today’s Top Writers, which I edited. We have a new Silverado Classics line launching when I can get around to it, republishing influential classics of Western literature with scholarly essays describing their place in the world of Western fiction.

Sincere appreciation for Jeffrey Mariotte’s time for doing this interview. For more information about Mariotte, news, and his works, check out his website and social medias:

For more information about the 2025 ECOF event, see the below press release and registration form:

Press Release for the 2025 Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering and Monument Dedication in Willcox, AZ (v11)Download
Registration Form for the 2025 Edgar Rice Burroughs Chain of Friendship (ECOF) Gathering in Willcox, AZ (v9)Download
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News

Biweekly News Roundup 2023-08-13

Personal / Website News

Black Emanuelle Boxset Unboxing

Severin Films recently released a titanic boxset of the Laura Gemser Black Emanuelle films. I, of course, did an unboxing article of it.

I also bring up prior incarnations of Black Emanuelle DVD releases. Check out the write up here.

Citation News

There’s been an uptick in work being cited lately and I am here for it!

Firstly, my essay “Lost Nights and Dangerous Days: Unraveling the Relationship Between Stranger Things and Synthwave” from Uncovering Stranger Things has been cited in the essay “‘Dad, every serial killer is somebody’s neighbor!’ The Problem of White Supremacy in Summer of ’84” by Erika Tiburcio Moreno and published in the edited collection The ’80s Resurrected: Essays on the Decade in Popular Culture Then and Now.

The book was published by McFarland in March earlier this year. More info can be found on the book’s product page at the McFarland website.

Next, Hannah Mueller’s essay “Male Nudity, Violence and the Disruption of Voyeuristic Pleasure in Starz’s Spartacus” from The New Peplum has been cited by James K. Beggan in his essay “Why is he there? Male presence in a sexually explicit magazine geared towards heterosexual men” that was published in the Porn Studies journal.

The New Peplum
Cover art for The New Peplum

If you have access the essay can be read at the journal’s page at Taylor and Francis.

New Episode of HP Lovecast

A new episode of our monthly Transmission program is now online.

For July we interviewed Chelsea Pumpkins, editor of the horror anthology AHH! That’s What I Call Horror: An Anthology of ’90s Horror. The episode can be streamed via our Buzzsprout page, the embedded player below, or through your podcast app of preference.

HPLCP Transmissions – Ep 24 – Chelsea Pumpkins – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

CoKoCon Schedule

The schedule for CoKoCon 2023 is starting to take shape! You can find Michele and I on the following panels:

  • Saturday Sept 2 9pm – Fiesta Ballroom 2: From EC Comics to Shudder: Horror Comics That Excite and Scare Us
  • Sunday Sept 3 6pm – Coronado: Creepy, Crawly, Otherworldly Bumps in the Night, or Cosmic Horror Films
  • Monday Sept 4 1pm – Coronado: 1pm: Weird West in Popular Culture

I’ll be on premises the entire con, so feel free to hunt me down to say hi! Michele and I will also have a table we were sill be selling and signing books.

Publishing Recap

Below is a recap of my publishing endeavors so far in 2023.

Published in February, this collection contains my essay “Dance or Dēcēdere: Gladiator and Industrial Music Sampling.”

Vernon Press Product Page

Published in May, this issue of Weird Tales contains my essay “When the Stars are Right.”

Weird Tales Product Page

Published in late March, the first issue of the zine Footage Fiends, contains my essay “Analisi Della Cosa: Found Footage in Caltiki and Italian Theater Going Practices.”

Limited to 50 physical copies.

Order via Patreon.

Essay about mimetic desire in Lovecraft’s Call of Cthulhu in Dark Dead Things #2/

Order via Dark Dead Things website.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

New Acquisitions

Kino Lorber just had a summer sale on their Blu-rays so I took the opportunity to pluck up some Italian films for the library.

The Last Hunter I already had on DVD, from Dark Sky Films. In fact, here is my copy autographed by Antonio Margheriti’s son, Edoardo Margheriti:

I did a presentation on The Last Hunter at the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association conference waaaaaaay back in 2010. Not my best presentation and still very green at being an academic, but the text of it can be read at my Academia.edu account.

Ironmaster I have not seen. It sounds like an Italian sword and sorcery flick, but in a prehistoric age. I am a fan of Umberto Lenzi’s work so this should be a fun watch.

Lastly is Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, which I also have not seen. I’ve seen the iconic image of Sophia Loren slipping off her stockings that I feel like I’ve seen the film. I always think of Mastroianni from Divorce, Italian Style.

Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew Commentary

Matt Page, author of 100 Bible Films, has recorded a commentary for Paolini’s 1964 Biblical peplum, The Gospel According to St. Matthew. The commentary and be streamed from YouTube. Criterion Collection recently released a Pasolini boxset that contains this film.

Call for Papers

Michael Torregrossa has a few CFPs out there. I’m sharing them here to help get the word out. Check them out and consider submitting!

Beowulfs Beyond Beowulf: Transformations of Beowulf in Popular Culture (Panel)

Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture and the Monsters & the Monstrous Area of the Northeast Popular Culture Association

Organized by Michael A. Torregrossa, Richard Fahey, Carl Sell, and Benjamin Hoover

Call for Papers – Please Submit Proposals by 30 September 2023

55th Annual Convention of Northeast Modern Language Association

Sheraton Boston Hotel (Boston, MA)

On-site event: 7-10 March 2024

The Old English epic Beowulf remains an important touchstone for connecting us to the medieval past, yet it also has continued relevance today through its various transformations in cultural texts (especially works of popular culture). Our hope with this session is to expand our knowledge of these works and assess their potential for research and teaching. 

Please visit our website Beowulf Transformed: Adaptations and Appropriations of the Beowulf Story (available at https://beowulf-transformed.blogspot.com/)  for resources and ideas. 

The full call for papers (with complete session and submission information) can be accessed at https://tinyurl.com/Beowulf-Transformed-NeMLA-2024.  

Session Information

Over a millennium old, the story of Beowulf is disseminated primarily through its editions and translations and its transformations. These three types of Beowulfiana represent a massive corpus of over 1000 works according to the Beowulf’s Afterlives Bibliographic Database; though, as medievalists, we tend to focus on the first two categories rather than the last concentrating on scholastic pursuits rather than entertainments. Consequently, many are often surprised by the variety and vitality of this corpus and its vast potential for research and teaching.

New versions of the Beowulf story feature in all forms of modern mediævalisms, yet (as is true with most medieval texts) research continues to focus primarily on depictions of Beowulf on screen (about 100 examples according to the Internet Movie Database). We hope in this session to expand our view of Beowulf’s reception by creators and look more deeply at the text’s wider use. 

We are particularly interested in explorations of the adaptation and/or appropriation of the text, its characters, and its themes in works of fiction (at least 250 examples according to the Internet Speculative Fiction Database and much more recorded by the Beowulf’s Afterlives Bibliographic Database) and comics (at least 380 examples according to the Grand Comics Database), as well as their representations in new and neglected works on screen (including film, television, entertainment consoles, and the Internet). Additional versions of Beowulf can be found in works of creative, performative, and visual arts that also need more attention. 

We hope to make our conversation productive. Therefore, we request that submissions highlight the ways the new text transforms the old (for example as interpretations or appropriations of the poem or as an intertext for another work) as well as its value in furthering the Beowulf tradition rather than focusing solely on any perceived defects. 

Please see our website Beowulf Transformed: Adaptations and Appropriations of the Beowulf Story (at https://beowulf-transformed.blogspot.com/) for a growing list of ideas, resources, and support. 

All proposals will also be considered for a themed issue of the open-access journal The Heroic Age: A Journal of Early Medieval Northwestern Europe.

Please address questions and/or concerns to the organizers at popular.preternaturaliana@gmail.com.

Submission Information

All proposals must be submitted into the CFPList system at https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/20596 by 30 September 2023. You will be prompted to create an account with NeMLA (if you do not already have one) and, then, to complete sections on Title, Abstract, and Media Needs. 

Notification on the fate of your submission will be made prior to 16 October 2023. If favorable, please confirm your participation with chairs by accepting their invitations and by registering for the event. The deadline for Registration/Membership is 9 December 2023.

Be advised of the following policies of the Convention: All participants must be members of NeMLA for the year of the conference. Participants may present on up to two sessions of different types (panels/seminars are considered of the same type). Submitters to the CFP site cannot upload the same abstract twice.(See the NeMLA Presenter Policies page, at https://www.buffalo.edu/nemla/convention/policies.html, for further details,)

Thank you for your interest in our session. 

Again, please address questions and/or concerns to the organizers at popular.preternaturaliana@gmail.com.

For more information on the Association for the Advancement of Scholarship and Teaching of the Medieval in Popular Culture, please visit our website at https://MedievalinPopularCulture.blogspot.com/.  

For more information on the Monsters & the Monstrous Area of the Northeast Popular Culture Association, please visit our website at https://popularpreternaturaliana.blogspot.com/.

Categories
News

Biweekly News Roundup 2022-09-25

Personal / Website News

Welcome to the second instance of my biweekly news roundup. I am digging this schedule more than my prior weekly schedule. There is a lot of content below, so make sure you scroll through it all.

Alicia Carter and Robot #1 Review

The physical first issue of the crowdfunded pulp/sword and planet inspired comic The Astonishing Adventures of Alicia Carter and Robot arrived last week.

Check out my review of the issue here.

The New Peplum Citation News

One of my favorite things is finding new citations of the essays by the authors who appeared in the books I edited.

Dr. Hannah Mueller’s essay, “Male Nudity, Violence and the Disruption of Voyeuristic Pleasure in Starz’s Spartacus,” which appeared in The New Peplum, has been cited in Dr. Amanda Potter’s essay, “From Female Stereotypes to Women with Agency: Elite Women and Slave Women in Howard Fast’s 1951 Novel, Spartacus (1960), and Starz Spartacus (2010–13)” in Gender, Power, and Identity in the Films of Stanley Kubrick, edited by Karen A. Ritzenhoff, Dijana Metlić, and Jeremi Szaniawski.

Super congrats!

The Kubrick collection has been published by Routledge and the product page can be found here.

H. P. Lovecast Podcast Updates

New episode of H. P. Lovecast is online!

Thumbnail by Michele Brittany.

In this episode we talk about the second film in John Carpenter’s informal apocalypse trilogy, Prince of Darkness. This episode can be streamed at our Buzzsprout page, in the embedded player below, or via your podcast app of preference.

Ep 54 – John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness – H. P. Lovecast Podcast

On the 30th this month our September Transmissions episode will publish. This episode will have Brenda S. Tolian and Ian Welke.

Looking to the future, for October we will be covering the movie Mimic 2 (we covered the first Mimic film almost a year ago – here is the link). We are also solidifying our Transmissions guests as well.

Fan2Fan Podcast Appearance

The folks at Fan2Fan Podcast are collecting top five Halloween season films from their guests and I was honored to contribute mine.

The episode I appear on with my top five was published last Wednesday and can be heard at this Fan2Fan Libsyn page. Present in this episode was also Joshua Pruett. His top five movies can be heard on this Fan2Fan episode. Keep an eye out for Michele’s list!

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Footage Fiends Zine

Evan Jordan of the Void Video Podcast and Madeleine of the Unnamed Footage Festival are launching a brand new zine called Footage Fiends that is devoted to all aspects of the found footage genre of films. Tweet embedded below:

This, of course, inspired me, so now I am working on an essay about the 1950s Italian cosmic horror film, Caltiki: The Immortal Monster (one of the first films to have a found footage scene). If you’re interested in submitting, check out the Tweet thread above for more information.

The Warrior and the Sorceress Re-Release

Shout Factory, under their Scream Factory label, is did a re-release of the Roger Corman 1980s sword and sorcery (sword and planet since it takes place on another planet?) film, The Warrior and the Sorceress.

My copy of The Warrior and the Sorceress with the poster.

I have not seen this film before, even though it is included in the four movie DVD release Shout Factory did a few years ago that contained Deathstalker, Deathstalker 2, and Barbarian Queen (side note: if you want to hear me talk Deathstalker 2 with the Fan2Fan Podcast crew, click here). Of course I had to pre-order the Blu-ray incarnation, plus it comes with a poster and the cover is reversible to a Cthulhu-looking one.

Reverse sleeve.

Here is a link to the Shout Factory product page for The Warrior and the Sorceress. My copy arrived extremely quickly.

Just Jaeckin Releases from Cult Epics

Emmanuelle director Just Jaeckin passed away earlier this month.

The filmmaker may be gone but his legacy lives on. Later in September Cult Epics released two Blu-rays of Jaeckin’s work: Madame Claude and The Last Romantic Lover. Commentary on the discs is done by Jeremy Richey who wrote Sylvia Kristel: From Emmanuelle to Chabrol (read my review here). Check out the Cult Epics website for more info on these releases.

Artist Gilead Kickstarter Campaign

Sword and sorcery artist Gilead has started a Kickstarter campaign for his Sketch book and print art.

Check out the campaign on Kickstarter and consider supporting!

Categories
Comics Interview Peplum

We Are Barbarians: Interview with Mike Dubisch and Tom Simmons on I Am a Barbarian

I Am a Barbarian™ is a sword and sandal novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs that was published posthumously in 1967. Due to its historic antiquity subject matter, the novel is an outlier when compared to Burroughs’ speculative fiction bibliography of Tarzan®, Barsoom® (John Carter of Mars), and Pellucidar® novels for which he is most famous. In the 2010s, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. began posting a webcomic adaptation of I Am a Barbarian at their website, written by Tom Simmons with art by Mike Dubisch and lettering by L. Jamal Walton. In early summer of 2022, the entirety of I Am a Barbarian was published in an ornate, hardback collection. Simmons and Dubisch have graciously allowed an interview about the I Am a Barbarian project.

How do you get into Edgar Rice Burroughs? Do you have a particular fondness for I Am a Barbarian?

Mike Dubisch: I loved Tarzan and John Carter of Mars as a kid, and of course his works were a favorite subject among the classic fantasy illustrators who shaped me. Anything about hidden fantastic worlds and strange adventures fascinated me. While I knew and loved the original cover painting, I’m not sure I ever read I Am a Barbarian before the project.

Personal copy of I Am a Barbarian with slip case.

What were some of those illustrators that shaped you?

MD: Oh, it’s the usual pantheon: Frank Frazetta, Richard Corben, Hal Foster, Michael Whelan, Burne Hogarth, Wally Wood, Alex Nino, Nestor Redondo, John Buscema, in terms of artists who worked on ERB or ERB-like products. Otherwise, fairy tale and book illustrators like Arthur Rackham, H. J. Ford, Edmund Dulac, and the Brothers Hildebrandt. Pulp illustrators like Hans Bok and Virgil Finlay. I love studying the wood engravings of Doré illustrations, and the engravings of Albrecht Durer. Other comic book artists, particularly Europeans like Moebius, Jordi Bernet, Jose Ortiz, Tanino Liberator, as well as Charles Burns, Robert Crumb, Dave Stevens, Jack Kirby, Bernie Wrightson, and Basil Woolverton. 

What was the genesis of the original I Am a Barbarian webcomic?

Tom Simmons: I wrote an email to Jim Sullos, President of ERB, Inc., in 2012 offering to write a gratis screenplay (I’m a self-taught screenwriter); the script I wanted to adapt was the original Tarzan at the Earth’s Core. Jim replied that the character was “taken” by a licensing agreement at the time, but he must have been impressed by my offer to do work for free because when the online strips launched in 2013-14 he suggested I toss my proverbial writing quill into the ring and put together a collaborative team to do one of them; he even provided the name of an artist who had contacted him about getting involved with the online strips project. I Am a Barbarian is actually the third online strip with which I’ve been involved, and still am in the case of one of the three: The Outlaw of Torn. I chose Barbarian because it was available to adapt as a strip; I thought it would be a challenge to adapt (it was), and I’ve always had an interest in ancient history (I have a Bachelor’s degree as well as Master’s work in history). 

How was the creative team formed?

TS: Regarding how our creative team was formed, the artist I originally worked with on The Monster Men™ strip (which was among the first ERB, Inc. placed online in 2014) referred me to letterist/graphic designer/artist Jamal Walton of Durham, NC (full name: Larry Jamal Walton but he goes by “L. Jamal” or simply “Jamal”). As it transpired, Jamal has been involved in all three of the ERB, Inc. strips I’ve adapted, and was also the letterist for my 2015 e-book Crispus Caesar, which, indeed, is yet another “Swords and Sandals” story, adapted by me from my 2010 screenplay of the same name. My collaboration with Mike Dubisch came about when Mike contacted another ERB online strip artist and asked how he could become involved with the online strips; that artist referred Mike to me and the rest, as the cliche goes, is history. 

MD: After a period of trying to focus only on my own work in the comic industry, I decided it was time to seek out professional commissions again to advance my career. ERB was one of the markets I approached right away and fortunately Tom was manning the lines of communication and snatched me right up for his project. I knew instantly that I Am a Barbarian was the right fit because it would be a comic with the word “barbarian” in the title!

What were some of the challenges encountered when adapting the original novel into a webcomic format?

TS: The writing challenge for any adaptation to strip format (or any other, for that matter) is about scale/scope: we didn’t want the strip to continue indefinitely, set an end goal of roughly 225-245 weekly episodes (about five years of the strip being presented online), and worked toward that end. The second phase of the project after the online adaptation was complete was always to produce a printed graphic novel encompassing the entire online strip, and we achieved that goal. Apart from considerations of scale/scope, I did a thorough re-examination of Caligula, aided by a recent biography by Anthony Barrett. While there is little doubt Caligula was very likely a mentally unbalanced individual prone to cruelty and outright bloodthirstiness, the sources ERB used (historians Suetonius and Dio) also had a vested interest in painting an “over the top” picture of the assassinated ruler; I’d compare their accounts (and neither was an actual eyewitness to events) to Shakespeare’s lambasting of the Yorkists. Lastly, for me Barbarian is a love story wrapped around a tragedy; to dwell on Caligula’s misdeeds would not only have been a gratuitous waste of time but it would have obscured Brit and Attica’s character arcs. That said, I still included plenty of outrageous and bloodthirsty Caligulan behavior!

MD: For me the adaptation is from Tom’s script into the art for the strip, and so the re-imagining the scene from the book as comic pages has already been established when I start in. My biggest challenge is remembering to refer back to my historical architectural and costume references.

What would you say you each brought that is distinctively “you” to the comic?

TS: Mike and I formed a natural collaborative team, in my opinion. I did most of the historical research and (of course) writing the actual adaptation, but largely relied on Mike to place his own unique artistic stamping on the panels themselves. I know Mike will be speaking to his many projects currently underway, but for me he stepped up and out of his mostly Lovecraftian/horror mold to draw the history-based I Am a Barbarian, although those influences can be seen in many panels, in particular the scenes involving dungeons, prophecies and strange people. 

Mike Dubisch. Photo courtesy of Dubisch.

MD: I have a bad habit of only looking at reference when I don’t know how to draw something, and I know how to draw just about everything, and if I don’t, well then I usually know how to draw something after referencing it only once or twice. So, what you see with my work is devised almost entirely from my imagination, and that is why everything I do has a distinct style. Additionally, I tend to use a lot of black on the pages, using bold core shadows on figures and props, creating a feeling of dynamic lighting and adding volume, and bringing weight to the page.

Setting aside (since it is not a John Carter or Tarzan story), what do you feel is unique about I Am a Barbarianwhen compared to Burroughs’ other work?

TS: As far as I’m aware, Barbarian is the only ERB story in which the female protagonist dies. Overall, it’s a “darker” story than most of ERB’s work, and is likely a reflection of the dark period the writer was experiencing in his own life when he wrote the story in the spring/summer of 1941: his second marriage was on the rocks, he was drinking too much, and he was in and out of the hospital with health issues that year. 

MD: For me it’s the danger and trauma of Brit’s life; he loses everything and lives under the threat of torture and death his whole life. This seems a far cry from ERB’s superhuman heroes who rule their secret worlds.

TS: Good observation about Brit’s travails, Mike. If you want to test (and grow) your protagonist’s character arc, toss said protagonist under as many proverbial buses as possible.

Signed bookplate. I’m lucky number 7!

I Am a Barbarian has just been released in a luxurious, oversized, hardback edition in a slipcase. This is a stark contrast to how comics are normally collected in a trade paperback release. What were the reasons for going the “Roman Decadent” route for the comic?

TS: I wanted the IAAB graphic novel to be an instantly recognizable, collectible classic and used this approach when we designed and produced the book over a 10-month period starting in June, 2021. For me, we achieved that goal. It’s a “pandemic book,” however, and as such it ended up costing considerably more to produce. I had no choice but to increase the price commensurately, and it turns out we’re working with little or no margin. As often is the case with these projects, IAAB is a true labor of love, not money. 

ERB stories have seen many comic adaptations across many decades by a plethora of publishers: Marvel, Dynamite, Gold Key, American Mythology, and so on. Is there any particular run of a Burroughs comic that you hold in high regard?

TS: I’m so old school re: comics I’m probably not relevant; the first actual comic books I read (other than the newspaper version) were Classics Illustrated. That said, for me old school illustrators and writers like Hal Foster, Alex Raymond and Russ Manning were always my favorites. 

MD: I recall OBSESSING on a big treasury edition sized Tarzan comic adaptation that I read to shreds as a kid – I no longer have it and can’t identify what edition it was. I do love Joe Kubert’s work on the character. I never really read the John Carter comics, but I love what I’ve seen in issues drawn by Gil Kane. I haven’t kept up with anything modern – I’ve enjoyed seeing Joseph Michael Linsners Dejah Thoris® cover art.

TS: If we’re talking about Dejah Thoris, for me Jay Anacleto and Michael C. Hayes are tops.

Deja Thoris by Jay Anacleto. Image provided by Simmons.
Deja Thoris by Michael C. Hayes. Image provided by Simmons.

I Am a Barbarian can be considered a sword and sandal story. Is this a genre you have appreciation for? If so, any particular texts over the years that have left an impression on you?

TS: The film Gladiator is a recent standout for me. I also very much liked Spartacus and Ben-Hur.

MD: Oh man, Old Testament Biblical epics were one of my favorite things to watch as a kid, and Biblical comic adaptations were always a favorite as well. I loved Conan and Kull too, especially the comic books, but also the Robert E. Howard stories. While I was drawing I Am a Barbarian I streamed the Spartacus TV series, which was also very entertaining.

TS: Also, thinking of further S&S influences for me, I loved Colleen McCullough’s First Man in Rome series of novels as well as the 2005 Rome TV series. 

Tom Simmons. Photo courtesy of Simmons.

What projects do you have on the horizon that you’d like to share?

TS: I’m continuing doing the online strip adaptation of ERB’s other historical novel, The Outlaw of Torn. I’m currently working with Benito Gallego, who does the art, colors and letters for the strip. The plan is to do a printed version of this story as well when it’s completed in 2024. The book will form a “companion volume” to the printed I Am a Barbarian graphic novel, and I envision a matte red board slipcase with silver foil lettering for the book which will have two parts, one containing the art of Jake Bilbao and the other that of Benito Gallego. I also have ongoing screenplay projects; this summer I’ll finally complete the pilot for an 8-part miniseries entitled The Nessus Shirt, a WWII story told from the German point of view through the eyes of an ordinary soldier who becomes involved in the pre-Valkyrie plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler. 

MD: My primary focus has been Forbidden Futures Magazine and the Forbidden Futures Book Club, where I am the illustrator of an entire line of books and magazines working with premiere science fiction and horror writers, that goes out as a quarterly package to our subscribers through Oddness Books.

We are currently printing Forbidden Futures issue #10 which is a double issue with new fiction by David Gerrold, creator of both Star Trek’s Tribbles, and the Sleestacks from the Land of the Lost TV series. The issue also presents the first fully illustrated publication of Philip K. Dick’s “Tony and The Beetles,” a new sci-fi comic story I wrote and illustrated, and contributions from John Shirley and Cody Goodfellow. Forbidden Futures will be reissuing several of my out-of-print comics and graphic novels, including my Cthulhu Mythos SF graphic novel Weirdling, body horror underground comix Mystery Meat, and a collection of short graphic stories “The Wet Nurse and Other Tales of Conception and Re-Birth.” We have been publishing illustrated novels and novellas under the “Forbidden Futures Presents” banner, and I have my own illustrated prose projects planned for that line, including a soon to be announced SF novella. Finally, we are also debuting a bi-yearly chapbook “In Human Skin: The Mike Dubisch Journal of Illustrated Verse,” which pairs my series of surreal drawings on black paper with my own written verse.

Additionally, I continue to contribute to Diabolik Books Adventures of Professor Dario Bava comics, with the epic graphic novel tribute to Italian horror films and mod culture, “Murder Vibes from the Monster Dimension” still available and the new “Orgy Of The Blood Freaks” out now with new issues on the way.

Sincere thanks to Simmons and Dubisch for this interview. Their release of I Am a Barbarian can be found in two editions – with and without a signed bookplate – at Cedar Run Publications. Consider checking it out!

Categories
Comics Interview Peplum

Back in Blood: Born of Blood Issue 2 Kickstarter and Interview

Born of Blood is a neo-peplum comic published by MERC Publishing, written by Dolan, edited by Murphey, lettered by Joel Rodriguez, with art by Carlos Beccaria and colours by Sebastian Gonzalez. The first issue of the comic was successfully crowdfunded at the very end of 2021 with happy fans receiving their fulfillment orders this Spring (my write up of issue one and the associated Kickstarter look can be read here, check it out!). 

On Friday, May 27th, MERC publishing continues the tale of Giaris, future queen of Sparta, by launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund Born of Blood issue 2. What follows is an interview with Born of Blood writer Dolan interspersed with images from issue two provided by Murphey who also coordinated this interview. Sincere gratitude to them both. 

Cover arts provided courtesy of Murphey.

What was the genesis of Born of Blood?

April of 2021, Murphey had the idea to do a story about a Queen of Sparta. I did some research and found that king Leonidas’ wife, (who had a relatively untold backstory), would be a great choice. It made sense that the greatest warrior would have an equal in a wife.

That same day, I started doing research into the history of Sparta as well as the king’s daughter who in reality was named Gorgo. I told Shawn [Hudachko] and he said, “No that sucks, change it.” So, I researched the Mediterranean for a sexy name and discovered an island called Giara and said, “How about Giaris?” Shawn replied, “Perfect.”

So, I spent about two weeks nailing down a pitch for one comic and then I was asked to extend it to two issues, and three, then four, then five… And finally six. We were effectively done with the first issue by, I would say June, so it took me about a month with edits from Murphey and Shawn.

An immediate thought when reading Born of Blood is that it looks to take inspiration from 300 and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. What sources would you say Born of Blood are inspired by?

There is some inspiration from 300 but a lot from the region and nation’s history itself. I did a lot of research into the timeline, historical figures, nations, battles, and events. There are a lot of historical elements but we did have some veering from history. I don’t know what Assassin’s Creed exactly is, is that a movie?

Cover arts provided courtesy of Murphey.

What are the challenges you’ve encountered, or conversely, something learned, when creating a comic set in antiquity compared to a contemporary setting?

The challenges were trying to nail down exact dates, familial lineages, and deaths. There’s a lot we know but at the same time, there’s a lot that’s left to speculation and guessing. At the same time, another challenge was telling someone’s life story over six issues and making them exciting. I hadn’t done that before so that was challenging in itself. 

Cover arts provided courtesy of Murphey.

There’s quite a few sword and sandal comics out there, especially from crowdfunded endeavors. What do you feel is unique about Born of Blood that distinguishes it from others of a similar ilk?

What makes this unique is that we’re taking historical figures and events, but setting them in the Merc Publishing world. We’re going to see how this was the foundation for everything to come with Deathrage, Miss Meow, and Katfight. On top of that, we’re not pulling our punches with the violence and gore. The bang will be worth the buck on every issue.

Lastly, this is a female character who won’t be perfect in every way like in modern Marvel and DC Comics. She will be hurt, she will fall, she will fail, she will need help, but she will grow and eventually become Queen. I recently read a new Marvel comic off the stands where the female character knocked out a 250 pound man with one punch. It is completely disingenuous. When Giaris fights, it’ll be grounded in reality. 

Sample pages provided courtesy of Murphey.

What are your favourite sword and sandal texts and how have they left an impression on you?

The Odyssey, to me, is the greatest sword and sandal story ever told. I remember reading it in middle school and was just blown away by it. The Iliad is a close second. Others would be Spartacus, 300, The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire, and Jason and the Argonauts. 

The larger than life aspect of these stories truly blew me away when I was younger, especially The Odyssey. A virtual life long journey to different islands with colorful villains with our hero’s hope of eventually making it home to his wife. You never forget stories like that when you’re young. 

Sample pages provided courtesy of Murphey.

What was the soundtrack/music you listened to while creating Born of Blood? And what is the recommended music for fans to crank it to while reading?

The PERFECT soundtrack would be the soundtrack from the film Conan the Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger. 

The Kickstarter page for Born of Blood issue 2 can be found here. Born of Blood issue 1 can be purchased at the MERC Publishing webstore. 

Follow MERC on Social Media:

Categories
Comics Interview Lovecraft Peplum

Break the Chains: G. A. Lungaro on his Peplum/Lovecraft Comic Isidora

G. A Lungaro is YouTuber and a fantasy author, best known for his Covenant of Souls series. He is also the writer and creator of Isidora and the Immortal Chains, a comic series that combines elements of neo-peplum and the Lovecraft mythos. The first issue of the series was successfully Kickstarted in 2020 and tells the story of Isidora, a super-powered lady from ancient Pompeii, existing in a modern day metropolis, acting as the herald of the King in Yellow. Lungaro has graciously allowed me to interview him about his newest endeavor. 

Isidora Logo, used with permission from G. A. Lungaro

How did you get into writing?

I have always had a fascination with writing and creating worlds. My first attempt was a terrible fanfiction of the Nintendo game Metroid back in 1988 when I was 14. I even made a cover, cut it to paperback size, and bound it with glue. 

During those teenage years, I also picked up and read my first full length (I should say complete trilogy) fantasy novel, Dragonlance’s Legends trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Those books opened my eyes to a fantastical world and compelled me to want to create my own world. Concurrently I was also a big comic book collector, my mainstay being DC comics.

The love of the fantasy genre prompted me to read Tolkein and GRR Martin’s works that ignited the passion for writing that began with that Metroid fanfiction. My first serious attempt began around 2004 when my wife (at the time) and I were playing an online browser-based RP game, which planted the first seeds for my fantasy novel Souls of Magic’s Dawn. After many re-writes, start overs and hair pulling, I finished it in 2010. It wasn’t until 2018 that I began the publishing process in earnest and hired an editor. Shortly after, I ran a successful Kickstarter campaign.

What was the genesis of Isidora?

With comics and fantasy being two of my biggest passions, I successfully entered the world of fantasy writing. I had still not tried my hand at comic writing, mostly because I had no idea how to get an artist and write in that format in which most, if not all, the exposition is visual. 

The indie comics movement and my position as a YouTuber put me in place to start networking and talking to people who are involved with comics. I went on a writer’s stream with Preston Poulter, learned some of the comic writing format basics, and learned online tools to write in that format correctly.

With that, the fun part began. I am a child of Italian immigrants, a first-generation American; this prompted a love and appreciation for Greco-Roman history, art, and mythology. I wanted this character to originate from that time. Fun fact, the name Isidora is a Roman name that is also the lead character’s name in my fantasy novel.

Samantha Branch cover for Isidora #1. Imaged used with permission from G. A. Lungaro.

How did you go about designing the character of Isidora? She is quite progressive for both genres: the peplum genre confines women to bellydancers and damsels unless you’re Xena, Red Sonja, or Kassandra from Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, and in Lovecraft’s work, women are practically absent. 

Yes! This was of extreme importance to me when creating and writing this character. Being a man, there are experiences, motives, and perspectives of a woman’s life that I will never understand. I have seen those tropes many times. While they can be entertaining on some level, eventually, they become cliché and not very appealing to many readers, especially women. My partner Marie and my daughter Alexandra played a significant role in helping me create this character. My editor is also a woman, and she helped tremendously with the final touches.

Being from ancient Rome, I will show some of the reality women faced in those times. Realities that did indeed make them very strong in their own right. There will also be some devastating truths and events that happen to her because she lives in a very male-dominated world. All of this plays a critical role in her development and the powerful woman she has become as an agent of the Old Ones

Any plans for flashback sequences for Isidora to explore her sword and sandal roots in subsequent issues?

Yes, most definitely. It will be mostly relegated to Isidora’s character development and provided a glimpse of her past that has molded her to what she is today 2000 years later. There are some essential elements in that very short mortal life that she lived that play a significant role in her outlook on the world and her place in it.

How did you get into the writings of H. P. Lovecraft?

I did not discover Lovecraft until my mid-30s. I knew of things like Cthulhu but never really read any of the stories and lore that grew from that world and mythos. I began reading works like The Dunwich Horror, which fostered a curious appreciation for those worlds. It wasn’t until the TV show True Detective mentioned the King in Yellow that my curiosity reached new heights. 

I was fascinated with this mystery that popped up on a contemporary TV show. I researched it and discovered more of the Lovecraft mythos and its history going back to Robert W. Chambers’ plays. It was a sandbox I knew I wanted to play in one day but didn’t quite know how until I began dabbling in comic writing.

Since you have your feet in two different genres and fandoms (Lovecraft and pepla), what are your thoughts on the current state of media coming from both camps?

I have to say I have not seen much recently concerning peplum. I loved shows like Spartacus, Rome, and of course movies like Gladiator. I heard about Ridley Scott making a sequel to Gladiator, but I feel that may not live up to the original. Cleopatra coming up with Gal Gadot looks intriguing; however, I wish there was more as it seems to have fallen from popularity recently. As for Lovecraft, it seems to be on a pretty significant upswing. Unlike peplum, Lovecraftian Mythos can be adapted for any time period, locale, and setting and make a story from it, much like the recent Lovecraft Country, which I thought was spectacular.

There are lots of (indie) Lovecraft comics out there. What aspect of Isidora do you think sets this comic out from the rest?

Starting with Isidora and the Immortal Chains #1, I planned to make something as unique as possible and add a new paradigm to the Lovecraft Mythos. I feel this stands out in the Mythos because it is a mashup of multiple elements all put together in a genre I call “The Lovecraftian Dark Heroverse.” I am taking features of the broader horrific Lovecraft Mythos and bringing in elements of classic cosmic and mystical hero comics. Think Lovecraft meets Constantine meets Silver Surfer. She [Isidora] is a herald to the King in Yellow, much like Silver Surfer to Galactus, and weaving in characteristics exhibited by characters like John Constantine, all set in a Lovecraftian world. 

The neo-peplum element comes from a few places—my Italian heritage for one and a literary perspective. One of my favorite authors outside the fantasy genre is Anne Rice and her Vampire Chronicles. The ancient vampire Marius, who was born during the Roman Empire, always intrigued me. The idea of an immortal beginning their life in Greco-Roman times like Marius and living through history to end up in the modern day was an interesting perspective I wanted to explore in the pages of this comic.

What was your soundtrack while creating Isidora? Conversely, what is the suggested soundtrack to readers while reading the comic?

I never get asked this question; thank you so much for asking it. I know for many writers, a musical accompaniment helps drive the writing process. Certain verses, tones, and beats can set me on overdrive in the writing process. I am also going to say my soundtrack and the suggested soundtrack are going to be the same.

Anything Evanescence and Within Temptation, specifically “And We Run” by Within Temptation, “Away from Me” by Evanescence, and also “Undeniable” by Seckond Chaynce.

What is the main thing you want to accomplish with Isidora?

In the Lovecraft Mythos, the spotlight and focus are typically on a very human element, madness, and at the end, a hopeless and powerless feeling of powers we cannot understand or comprehend. My goal is to tell a story from the viewpoint of an agent of the Old Ones, who once was human at one time, finding that there can be hope and a way to overcome these powers. I want to display this in a very gritty and real light that does not hold back in a visceral nature and inspires the sense that there can be hope in a world where, even if it is only one person, can stand up to be a hero.

What were the some of the major obstacles you encountered while creating the comic?

Right at the start, the biggest challenge was finding artists that can both share the vision I have and also present it beautifully and accurately. It took a lot of searching and researching, but eventually, I ran across Alper Gecgel, a young artist from Turkey. When I viewed his portfolio I was floored by the haunting beauty of his work. It has a gritty simpleness to it but conveys the feel I want the reader to get while reading it. 

The challenge didn’t end there. English is not Alper’s first language, and all of our communication was over Facebook messenger. There were many times I had to make awful sketches to convey what I wanted to see on the pages. The fact he understood and brought those ideas to life is a testament to his dedication and skill.

Aside from those challenges, just attempting to create a crowdfunded, indie project is a daunting task from the start. It was an uphill battle to find that core audience to build a fandom around to get the grassroots effort started. I can’t thank some of my Youtube friends enough for promoting it and extraordinarily loyal and generous subscribers to my channel that supported this project.

Nicholas Diak’s Isidora #1 Kickstarter Loot. Photo by Michele Brittany.

Since its release, what has been the reception of Isidora?

The dreaded feedback all writers fear but also crave as much as life itself. I am always terrified something I create will not be received well by people outside of close friends and family. I suffer from Imposter Syndrome as much as any up-and-coming creative person.

I will say that the reception has been overwhelmingly positive so far from my backers’ word of mouth. I also just ran a survey questionnaire, and currently, it is at about a 4 out 5 average as an overall rating. This is better than I could have ever.

What are your next big plans you’d like to share/promote? 

I don’t have anything currently to promote other than my nerdy YouYube channel, The Grey Council. The channel plays an integral part in my social interaction, promoting any new projects I am working on and building a geeky sweaty nerds community who loves things from Star Wars to comics to fantasy. My fantasy novel that I published in February 2020, Souls of Magic’s Dawn, is also available on Amazon.

However, I am currently working on [Isidora] issue #2, which I am about halfway through writing, and hope to launch a crowdfund campaign by this summer.

Links for G. A Lungaro: